The Final Summer Jaunt

It just wouldn't seem like summer if we didn't go the the amusement park!  So we took a little trip just before Jasmine left home.

 

We were at the front gate waiting for Daddy to arrive - he'd already been to work and was meeting us here.

Jordyn and Carlee kept us (and others!) entertained by clogging for us.

 

Daddy finally arrived and in we went.  The big four girls went off on their own and Rich and I took the two little ones around.

 

What fun to find that Mackenzie was tall enough to drive the bumper cars this year. 

And she was actually a pretty good little driver!

We eventually did meet up the with big girls, and Carlee took Mac on this bouncy quad thing.  Mac didn't like it too much.

 

Oh I discovered a ride I liked!!!  It was so much fun I couldn't stop laughing.  Jas videoed it - it was just two rows of seats on a platform that goes up about 30 feet in the air and then drops suddenly.  Up and down like that, over and over.  Fun feeling and no dizziness - the kind I like!

 

 

 Taking pictures on the Merry-Go-Round is difficult.  By the time they come around and you find them in your viewer, they're past you!  Or, the horses go up and down and you lose the person you were trying to shoot!

So, it's Jordyn - and Jenna's shoulder and arm!

The back of Katia and her mount.

Jas and the "clinging-to-the-pole-for-dear-life" Mackenzie.  She didn't enjoy the rides too much and there were quite a few she didn't want to go on.  But it was a fun family day with perfect end of the summer weather.  A trip to the Cheesecake Cafe ended our day perfectly.



More Summer Fun

My cousin Jordan and his sweet little family came to stay with us while they were in the area for a wedding.  We were trying to remember the last time we saw each other, and we're thinking it may have been our wedding.  He was just a kid way back then, but he's grown up very nicely!  Jordan's wife's name is Carly, so this was a little confusing for my daughters Jordyn and Carlee!  But we managed.

 

We spent one day at the lake together, so these pictures are all from that day.

 

Jas, Jenna, Carlee and Jordyn checking out the surf.

 

Katia - so fashionable in matching shirt and shades!

 

Gramma and Grampa with little second cousins - Adrien and Mackenzie.  They loved the umbrella.

 

Jordan getting his kids all safe - Kristian and Adrien . . .

. . . so they can go out boating.

 

Our goofy girls!

 

 

Here's our picnic area - sun and shade to please everyone!

Rich talking with his parents, my mom talking with Carly and my dad sneaking up behind Carlee.

 

Those goofy girls again!  Seriously though, they have so much fun together and are just a hoot to be around!

 

My dad and Jordan out in the rubber dingy.

 

Rich and I trying to steal a romantic moment.

Didn't work!

Katia using her hair to clean the slide so her clothes won't get dirty!

 

Five of my girls at the playground.

Watch out Carlee!!!

 

Mackenzie just loves to be in the playground with her sisters.

 

 

Those goofy girls and their lovely hair.

 

Too cute - Adrien and Mackenzie ready for church.

 

It was so much fun to reconnect with Jordan and his family.  Makes me yearn to attend a family reunion on my dad's side of the family.  They have informal gatherings every summer but it's always been so far away.  I've got lots of cousins I hardly know!  I think it's time to fix that!!!

 



Katia Swims

Katia's swim lessons were great this year!  She passed that barrier of being afraid and now she knows that you can actually float in water!!!  It'll get better quickly from here!

This is her ninth and final day of swim lessons - each one lasted half an hour.

They're searching for diving toys.

Bailey was her teacher and she had all boys in her class - which I think was a good thing because she worked hard in the beginning to keep up with them, so she really progressed.

Ready to jump in the pool.

Preparing for a relay race with the noodles.

And she passed Level 2 - great work Katia!!!

I think her greatest achievement was going off the diving board.  The first day they went off, the boys all ran and jumped off no problem, while Katia stood in her lifejacket at the end of the diving board for quite some time.  Eventually another lifeguard came up and lowered her off the board into the waiting arms below of her instructor.  The next day, Jas and dad came to the pool to watch Katia go off the board.  Jas walked over and gave her some encouragement, and she jumped - all by herself - to her instructor.  Yay Katia!!!  But then, on the next day, she went off it again, without a lifejacket!!!  By the end of her swim lessons she was a pro at jumping off the board and swimming to the edge - no instructor or lifejacket needed!

Way to be courageous!!!