Summer so far, Part I

Here is a heavily pictorial view of our summer to-date. It has been a bit nuts, but we are loving every hot, steamy minute.

We have been fishing, a lot...

We have been going to concerts of all kinds.....

and at those concerts it is imperative that one wrestle with one's siblings...

and then sit upon them in victory!

We spend an absurd amount of time bombing around grandma's place in the Toro...

and having cookouts with our cousin.....

who has perfected the art of marshmallow roasting.

We went on our 2nd annual "Summer kick-off Campout!" with 9 families for a total of 18 parents and 20 kids. It was awesome. Kai caught and cooked his own small-mouth bass. He was so proud. His friend Jamie caught and cooked a pretty little rainbow trout.

Some of the handsome and cool dads of our town. Yes, Zach is one of them.

The view. That was on night one, the next 2 days were full of glorious sunshine.

The hot tamale mamas and my awesome friends!

My friend G made a school-bus pinata for the kids to destroy in celebration of the end of the school year. They really went after that thing.

Some of the big girls painted faces......

and so did some of the little guys. Noah is also teaching himself to drive.

I made this dress for Grace.

Comfort and the ability to turn cartwheels in it were design essentials.

Grace was a frog in the end of the year dance recital. The stage make-up freaked me right out, but they go up on an actual stage with lights and they get totally washed-out without it. The eye make-up was unnecessary, but once she saw other girls putting it on, it wasn't worth the fight to say no. It's really hard to see a little girl in grown-up make-up.

Here she is warming up with the ladybugs, bluebirds and butterflies.

The kids have been practicing their self-portraits.

Kai, Grace and cousin Aldwyn decided to make instruments, one rainy day

Now they have a band called, naturally, the Rubber Band.

Noah may actually be turning into a hotdog.

There is so much more. I still have to upload all the pictures from Austria, which are awesome, but I thought I would just start posting again with these so you all can see why there hasn't been much time for blogging.

Back soon!