Keeping Busy

So far, we have had a busy summer.

Mac took the kids to LA in early June.

Then we had 10 days at my parents centered around Western States. My sister's family and my brother were able to join us there for a family reunion 4th of July weekend.

Then my sister was here for a week for lots of cousin fun and chaos with Brooke and Luke.

Mac's sister, 3 week old baby Holden, and mom were up for four days as well.

Not to mention swim lessons, birthday parties, garden time and play dates! - Whew!

A busy life with lots to do means no spare time to blog about it, but I am hoping to catch up soon!

A New Cousin!

In mid July Auntie Kendall came up to visit with Mamaw and we got to meet three week old Cousin Holden!

Holdin' Holden

Auntie Ken was turning 31 two days after she left, so we had an early birthday celebration with a berry cobbler (putting all of our homegrown berries to good use!).

More Bogardi Fun

My sister and her kid's came up to Salem for a week in mid July. Lots of cousin fun, and LOTs of messes! Kids will be kids!

Mmmm...s'mores! But aren't you supposed to put them in your mouth and not on your face?

Megan, 5 1/2(almost!)

"I might not get a s'more, but I can still get dirty!" Luke-15 mo.

Easily entertained. Cousins and friend Kyle.

The kids all get along great, but that doesn't mean you can leave them unsupervised for very long, or this is what you may find:

These three all started in the kiddie pool, with bathing suits ON! This is what I came back to after only being gone for a few minutes. Let's call that Vitamin D therapy!

Sarah is now settled in Kentucky, which Megan points out is closer than Washington, D.C., but still not too good for frequent cousin visits. Too bad, as my yard is much more entertaining with naked pixies running around in it!

Braids!

7/15 - This one is for Great Grandpa Paul. He always loves braids on little girls.

4th of July

We were at my parents for 4th of July with my whole family. We had a low key day with a BBQ including juicy burgers for Mac.

The kids had been asking for fireworks, so we looked on-line and saw that the Indian Casino five minutes from my parents house was having fireworks at 9:00. So we loaded all the kids in the car and drove over. We got an amazing front row parking spot right in front of the stage. We couldn't believe our luck...maybe it was too good to be true. Didn't it seem odd that the parking lot was pretty empty?? A quick inquiry with security revealed the problem: the casino couldn't get permits due to the high fire risk.

"The fairgrounds have fireworks at 9:30," he offered. It was 9:18 and the fairgrounds were 15 minutes away, but we had three pre-schoolers expecting fireworks!

Mac sped through the backroads. We were looking for parking as the first BOOM! sounded over-head. So we turned on the hazards, double parked the car, and watched from the sidewalk right there.

Crisis averted...except we now had two 3 year olds that needed to pee "very badly." Liam was happy peeing on a tree, but Brooke is a bit more refined. Three stops later we finally found a place with a toilet she could use!
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Three years of Smith July 4ths:

Grammy's House

We drove down to my parents' house Wednesday before Western States. We left the kids there for the weekend while I went off to run. After WS, were spent a week recovering at Grammy's. There was lots of swimming and golf cart time. My sister's family arrived on Saturday for 4th of July along with my brother and then things really got crazy!

Luke 15mo, Liam 3, Brooke 3 1/2, Megan 5