July 4th in York

To celebrate the births of both our favorite nation and our favorite Nana, we spent the July 4th holiday weekend in York.  And what better way to kick off the weekend than with some sparklers?

Whew- what a night!

The 4th itself was pretty rainy, so our plans to spend the day swimming at the club had to be adjusted a bit.  Monopoly, anyone?

Thankfully the rain subsided by evening, so it was off to the club for a picnic, music, inflatables, and with any luck, fireworks!

Nana, GeeGee, and Grandpa enjoying a cocktail- and a snow cone.

With the birthday girl!

Grandpa and Liam's "before" picture...

Grandpa's "after"... as in, after he informed a young girl that HE was in line next for face-painting, thankyouverymuch!  Get back in line, sista!

Liam's "after"-- so patriotic!

After dinner and loads of bounce-house fun, Liam informed the DJ that it was his Nana's birthday and, "Do you have the happy birthday song?"  Nana had no chance of keeping this birthday a secret, that's for sure!

Nana and Liam dancing in the moonlight

After a pretty incredible display of fireworks, we called it a night.  On Sunday, all of the poolside festivities that had been postponed the day before were rescheduled, so we spent all afternoon swimming, bobbing for Gatorade (Daddy sadly missed the round that included beer!), and playing on the playground.

Whew- what a day!

While Daddy, Joergen and I headed back to KoP, Liam stayed in York for his first-ever solo sleepover - or as he called it, "my own vacation!"  He had the best time on his 3-day stay.  He visited Indian Echo Caverns...

... visited the Martin Library to continue learning all about caves (Nana is a retired elementary school teacher, what?!)

... went to Chuckie Cheese to celebrate a good report card...

... and ended his visit at Red Robin in Lancaster, where he met us for lunch.  Look at that smile!

Thank you Nana and Grandpa for hosting Liam's first "big kid" trip.  He can't wait to do it again next summer, and has already declared that instead of 3 days, he plans on staying 3 weeks!!

Rocking into Summer

Liam and Joegen have had no problem whatsoever adjusting to their summer schedule :)  I think they wait all year for this!

Liam kicked off his summer with a very fun birthday party for his friend Lily at the Philadelphia Rock Gym.  This was his first time climbing and he had a blast!  He got a little more brave with every climb, and by the time the party ended, he was making his way to almost the top of the wall.  He was beyond disappointed that he had to stop climbing when the party was over!

The boys love summer at Aunt Doreen's because summer means pool days! Especially in June when Em and Allie are still around!

With summer comes our CSA fruit share, and nothing is better than scoring fat red stalks of rhubarb... Except maybe getting to finish off the last of a rhubarb crisp on the deck (shirts: optional).

Joergen's buddy Vincent celebrated his 4th birthday in June with a big outdoor bash. Vin has a huge extended family with tons of cousins, an inflatable water slide, and some awesome riding toys, all of which made for a pretty fantastic day for these two :)

Liam's #1 mission this spring/summer has been to conquer the monkey bars, and I have never seen him work so hard to accomplish a goal!  His commitment paid off, because by June, he was a little pro.

Towards the end of June, Liam had fun exploring the SonSpark Labs at Vacation Bible School at MDP.

One night at home, Liam and Joergen discovered the closet where I keep their old Halloween costumes from when they were babies. I laughed until my sides hurt at these two cramming into the costumes they wore when they were 2.5 and 9 months old! I don't think Joergen was able to even pull the pants over his bottom!

The weather has been so beautiful that we have been able to get out our inflatable pool a few times one the weekend, too.  Watermelon, swimming, being outside... yes. Welcome summer.

Joergen and Will

Springtime Fun

We had a fun and busy spring with t-ball, the start of Screwballs softball, Dad's basketball, and...

Nana and I did a wine and paint night- SO fun!!

Our "masterpieces"- Philadelphia's Boathouse Row

BrickFest Live at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks!  Will's dad scored tickets, and they invited us along. The boys were in Lego heaven.

Playing Putt-Putt on a course built entirely of Legos

Anyone know where I can find a red Lego brick?!

Anyone?

Found one!

And more!

Found this guy too :)

Spending time at the zoo!  After being in Austin, TX, for a conference for a few days and then working Commencement early the next morning, I was more than ready for some QT with my favorite guys. An afternoon at the Philly Zoo was just what the doctor ordered.

Getting outside!

With their favorite, Gina

Fighting bad guys!

Upgrading my catcher's mask!

Losing teeth!

Knocking out some home improvements!  Our roof badly needed to be replaced, and after suffering through Power's never-ending sales pitch, we were able to get new shutters for all our windows thrown in for "free."  Whatever.  I'll take it.

Before pic, as they were starting work on the roof. I never liked that the addition windows had no shutters!  The original shutters were a faded sage green.

New roof on, and shutters going up on the addition. We chose a chocolate brown, and I love the new look!

New shutters up on the original part of the house

And now, we are ready for some summer relaxation!