Some of Our July

A little bit of July in Texas:

7-2

 A perfect day for kite flying.

 7-6
Launching off some more rockets.  This time at the boys' school.

Good calculating, Dada!  It blew back into the field behind the school.

Guess he knows what he's doing:

 7-10

Mr. Clean!

 The boys surprised Dada by cleaning out the garage.

Dallin can't resist building something while he's in there.

7-11

I made some sidewalk chalk paint for the little kids.  It was really cool!  Went on wet and then dried like chalk.  Rinsed off easily with water.  I would recommend using old paintbrushes.  I think foam brushes would work great, too.  Just mix equal portions of corn starch and water and add food color. 

1 cup of corn starch + 1 cup water + food color of choice

7-12

Building their Home Depot crafts at home.

 Claire with her finished car.

7- 19

Our grape vine actually produced grapes this year!  First time!  I think we've had it for three years.  

They tasted just like purple grape juice!  Mmmm....

7-24

 Beckham and I chill at the park while Austin, Dallin, Coen and Claire go to the summer library special programs for kids 5 and older.  (Claire's close enough, right?)

 7-25

Cilantro anyone?  Fresh out of the garden!

7-29

It got a little quiet one day so I went looking for Beckham.  I found him behind a chair in the family room with his toenails painted a beautiful shade of bright pink!  He did it all by himself...on the carpet.  

The amazing part is he didn't spill a drop!  Not bad!

Keep on Rollin'

These kids are getting really good at roller blading!  They have improved so much!  Beckham and I stick to the bike and bike trailer.  Someday I'm sure Beckham will be joining them but I think that ship has sailed for me.  Too bad.  They make it look so easy!  Here we are on a fun afternoon skating at Arcadia Park.

 Lookin' Good!

Stopping for a water break.

Lots of fun!

They were so tired by the end:

4th of July

We had the best 4th of July!  It was a busy and fun-filled family day!  We started off the night before making tie dye shirts.  They were sooo awesome!  RED, WHITE, and BLUE with the most amazing patterns.  Our best ones yet!  Then we washed them and they were fuchsia, pink, and purple and a bit blurred.  We tried a new technique with a different dye this time.  Remind us not to do it that way again!  Oh, well.

At least we matched each other!  Ha!  

 Family hiking at Eagle Mountain Lake first thing in the morning.  It was a beautiful day for a hike!

Our 5 cute little hikers looking so "patriotic". 

We did get lots of compliments on our matching shirts from other hikers.

We came home from our hike and had a bar-b-q in the back yard.  We also made some patriotic jello and homemade snicker-doodle ice cream.  Wow!  It was so good!  Move over Blue Bell!  We've got a new winner!  We also broke out the patriotic tattoos. 

 Then we headed to the park in our neighborhood to launch a few rockets.

It was a "blast"!  :)

 Unfortunately, one of the rockets landed in the field behind the park...with the cows...way up in a tree.  Dada finally rescued it.  Unfortunately, again, we all ended up with chigger bites from traipsing through the tall grass.  Now THAT was miserable!  First time for that to happen!  Wow!

We still had a little more celebrating to do.  We set off a few little "back yard appropriate" fireworks and then headed to a parking lot that gives us a good view of a couple different firework shows in the area.  We came home tired and happy after a fun-filled day!

The Launch:


The Retrieval: