Diesel Dog at the park

After the rain stopped this morning it was overcast and nice.  We decided to take Diesel to the dog park today since it's been a few weeks.  He had a blast even though there weren't many dogs there at all. 

He always runs straight to the back of the park where the pond is.

waiting patiently to go into Lily's pond. 

swimming away, he loves the water



imagination

The girls have a wonderful imagination.  This past week they took a lot of trips.  They went to visit both sets of grandparents, they went on a cruise, on an airplane, to the beach and stayed at a few hotels.  At one point they wanted to take several babies to grandma's house so they made a van to transport all of them. 

New living room

So excited to finally get some new furniture in our living room.  Our set fit our old house perfectly, but never really worked here.  I think the couch got a little damaged in the move because it never really worked here (the foot rests)  Our chair just had enough too.  We found some stuff we really liked at our new Costco.  Today we cleared out John's truck and my car and went to the store.  It barely fit, but we got a new couch and recliner.  It took us about 4 hours to move the old furniture, clean (found about half the kids toys under the couch) get the new stuff in and rearrange it a few times to get it right.  We are really happy with the new stuff. 

Don't mind the dog bones and messy kitchen in the back ground. 

couch, view from the front door

recliner

view from the hallway

this is now along the wall behind the couch next to the back door

Skylar gymnastics

This was camera week at gymnastics.  Too bad I didn't know and didn't bring my camera.  All I had was my phone which doesn't take great action shots, so I took a lot of video.  Here are Skylar's pictures and videos.  Larissa will have her own post. 

trampoline

balance beam

balance beam

barrel roll

headstand

trampoline

more balance beam

Larissa Gymnastics

Here are the pictures and videos of Larissa

Barrel roll

trampoline

barrel roll

in the pit

more trampoline

trampoline

barrel roll

jumping into the pit

trampoline

balance beam (backwards)

Silly Skylar

Last week she decided this was the outfit she wanted to play outside in.  Princess dress and sketchers light up gym shoes.

Poor Skylar

Diesel was a little hyper yesterday and got Skylar.  The scratch didn't show up until 3 hours later. 

pteradon family

The girls have been watching a lot of Dinosaur Train lately so tonight they were pretending to be the Pteradon Family. 

Tiffin Fest Parade

Today was the 5th annual Tiffin Fest Parade.  It goes through our tiny town just a few blocks from our house.  This is our 3rd year seeing the parade.  It gets a little bigger every year.  This year the kids got a TON of candy.  Skylar's favorite part was Santa and Mrs. Claus.  ha-ha. 

very excited, waiting patiently

it started raining on us a little (that's their friend Olivia from school) 

here they come

mustang

old men on weird bike things

SANTA!!!!

waving at Santa

grabbing candy

butterfly nightlight

It may be meant for infants, but it works on older children also.  The girls do not like to sleep in complete darkness, but they need it mostly dark.  They have had LED nightlights in the plugs, but they end up knocking them out or something.  Skylar saw a nightlight on tv that projects stars onto the ceiling and asked for one.  I couldn't find the one on the tv, but we came across this one while in NY.  I found it in the infant section and they had a frog and a butterfly.  The girls chose the butterfly.  It projects the stars in 3 different colors, and also plays a lullaby.  It plays for 30 minutes and then shuts off.  It's very subtle so when it goes off it doesn't startle them.  So far it's working great.  We do allow the girls to watch a tv show before bed, but then after the tv goes off they beg for more.  Now our rule is, 1 30 minute show and then the butterfly goes on.  The butterfly is so subtle that they fall asleep long before it turns off.  yay.  Also if they wake up overnight, they can start the light or music without having to wake one of us up.  Another bonus. 

this is what it looks like in the dark

very faint glow on the walls and ceiling

New York Vacation

We just got back from our yearly trip to upstate New York to see John's family.  As always, we had a great time.  We decided to go this week for several reasons.  Great Grandma Alma turned 89 on July 3.  Great Grandpa Fred turned 95 on the 1st (I believe).  Cousin Rebecca graduated highschool and also turned 18 on July 6th.  We also found out John's dad was scheduled to have his second hip replaced on July 5th.  It was a week of celebrations, and also worry. 

We had a lot of things planned, but didn't end up doing half of them.  The girls spent a majority of their time swimming in grandma and grandpa's pool.  They weent swimming at LEAST 2 times every day.  They both made a lot of progress with their swimming.  We did take them to see fireworks on the 3rd.  The Great Escape was setting them off and we could see them from the ice cream shop across the street.  On Friday the girls went to the Great Escape with their cousins.  They had a great time riding the rides and going down water slides in the water park.  Other than swimming and the amusement park, we did a little shopping at the outlets and just hung out with family.  It was a nice vacation.  We were sad to leave, but ready to be home. 

I almost forgot.  Friday night we took the girls to a moon glow (hot air balloons)  it was too humid so only 3 balloons inflated and they took them down quickly.  The girls got to help deflate one of the balloons.  They were in heaven.  Then Saturday morning we got up early to see a balloon launch at the Warren County Airport.  About 30 balloons launched and we were able to get right up to them.  It was really neat. 

Here are a few pictures. 

Skylar using her Binder of Fun I made for her

Larissa with her binder

Larissa playing the iXL

playing in the back of the car while we stretch our legs

There is a Rissy behind that pillow

stopping at a park on the way.  We got their jammies on because it was around 8pm and we hoped they would go to sleep.

watching fireworks

whacky sleepers

Fred, Becca and Gram