Church: We go to an AMAZING church here in Lafayette, which we all absolutely love. Aliana helps me twice a month with a little 5 year old boy who is hearing impaired. I sign to him a little and Aliana plays with him a LOT!
Father's Day: We had a nice brunch out with Brian's parents for Father's day. There was a girl making balloon animals, they were awesome!
Colorado Springs & Florida: Brian and Carson went to Florida with some students that Brian had been working with for over a year on a project that was taking a rocket ride to the International Space Station. The boys had a wonderful week of NASA tours, Wet & Wild and Legoland. Aliana and I took a girls trip to CO Springs for a night. Aliana raised money (thank you grandparents and great grandpa) to buy baby items for the Springs Rescue Mission. She bought the items from Walmart and then we got to drop them off at the Rescue Mission.
Nana's visit: My mom had a conference at the end of June, so we enjoyed having her stay with us before the Denver conference and then visiting her in the city as well. She and Aliana made the beautiful flower arrangement in the back of a photo inside of a wooden cradle that my great/great/great grandpa made!!
Soccer & Gymnastics: The kids each chose a summer activity - Carson played baseball (which Brian helped coach) and Aliana did gymnastics classes which she absolutely loved!
Cousin time: The kids love spending time with Sydney and Bryce who live about 15 min away from us. They enjoyed many afternoons playing and on this day set up a lemonade stand to earn some cash.
4th of July: We enjoyed fireworks put on by our city over a local lake. The kids both fell asleep while waiting for them to start, but after we woke them up enjoyed the show!
Camping at Brainerd Lake: Right after the 4th we camped with Brian's brother/wife and kids. Have I mentioned that it always rains when we go camping?!?! It poured the entire trip so we cut it a night short and had a cookout in Jason & Melissa's backyard the last night.
Texas and the Sand Dunes National Park: Our big family trip of the summer was to Texas and the Sand Dunes at the end of July. We had a WONDERFUL trip!! We went to visit my grandpa, cousin and uncle who live near Austin. The kids had such a great time in TX visiting with my family, playing at the local park, train, and children's museum, and spending a day at the local water park. On our way back from TX we drove through the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado which was also amazing!!! We camped there an had such a fun time hiking, playing in the water and visiting a random alligator farm that was nearby.
We are sad to say good-bye to our easy schedule, relaxed days spending time together as a family, and playdates with some very special friends! Brian has been busy working on the house (finishing the basement, tiling and constructing our entry way) so that we have some nice places to enjoy on the weekends once the school year gets rolling! I have loved my "stay-at-home mom" time - it's going to be a shock to the system to go back to work! Bye-Bye Summer!! You were the BEST!!!
