Is July Over Already?

On July 7, I took the girls to the Lacey Library to meet real princesses - the fair ladies of the Lakefair Royalty.  My girls were so excited and the princesses were so sweet.

Sophia doesn't look it, but she was thrilled to be with all the princesses and the queen . . . and to get a real glittery crown like theirs.

On July 13, we all headed to Klamath Falls for a Schnell/ DeVoll reunion.  It's not a big family, but it's a GREAT family.  My girls loved playing with their cousin Landon, who loved being the oldest for once instead of the youngest ;)

The resort where we stayed (thank you Grandpa Ernie), had an indoor pool - which, sadly, we only used once, but the girls loved every minute of it.  Here they are posing at the door, ready to go make a splash!

 Since I was swimming with Sophia, I didn't get any pictures of Amelia. Sophia loved "swimming" in this pool - it was only 1 1/2 ft. deep.  I didn't mind it myself, since it was considerably warmer than the big pool.

And of course we visited Crater Lake while we were down South.  It is as beautiful and blue as always.

What I didn't realize about Crater Lake is that there is a hike in the SW corner of the park that is quite different, aka. hot and not so blue, but just as interesting, especially for my geologist sister-in-law.  Here are the 4 grandkids with Grandpa Ernie - ranging in age from 3 - 17.

On our way back to Klamath Falls, we stopped for lunch and a dip in the lake at Lake of the Woods.  Where Amelia fed the ducks potato chips . . . 

 . . . played in the water . . . (or, if you were me, just stood in the water, trying not to freak out that my girls were on a floating dock in deep water without a life jacket on) . . . 

 . . . enjoyed some brother bonding time . . .

and ate ice cream . . . in a towel - because Mom forgot to bring a change of clothes.  Who knew that lunch at Lake of the Woods meant that there would be an actual lake to play in, right?

Here's the whole gang - looking happy after a delicious lunch!

And of course, there always has to be silly games played at a reunion, right?  This is the aftermath of our minute-to-win-it "toss the Cheetos in the shaving cream hat" game.  Notice Amelia in the background trying to salvage Cheetos to eat.  Obviously they're a rarity at our house and too important to leave lying around ;)

And after we said good-bye to the Schnells/ DeVolls, we stopped for a quick visit to see Richelle and Phyllis in Central Point.  

And finally, we stopped to visit Grandma Diane before heading the rest of the way home.

July has just flown by.  Maybe we'll catch our breath in August . . . or not.  But maybe I'll be better at getting pictures posted before they're out of date.

Fun Times

To celebrate July 4th, we took the girls to the Tumwater July 4th parade.  It's a "hometown" parade, so the floats/ entries aren't that exciting, but the girls seemed to like it . . . other than the loud cars/sirens/etc. that Amelia does NOT love.

It was so cute watching the girls wave at everyone that went by.  Sophia loved the horses.

And Amelia thought the school bus was pretty cool - she really is excited for school to start.

On July 3, we took the girls to the Lacey fireworks show - the girls loved it.  They also loved lighting small fireworks in their own driveway on the 4th.  They've got a handful of snaps and are ready for things to get exciting.

Yesterday I took the girls to the Lacey Library for Princess Story time - stories read by the Lakefair Royalty.  They were a bit shy at first, but they soon warmed up to the princesses and were excited that they even got to make paper crowns with the princesses.

And there were so few kids there, that they each got a "glittery" crown and got to have their picture taken with all the royalty.  It's hard to see Sophia's excitement, but she couldn't stop talking about how she got to sit on one of their laps.  I love fun, free events that I can take the girls to.