4th of July

Aunt Beth came to visit for the 4th of July.  She arrived on July 3rd:

As usual the sisters dress alike. Admittedly Beth wore her clothes to our house, and Becky was trying things on and realized she was dressed just like Beth.

Beth, Becky and Ally went Stand Up Paddle boarding on Friday, and I stayed home with Cloey. Cloey spends most of the time we are home together looking out the window for Becky's car. This day she figured out how to get 3 legs on the window sill. I could hardly believe it.

They look so sporty and ready to go!

After paddle boarding they went out for frozen yogurt. On the way home Ally fell asleep in the car. This is what she looked like when I came out to the car with Cloey to meet them. She was so tired.

July 4th:

Saturday morning we did some gardening in the yard, and I made food to bring to the BBQ at Liem’s house later that evening. After our hard work we headed over to the pool. Beth did a really neat braid in Ally’s hair.

After lunch Beth, Ally and I watched Jurassic Park. Becky said it was too scary so she took a nap. Can you find Cloey in the picture?

Then we headed over to Liem’s house for a 4th of July BBQ. Charlotte (at left), is Andy’s older sister. She painted all of the girls hands (and toes).

The kids at the park.

Ally and Beth being silly before we leave for the fireworks.

Photo bomb from Becky! Can you find Ally in her stroller? Khai is sitting on her lap. Yes we hauled out the “Purple Chariot” for the walk to the fireworks. At 10pm we thought that best. Ally was happy to ride and was a good sport about sharing the stroller with her friends.

Here is the 4 of us waiting for the fireworks to begin. They were amazing as usual.

Here is a group shot in the dark of us watching the fireworks.

July 5th came a little too soon – with not enough sleep for most of us. But Cloey needed a walk, so Becky and Ally set out to take her to the dog park. Beth braided Ally’s hair in an Elsa style braid.

 

Ally has a clipboard because she was going to do math work on their adventure. She was counting up how many dogs and what size there were.

Later in the day after a nap we met up with Rosa and her mom  Julie at their local pool.

Camping!

School ended on Thursday and Friday we packed up the car and headed north to New Hampshire’s White Mountains to go camping with 4 other families; Erik, Stella, Liem & Andy’s.

 

 

First thing is always to set up the tent and inflate the air mattresses. Ally just couldn’t resist jumping on all 3 stacked up. We shared a site with Stella’s family, at Stella’s request.

The 3 little siblings Khai, Violet & Nick hammed it up for the camera while the older kids tried to get the kick ball out of the storm drain pipe. They thought it might be a good idea to have Ally crawl in, since she is the smallest of the 5 of them, and get it out – but she ran away in terror and shock at that idea. They tried a large branch, but finally Stella (who is the largest of them) crawled in and got it.

S’mores are always a hit and Liem’s family all loved them, his mom & Dad and he and his sister Khai.

We love S’mores too! Ally prefers hers ala carte.

Stella and Violet love them too.

Breakfast in the morning – and snuggling by the campfire in the chilly morning.

Then it was off to our hike. We bought Ally a new backpack – with the agreement that she had to carry it the whole time, and it had to keep all her stuff and our stuff for the hike; snacks, water, etc. She agreed and she did it the whole way.

Turns out this hike was more than a hike – more like bouldering and climbing.

But we made it! to the top of Cathedral Ledge. Becky and Hanh drove up to the top. Becky had a bad cold and Hanh pulled her back out earlier in the week and wasn’t even sure she could go camping.

The whole group of us on top of the mountain.

 

The way down was really tricky. Ally held my hand the whole way, and she was really tired. But she did it. We were at the back of the pack, and didn’t get lost like Nancy, Khai and Charlotte did, so we were happy with that! After the hike some of us stopped at a fruit stand for fresh berries and jam – I couldn’t believe it was a drive thru fruit stand!

Ally – she loved hanging out on a large rock near the campground.

We were all tired after that hike/climb. Lunch was a nice respite.

After lunch the kids went to the river and played in the water.

And had their picture taken at the covered bridge.

Dinner our last night was hot dogs over the fire!

The forecast was for inches of rain our last night, so we packed up our tents and headed home. When the rain started at 10PM an hour into the drive home we were all glad we left.

It was a fun weekend, and we are so thankful to have these friends.