{iPhone Rewind} :: July

Aiden's turban nest. He said, "send that to the president." This kid's got jokes!

We had a long stretch of 100-degree days, and the humidity was stifling. Not our favorite summer days...

4th of July flowers from Mike

Maddie was super excited about the free samples at Trader Joe's :)

A beautiful {double} rainbow after a storm

Lunch and a show {our neighbors were having a tree removed}  :)

I wonder how many days are left of seeing this bear on the stairs...

This little guy spent a lot of time climbing around our living room window, flying into our back door, and hanging out on our patio table. I'm pretty sure he was either a baby learning to fly, or he was hurt and needing to recover. I'm choosing to maintain our Disney backyard aesthetic and believe he eventually gained the strength to fly safely away on his own :)

They're both WAY too big to snuggle on top of Mommy, but where there is a will, there is a way...

 

We ventured into Rainforest Falls for VBS this year! Our Super Sloth, Jumpin' Jaguar, and Amazing Anaconda learned all about the nature of God, and it was a fun week full of praising our all-knowing and faithful Creator!

Aiden accidentally left Pooh Bear at a friend's house...and he took a journey to make it back safely home :)

Our little World Cup junkies haha

One of our missionaries from the Netherlands {same one Mike visited earlier this year} has come back to Virginia for the summer, and he taught a class on the 4 gospels: Four Portraits, One Jesus. I always enjoy learning from him, but was doubly excited for this class, as I prepare for our Luke Bible study this Fall!

After almost 40 years of faithful ministry, Milt and Val said "see you later" to our CBC family. We had a sweet morning hearing Milt's last sermon as our Shepherding Pastor, and then enjoying an all-church picnic with family and friends throughout the years.

These two thought it was hilarious to stuff the Pooh bear costume with blankets and have been carrying it around like an extra person. They have been dancing with it, sleeping with it, and I find it propped up in random places. 

Beach Bums!

We got a chance to return to Fenwick Island this year, and the kids were so excited! Overall, we had great weather, and we were so thankful for the chance to get away for a few days as a family.

We drove into Delaware the first day, dropped our stuff, and headed straight to the beach! The kids enjoyed the afternoon playing in the waves, building sandcastles, and searching for seashells. We learned our lesson from last year and had a solid plan in place to manage the sun so no one would get burnt. And I am so happy to report that we escaped the whole trip with zero sunburns! :)

We got a fun visit from a sweet rabbit family while we were at the beach house. One of the kids spotted a rabbit {fun}, and then noticed a tiny baby rabbit with it {super fun!} But then we started noticing more and more, and in the end, there was an entire family: 2 adult rabbits and 3 tiny babies! We got to watch them run around and play in the yard, and it made everyone's evening. 

Can you see the tiny baby in the pot??

The second day at the beach was the coolest. It was cloudy, so definitely much cooler. Despite everyone being cold, it didn't seem to stop the kids from playing in the waves! Mommy hunkered down under some towels and weathered the wind, but still got to enjoy watching everyone play and listen to an audio book.

We made the drive up to Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk to walk around and check things out. The kids got to try some of the famous Thrasher's fries, and we played a few games at Funland. I will say this: these kids need to stay far away from Vegas haha. We enjoyed dinner at Dalmata Italiano before heading back to the beach house for the night. 

The sun came back out for our last day at the beach, and everyone was grateful! We really love that this particular beach is not crowded, at least at the times that we have come. The kids enjoyed more of the same: playing in the waves, searching for shells. But they also got to enjoy time on the boogie board with Daddy. 

We went in search of ice cream, and ended up at a snow cone place, which was a big hit! Everyone loved it, and we couldn't get over how BIG they were. These were the MINI size! It's a good thing it was vacation :)  The place was outdoor and had a bunch of games to play, which was really fun. It was a great way to round out a fun week.

Not pictured were the board games {they were SUPER excited to play the Star Wars Stratego game again haha!} and movie night. It was a great trip, and we are grateful for the chance to get away and make some more fun family memories. 

National Archives Museum

We wrapped up our study on our founding documents - the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights - so we made a trip into D.C. to visit the National Archives Museum to see the originals! It is such a gift that we live so close to our nation's history, and that we have access to all of this cool history. 

I have to say, the fact that the museum is filled with a bunch of old documents, they made it as interactive and interesting as possible. At least, I thought it was fascinating, even if it wasn't the kids' favorite. But either way, it was still cool to see the pieces of history that we learned about in school. It seemed pretty historic to be seeing them as we just celebrated our nation's 250th birthday. 

The Constitution

Maddie with the 19th Amendment {women's right to vote!}

Emancipation Proclamation

Declaration of Independence

We are so grateful for the freedoms that were so hard-fought for in our country. And I absolutely love learning with this crew!