Watery Weekend Fun!

It was an action packed weekend of water fun for the girls following

the 4th of July Fireworks and Clam Bake.

Wim took all the kids to the beach on Friday, while I worked.

He met his sister and her kids at the beach.

All the younger kids had had a fun time hanging out and playing for second day.

Saturday we went to another beach for more

ocean fun.

 The beach we went to is known to have more gentle waves and there tend to be mostly families with younger children at the beach.

The girls were surprised and thrilled to find one of their

friends from school popping out of wave in the ocean!

Josie in front of our Mermaid Sand Garden. 

After so much running around, we took it a little easy on Sunday.

We hit our local spray park in late morning.

It was already quite hot outside! 

Me and the girls had a blast running around,

taking turns being the line leader. 

We took a break for a picnic lunch and then went right

back for some more splash run fun. 

It was great way to wind down from

the fun weekend! 

4th of July Clam Bake

We had a wonderful day at the family 4th of July Clam Bake!

Dousing the fire and getting ready to pull out the hot rocks to cook the clams.

It was a hot day and many of the kids

spalshed around in the kiddie pool

while waiting for the food. 

Soon enough it was time for clams! 

YUM!!!!

After chowing down on the delicious

bi-valves--

All the kiddie-pies were up and back in

the water fun.

This time with a home-made slip-n-slide. 

More food-- desserts and of course watermelon! 

It was another fun-filled day--

Clara Rose about 2-seconds into the

drive back home. 

Next up-- beaching it for the weekend!

First Camping Trip

Time to gear up for an action packed summer that is sure

fly by with all the fun events we have coming up.

To kick it off in summer fashion, I took the girls on

their first tent camping trip the first

weekend of summer!

They did great and we had an awesome weekend!

Josie and Clara Rose helped me pitch the tent, inflate the mattresses, set-up our sleeping bags, and entire campsite!

First night campfire and hot dogs!

Raise your stick if you LOOOOVE CAMPING! 

Yummy smores for dessert! 

There was a fun playground! 

Of course, we met our favorite camping hosts

the next morning!

Cindy and Yogi Bear! 

Clara Rose amazed me with her strength by

carrying two 5-lbs bags of ice from the camp store to our site!

We cooled off at the pond beach and

enjoyed a fun game of toss the water balloon. 

A fun ride on an old fire truck with Boo-boo and Cindy Bear. 

Pedal cars! 

They were really zipping on these rides! 

Next up, cruising all around the pond and campgrounds on bikes! 

Night two . . .

More campfire fun! 

Followed by a Beach Dance Party complete with

a DJ later that night! 

What a way to kick-off summer fun! 

Toothy Crossroads

All kinds of big happenings at our house these days!

After several weeks of wiggling,

and a little less giggling,

maybe a few tears,

Josie lost her very first tooth!

She was quite happy about losing it once the initial shock of

actually losing it wore off.

Clara Rose had a DR. appointment but decided

to bag-out of it.

Her BFF Bat Girl took the hit for her! 

Because the tooth fairy is just

too super cool ---

Josie lost her second tooth just a couple days after the first!

The tooth thing was old news to her this go around-- no tears, fuss, or drama at all! 

Our little daisy patch is in full bloom! 

In between all the rain, we managed to get a few pictures

of Clara Rose and Josie the morning of . . .  

Clara Rose's big Graduation Day from Pre-K! 

She is super excited to be going into Kindergarten! 

As if all that isn't enough . . .

Josie graduated from Kindergarten! 

She is quite proud and excited to be graduating and

attending Elementary school next year! 

We are very proud of her and all her accomplishments! 

The Letter "C" First Letter in the Foulest Word Ever!

I have sad, heartbreaking news to share today.

We recently learned that one of our dear family friends is waging a war against Cancer. I cannot begin to tell you how many of my friends have endured wars against this terrible disease in the past several years.

Robert was recently diagnosed with metastatic melanoma and prostate cancer. He has endured one surgery already and is facing another, in addition to treatments and recovery. Despite a double diagnosis of cancer, he is committed to fight both cancers head-on. Robert sees the smile on little Angeline’s face and finds the strength to fight on because he very much wants to be in Angeline's life supporting her as she grows  up.



Robert helping Josie roll Angeline in a tube at a party



Angeline is the same age as Josie and was on of Josie's very first friends after we adopted her and brought her home.



Josie and Angeline playing about a month after we arrived home from China.

  

Josie and Angeline during one of their many play dates.



Angeline hanging out with us a month or so before we adopted Clara Rose.



Angeline was on of our first friends to come for a play date after we adopted Clara Rose.

Robert is such a wonderful Dad; quiet, patient, loving, and has always been such a joy with the girls.



Robert Playing with Angeline and Josie.



Robert was often behind a camera taking pictures, so pictures of him are hard to find.

 We are absolutely heartbroken with this news.

Kathi, Robert, and Angeline greatly appreciate any support folks might be able to provide to help defray their mounting medical bills that are not covered by health insurance. Anyone who has ever dealt with a major medical situation knows there is often just as much that health insurance does not cover as what it does cover.

The link to their site is below. You may need to cut and paste it into your browser for it to work.

http://www.gofundme.com/35knag