Other July Outings

In July we tried to pack a lot of fun things in for the kids, but not all of them merited their own blog post.

On July 4, we headed out to the Disney Store at the Concord Mall about 60-90 minutes away from where we live. It was either this or watching a parade, and we thought that Lily might be more excited to see Disney Characters than classic cars drive down the street. Boy were we right! She immediately found Sulley (from Monsters Inc. and Monsters University) and hugged him and wouldn't let him go. She also found Woody and the whole Toy Story gang. She was our own little personal shopper and tried to collect as many things as possible. I believe that she thought the more she put in her bag, the more we would buy for her. Even though her bag was full when we went to check-out we only left the store with Sulley in her arms. She was so happy and talked to him the whole way home and made our life awesome the whole rest of the month because of how much she loves her monsters!

At the mall Lily found an Ice Cream Truck and wanted to drive it. This truck was a great source of entertainment while Daddy checked out his favorite stores (J. Crew, Nike, Adidas).

We were invited to go splash in the pool with Marianne Dunn (plus some). I've been really nervous about taking kids to the pool because I don't have enough "me" to take care of both of "them" in the water. However, this particular pool near Marianne's house has a little kiddie pool and it only comes up to Lily's waist. It made it significantly easier for me to watch two children while Lily was able to splash and play away her day.

Tanglewood park - With it being so, so hot (and humid) outside, it's not fun to go walking and I drag my feet. Tanglewood park is a nice alternative because it has a lot of shade and you aren't drenched in sweat by the time you come home. The only problem is that it's about 15-20 minutes away from where we live. The other problem is that there's not as much to see as other walks we normally take. But, this particular day - we were in luck! We saw some deer and it captured Lily's attention and the whole rest of the walk she was looking for the deer. We didn't find any, but that didn't stop her from seriously looking for them!

July 14 was "Cow Appreciation Day" at Chick-Fil-A. If you dressed up like a cow you got a free meal! So we double dipped and went for lunch and dinner. For lunch we met up with Asher and ate sandwiches (Lily had chicken nuggets) and for dinner we met up with the Ashton's and had salads (Lily again had chicken nuggets). Michal refused to dress up. But I made him his very own costume with spots all over the front and back. He loved them so much that they stayed on his whole meal! I was lucky enough to be sitting next to Lily and because she is such a good little helper, she decided to take all of my spots right off of me and stack them in a pile. From my Neck to my Ankles I was covered in white spots, but by the time I left I was like a sneaky black ninja!

Eli and Noah (and Eliza) Sloop were kind enough to have us over for a play date at their house and we made homemade pizzas. Lily wasn't too sure about how to make them, and I had my hands full with Marco. Luckily, the other moms helped her decorate her very own fancy schmancy pizza. (And it tasted just as good as it sounds).

The very end of the month we decided to get together with Caleb and AJ for a play date at Chick-Fil-A. I LOVED this play date! Let me tell you why...

Lily has always been very scared and nervous to go play in the play place by herself. She doesn't want to let me out of sight and is very cautious and afraid to climb all over things. But cute AJ guided her through the whole play gym and helped her climb up to each level and encouraged her to slide down. She was in heaven. Normally when we leave a play date Lily asks to go back and see "[insert name here] again", so I was surprised she didn't say "See Caleb again," but rather "See AJ again." Actually, I'm not surprised, AJ was so cute with her and it really just warmed my heart. I'm ready to hire him as a babysitter!

But the very, very best part about going to Chick-fil-a was the news that I received from Marin. She surprised me with some "utterly" good news that she is expecting a baby come February 2016. "Holy Cow." How moo-rific is that? I'm just tickled for her and couldn't be happier. I'm already planning on what I can buy this baby and how I can spoil him/her.