The July Recap

July was a busy but fun month. We had two birthdays, a couple of birthday parties for friends, a trip to the shore, bike rides, and hikes, lots of swimming pool time and we even lost a tooth.

Garrett had a afternoon at Abby's house...it just happened to be his birthday day. Abby and her mom had a little party for him complete with candles and chocolate ice cream cones. You can see by their little chocolaty faces how much they enjoyed it. Thank you friends for making Garrett's birthday extra special!

Just a week after Garrett's party was a party for his friend Charlie. They had a fiesta party complete with a pinata. The party was at our favorite neighborhood park, the kiddos ran through the fountain, ate delicious cupcakes, and loved the candy from the pinata.

While Garrett was running through the fountain the most beautiful rainbow was showing through. The camera captured the colors just as I had hoped.

All the kiddos got to take a swing at the pinata. Garrett did really good and gave that pinata a run for it's money, but when Marcus Jr had his turn all the adults decided he needed more of a challenge. We didn't have a blindfold so we threw a towel over his head, Kevin got up it the tree to manipulate the rope, and Marcus took to swinging as hard as he could. After several attempts he finally busted the head right off it. The kiddos were excited and Marcus was very proud of himself.

We also had a Pioneer day celebration with our church family. We had a picnic at a local park. There were burgers and dogs, and lot's of delicious potluck sides. We had a couple of speakers tell stories about their pioneer ancestors crossing the plains in search of religious freedom. The kids and adults played pioneer themed games ending with a rousing game of tug-o-war. It as close and I know the boys loved contributing to the winning team!

One evening after work the humidity seemed a little less than normal and it wasn't too terribly hot so the boys and I decided to go down to Valley Green to feed the ducks and take a little hike. We hiked a good ways, the boys did awesome and at the end we stopped to feed the ducks some of our stale goldfish crackers. I love having a camera that I can be far away a take close-ups of the boys. It is so much easier to get them in their element. Most of the time they have no idea I'm snapping away. They were just sitting on the ledge talking about something I could not make out, but it gives me great joy to see them this way.

We took a trip to the shore for another birthday party for one of Garrett's friends. This was one of the hottest day predicted for Philly, but the weather at the shore was wonderful. We had so much fun with our friends. The boys built sand castles, buried themselves in the sand, went skim boarding, played football and Frisbee, went swimming, and ate the most amazing homemade doughnuts from a local shop on the boardwalk. It was such a fun day!


...And last, but not least, right before Marcus Jr went home to Alabama he lost a tooth. It had been lose for about two months. I got a text while I was at work one day that he had lost it and he was putting it in a safe spot for the tooth fairy. Yes, the tooth fairy did make her first visit to the Fleming home. :)