July

Just after our Canyon Creek trip with my family, we were able to meet Ryan's family at Groom Creek (near Prescott) for July 4th weekend. We were able to stay in Ryan's grandma and grandpa's cabin, which was wonderful! Don't get me wrong, I love camping, but when you have a restricted diet to adhere to it is sometimes difficult to cook over a campfire/campstove. Just down the street from the cabin was a beautifully green park with all the toys/sports equipment available. Ryan and the boys had fun playing catch while the girls rode scooters on the basketball court. I sat in the shade and enjoyed watching my family have fun. We tried to teach the kids how to play tetherball, but they didn't stand a chance against either of us. We spent one morning in Prescott and watched a parade, followed by pizza and soda at a park. We saw Ryan's parents' new cabin/home for the first time. We hung out with Ryan's parents, siblings and their kids. We enjoyed lovely afternoon naps and a nice rainstorm on our way out of town. I realized that I love green grass and I prefer deciduous trees over pine trees, although ANY trees are better than what we have here!

Ryan playing catch with the boys.

Girls hanging out on a log in the shade.

At the end of July, Ethan turned 7. He definitely doesn't look 7 (and Kate actually weighs one pound more than him) but he is surely 7 now! His cake even proves it.

For birthdays this year, we decided to skip the gifts and have the kids go on a date with Mom and Dad instead. For Ethan's date we played laser tag. He had a lot of fun. He was completely swimming in the jacket, though. I think the bottom laser was near his knees! We let him play in the arcade and he won a lot of tickets. Those tickets purchased a few items that broke within the day, but he enjoyed them anyway. We finished off the date by going to Bahama Bucks, a much sought-after location by all of my children.

The day after Ethan's birthday, we had a pretty cool looking sky. I was too lazy to take a picture of it, so Ryan did. The clouds had created a little wall-like part poking out of the bottom of the clouds, creating a ridge that went across most of the sky. This picture only shows about half of the ridge.

Next up: August.