Errand Fun!

I wouldn't normally document a day where we were running errands but we had to take the van in to get fixed and I kept remembering this picture. I needed to take one to compare! And then we ended up at World Market where there was an entire dining set named "Paige" and the kids were having fun posing! And then Paige got her own library card! Ended up being pretty exciting after all:)

Akron Camp

This was Owen's third year at an Akron camp, and second year as an overnight camper! Sort of...Owen had trouble with the overnight portion this year and only stayed the first night. We drove him back and forth so he could still participate in the soccer part and he still had some good moments. His team won Pizza Cup and actually, every game they played. They were a very spirited bunch and played well together. I hope that by next year Owen will be ready to try again but if not, I hope that he's willing to be a commuter! I love that he goes in and none of the coaches have any expectations of him or what kind of player he is, he shows a calmness on the ball when he plays there too.

Learning how to open those tough doors!

Roommates

Paige and the greats

Action shots

Owen's team, between games

Proudly holding certificates

Owen and his coach, Stu

Camp complete!

Blueberries

We went on our 6th annual blueberry-picking trip with the Bodenmiller's! I can't believe we've been going for 6 years now! The kids turned it into a competition and kept calling dibs whenever they found a good section with a lot of ripe berries, which was fine with me since I got to go home with great blueberries either way:) We made a couple batches of muffins with them but otherwise just ended up snacking on the rest. 

Visit!

The Dippongs came to town for a visit from North Carolina! It's been quite awhile since we've seen them so it was nice to catch up and I love seeing how big the kids are getting. We were busy chatting the whole time so the only pictures I have are the organized ones from right before we left.

Baseball

The baseball season is over! Owen's team went undefeated during the regular season and then lost during the playoffs for the town's championship. I don't know if Owen will be back next year but I know he ended on a good note and had a fun time, even if he was a little burned out by the end of the playoffs. Throughout it all, he maintained his love of crazily flavored sunflower seeds:)

CFC Camp and Hip Hop Camp

The kids both had camps last week! Owen had soccer camp and it was hoooot. I packed a ton of water and a gatorade everyday to make sure he stayed hydrated but he was red and exhausted every day. He did have a fun time though, I think his favorite part was playing World Cup!

Paige had Hip Hop/Tap camp last week and also loved it! She doesn't get to dance hip hop during the season so she loves getting to try it, even just for a week. One good thing about dance is that it's indoors so we don't have to worry about sunscreen and hydration!

Ice Cream Truck

Finally! How did we get so far into the summer without catching the ice cream truck?? The tradition is that the first time we hear the truck we drop everything and run for it but this year was a little trickier. We did hear it a couple times but we had just eaten ice cream and decided to wait for another day. The truck this day just did not want to come down our street so the kids had to run behind, catch him and tell him to come to our street! Finally, finally, ice cream!

It was not cold this day...why are they dressed like this?

Walk and Lunch

The Lake to Lake Trail is one of my favorite walks! Look at that scenery! I spent about half of the time pointing out how beautiful it was to the kids so I hope they appreciated it:) We parked at one end of the trail and walked to Panera to meet Jamie for lunch and then headed back with a stop at the playground.

The Fourth!

The Fourth of July! We met a bunch of soccer friends up at the fireworks and had a blast. There were sparklers, Uno games, snacks and lots of fun!

Visitors

The Welmerink's came to visit! Originally, we were supposed to have some dinner and then head to the 4th of July parade but it got rained out! I felt bad because it was going to be the little ones first parade experience! We recovered though and still enjoyed dinner and then walked up to Igloo's to get some ice cream. They had a prize wheel and Owen won some funny glasses, which he wore for the rest of the night:)

Florida Day 6 and 7

Getting up early two days in a row for theme parks was a little exhausting but the second day was a new park-Animal Kingdom. That made it all worth it! We had a plan to get to Avatar Flight of Passage first because we knew that was the most popular ride but the wait was two hours before we could even get in line! We decided to keep an eye on the wait time while we tried some other rides. Throughout the day it kept going up and up until it reached 4 hours! We were disappointed that we wouldn't get to try it but at some point Pat checked the app and it was down to 90 minutes! We practically sprinted over there and the line moved pretty quickly. We had a scare when Owen started worrying about 70 minutes in that maybe he didn't want to do this one...but he came around eventually and it ended up being everyone's favorite ride! I wish we could have done it a few more times! Another favorite was Expedition Everest, probably the most intense coaster we went on at any of the parks. Paige was scared during the ride but by the end of the day decided she had liked it after all. 

Other Animal Kingdom highlights-

Primeval Whirl-a rickety kid's coaster that spins as it moves around the track

The food-I found falafel for lunch, and the dinner options in Pandora were great! We treated ourselves to Night Blossoms too. They were basically layered slushies with boba balls on top

It's Tough to Be a Bug-the kids liked this so much we did it twice. It's a 3D show show about bugs that blows water, air, and bad smells at you

Kali River Rapids-a raft ride where you don't know who is going to end up soaked! We all ended up slightly wet but nothing crazy

On the last day, our plan was to swim all day but crazy rainstorms prevented us from swimming for more than a couple hours in the morning. Instead, we played lots of Uno and got giant milkshakes:)

Pandora!

Waiting for Pandora

Ice cream and frozen lemonade

Hahahaha!

Night Blossom-3 layers of slushee topped with boba balls!

Pat made sure I got in some pictures!

The dinosaur and I were so excited! Not sure about Owen...

Strawberry cheesecake milkshake

What did Owen get??

Cookie Extreme milkshake

Florida Day 5

Magic Kingdom! We're pretty familiar with this park because we've always done two days there in past visits. This time we did one because we had other parks we wanted to get to. First order of business was getting to The Seven Dwarves Mine Ride, a ride that eluded us on our past visit. It was pretty good-half tame rollercoaster/half story-telling. The line was too long to attempt it again though! It's funny how the kid's opinions change about the rides as they get older. Paige didn't like the Haunted Mansion and Owen had no interest in going on Space Mountain, which is probably Paige's favorite ride there! Owen's favorite was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad- the hottest, longest line we waited in! We cooled ourselves off with some super yummy, refreshing Dole Whips!

We caught some of the parade in between rides

Waiting for the Jungle Cruise

Minnie ears!

Of course you need a picture in front of the castle!

Dole Whips!

Saying goodbye to the Magic Kingdom