Open Gym

Paige's dance studio/gymnastics location had a grand opening of sorts for their new (but not yet finished) building, so we decided to stop by. We stayed a lot longer than we thought we would because the kids were especially enjoying having free reign in the gym and on all the equipment.

Paige was totally enamored with the acro demonstration

Action shot of Paige and Owen enjoying the gym!

The Seal

Stopping at the seal to take a picture after a visit to the playground or a trip to the pool is a must.

Jamie's Birthday!

One of our favorite people had a birthday recently! The celebration was a super good time and involved mini pinatas! Shiny gold decorations! Cookie cake! Awesome people!

We have perfected the selfie. 

Hanging out with our nieces!

Aww!

There's the (surprisingly sturdy) mini piñata!

It happened to be National Sister Day too!

Aww again!

The babies are always saying important things.

It was either time to clean up the decorations or use them to make fantastic skirts and wigs!

A lovely sash!

Last bit of fun before we actually cleaned up!

Little Gymnast

Paige did a fantastic job in her gymnastics class this summer and she got to try out a whole bunch of equipment she's never been on before. Beams, rings, foam pits, the list goes on (but I don't know the names of a lot of the stuff). Even though she loved it she had to make a tough decision between continuing gymnastics or moving back to dance. Dance it is!

Hike

Some time last week I realized we haven't spent enough time in the park this summer so we packed up a lunch and got going!

Lunch! Paige brought her camera to document the trip

Some serious checker playing

Going up!

We got to the top and stopped for a picture

Going down!

Date!

Pat and I had some time to ourselves this weekend and this was the only picture I took! We did some shopping and went for a nice dinner at a restaurant called Flip Side. The next morning he joined me on my run by biking alongside me. It was nice to have some company for 9 miles!

The Coaches

Pat had a chance to coach Owen's team by himself this week and Paige was super excited to help out!

Skipping along

Studying drills...

Back to work

Lasagna

I've been telling Pat for awhile now that I would make some lasagna but I've been pretty lazy about it. Lasagna is pretty time consuming (multiple dishes and multiple heat sources!) and we've been busy this summer. I finally got around to it last week and it was so good! I just made the recipe on the back of a Barilla pasta box (might have been this one) but apparently they know what they're doing.

Zoo

Our last stop before leaving Columbus was the zoo! We were too tired to make it through the whole zoo (this place is HUGE!) but we did our best! The kids alternated between being too tired to go on and zipping through the playgrounds but I knew how they felt. I was tired too!

Crew

The last time we went to a Crew game it was freezing! We planned a little better this time by not going in March:) We had some friends who made the trip up just for the game and we ran into them maybe five minutes after we got in the gate. Owen and Pat tried kicking a soccer ball into a giant jersey (see picture below because that description doesn't make sense) and Owen got to go on the field after the game for a penalty kick just like last year (Paige declined)! Unfortunately, the game ended in a tie but we all had an awesome time!

See! Giant jersey. It was tough, we didn't see anyone make it in while we were there.

Owen and friend.

It was a little bright...

Group shot during the game!

Columbus Part 1!

We took a little trip to Columbus and even though it was a short trip...it's going to take me a few posts to cover all the fun! Our first stop was to Easton for eating and shopping. We tried a new place for lunch, Abuelo's, that everyone loved. Great Mexican food! Then we let the kids pick out something special at the store of their choice. The shopping center had small boats you could sail in the fountain for a donation so the kids spent awhile doing that too (and running into the only other boat in the massive fountain).

Paige chose a mini guitar for her doll so I thought it was appropriate for her to pose with this statue outside of the restaurant.

Big fountain!

The kids had fun sailing the boat. Owen was the captain and Paige assisted as first mate

Pat and Owen were wearing their shirts for the Crew game we were going to later that night so it was especially awesome when we ran into the Crew's mascot!

Paige says the guitar is for her doll but she sure had a lot of fun making up her own songs on the way back to the hotel!

Frittata/Tortilla

I was too hungry to take a pretty picture of this but it was so good that it needed to be documented. I got a leek in our CSA bag and wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible so I found this recipe for a Cheese, Leek and Potato Tortilla (sort of like a frittata with potato). Everyone gobbled it up and the one serving that was leftover the next day was just as good!

Soccer Camp

This was Owen's third year of camp and Paige's second! Paige got to go for an hour and a half this year and spent the other hour and a half that Owen was still at camp playing on the playground. Every day! She never tired of it. They both loved it and got amazing evaluations from their coaches. Owen's favorite part of camp was playing the World Cup games. His team for the World Cup this year was England. England dominated from the beginning so they switched the teams around after a couple days to make it more interesting. Owen ended the week on Mexico but when they announced the winner (England!) they let all former and current team members come up to celebrate. Paige's favorite part was a game called Chicken (I think?) that was awfully similar to flag football. They chased the coaches around and pulled pinnies off of their belts. Usually I see her running with Owen but now that I've seen her running with kids her own age I know how fast she is!!

Ready for camp!

Paige got to hang out with her friend while their older brothers were at camp.

Playing handball

Paige is about to score a goal!

Waiting for the evaluations

Most of the campers!

Fancy

This is what happens when you tell Paige she can wear whatever she wants:)

Foot Golf

Pat and I were invited to play Foot Golf with some friends (they're also parents of Owen's soccer teammate) and even though the day was hot we had a lot of fun. It was part of a corporate challenge so we were playing against another company (we won!) but also up against a lot of other companies that were playing that day (we did not win!). Pat definitely had the best shots of the day and since it was a scramble it worked out well for all of us:)

Pat teeing off

Owen stuck around to hang out with his friend and walk the course with us.

About halfway through the game

Finished!