Cousin Time - Part 3, Idlewild Park

The girls enjoyed their first trip to Idlewild Park with their cousins.

 

Juliana eyed up the Hoot-n-Holler train

 And she made some webbed feet friends

 All aboard!

 Such serious business

 The kids rode a few rides

 The girls are in the red and purple cages at the top.  

 It rained for a while, so we found some cover and watched it.

 The kids shared a funnel cake

 Hope splashed in the puddles

 Then the weather cleared off and we had a fun time in the water park. The water park photos stop here.  Hope loved splashing around and she enjoyed the wave pool.  She loved the idea of water slides, but really didn't like getting water in her eyes.  Juliana, again, had no fear.  She absolutely loved the water slides.

 Juliana fell asleep on the way out of the park.

Cousin Time - Part 2, Storybook Forest

My life has come full circle.  I took the girls to a park that I loved to visit as a child.

 

We had a cousins outing to Storybook Forest.  Hope was the perfect age for it.  She is at the point that she loves little fables and nursery rhymes (which she calls "those silly little stories"), which is what Storybook Forest is all about.

 

We saw a little pond with some frogs - Hope's new favorite animal. 

 The Good Ship Lollipop

 Juliana's lollipop treat from the ship

 Juliana and Leah in The Little Engine that Could.

 The Three Billy Goats Gruff

 Three Blind Mice

 The Three Bears' cottage

 Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater

 This Little Piggy Went to the Market

Bailee did too

 Jack and Jill

 Snow White - Hope warned her not to eat the apple.

 Humpty Dumpty

 Old King Cole

 The gang - Leah, Devin, Juliana, Jenna, Hope, Bailee and Leah and Devin's other cousin, Cobey.

 

A flashback to 1978 when I was four and Kathy was six years old.

 The Goodship Lollipop

 Little Miss Muffet - I am wishing I would have gotten a picture of Hope and Juliana in this same spot.

 Jack in the Box

Cousin Time - Part 1

We visited my parents for a long weekend at the end of June, and then the following week, my sister visited and brought all of my nieces and nephews too.  So the girls recently have had a lot of cousin time.  We did a lot of summer activities together and it was a lot of fun.

 

Day 1 - I had scheduled a cousins photo shoot a couple a months ago.  Unfortunately, it was rained out. 

 

Hope - ready for the photo shoot that didn't happen.

 So we took the kids to Ci Ci's Pizza for lunch and the kids played games after eating. 

 

Bailee and Hope 

 Devin and Hope

 Then we stopped at Walmart for snacks and drinks for our planned adventure on Day 2 - Idlewild Park.  Hope took a little rest in the seasonal dept.

 She tried on some reading glasses - I think she looks adorable in this pair.....

 And in this pair.

And that was our rainy Thursday.  Stay tuned for more pictures from our cousin adventures.

Our Pets

Since we do not have any pets that live in our house, Hope refers to the wildlife that lives in our back yard as her pets.  Here is the Momma and two baby deer that come in most evenings and some mornings to graze through our yard.

 

 

The fawns still have their spots - they like to run and chase each other, just like any human siblings.

Our Daily Life - Volume 37

More cell phone pics from our day to day life:

 

We spend most evenings outside, and lately we have spent much of that time frog hunting.

 

Hope with a baby frog she found

 A close up of the frog

 Juliana wanted to help Daddy with lawn chores

 Another frog

 A close up of the frog

 Bubbles!

 Juliana in one of her three choo choo shirts.  After choo choo trains, her Steelers' shirts are next in line on her list of faves.  I picked out the skirt to add a little girly touch.

 Sand table fun

 Saturday afternoon picnic lunch (or pic pic lunch as Juliana says)

 Hope's family portrait.  Joe is on the left.  I am on the right (I am blue because I wear a blue bathing suit when I swim with the girls.)  Juliana is next to me in the pink princess dress.  And Hope is the other princess - the one with the extra pizazz on her skirt and the extra long eye lashes (or lash eyes as Hope calls them.)

 Playing ball in the swimming pool.

 Love her.

 Hope still occasionally plays with food like a one year old.  Here is her cream cheese face.

 Three baby frogs: