In Which We Sum Up July.

I'm being a bad writer.  Keeping up with vacation and camps and VBS and school and my writing I do here and here is really getting the best of me.  For the first time in my entire life EVER I would really like to get back to a regular schedule.
I know.  Crazy.

In the meantime, here's what we've been up to:

First it was the 4th of July.  Riley's cub scout pack made a float and Logan came and helped.  Savannah and Logan made red, white, and blue strawberries for the barbeque at grammy's house and thoroughly enjoyed the parade.  After, we went to our local baseball team's game and got to watch the fireworks.  I watched Logan- he was adorable staring up in awe.  Savannah still hates them.

Check out our cub scouts! Their float turned out great and Riley enjoyed riding.  I walked in the parade with him and some other moms and had fun chucking candy at people :)

After the 4th, we left on a trip to Hershey Park and Amish Country.  My parents joined us and I picked possibly the WORST HOTEL EVER! It was such a good deal (because it was in the middle of being renovated) but it did have a pool, so the kiddos were happy! We did a horse and buggy tour of Amish Country and the kids got to make "Amish" toys.  Hershey Park was a big hit, especially the roller coasters for Riley! He's definitely as much of a thrill-seeker as he ever was!

On our way home, it was essential that we go to Tony Luke's and get cheesesteaks in Philly.  We drove to the city and toured the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall in the rain.  Everyone else donned rain apparel, but Logan walked the entire way getting poured on and was the happiest I have seen him in his entire life.  He was soaked and smiling ear to ear.

A park near our home has a reptile show every year with (I'm pretty sure) the same guy who has been doing it since I was a kid.  At the end of the show he lets the kids come up and touch an albino python.  I took pictures.  I felt very proud of myself.  Yes, that is my daughter in her pajamas.  They match her Bitty Baby.  No, she's not wearing shoes.  Don't judge.

The boys also touched the snake.  You'll notice they are both dressed and have shoes.  Well, maybe you won't "notice" the shoes from the picture, but they did.  If their sister would sleep at night so that she wasn't getting dragged out of bed in the morning, maybe she'd be cute, too.  The cutest part of this experience was the herptologist showing a python shedding and saying "If you ever found one of these in your backyard, you should call me." Savannah, with a totally serious look, turned to me and said in the most concerned voice "We need his phone number!"

We've done a lot of swimming.  Sometimes Uncle Kevin comes.  The kids also got to spend the night at his house with Ms. Lauren and Uncle Kevin while I went to Ohio (more on that later).  They think he's super cool.  They're young.  They'll learn he's just an annoying younger brother.....

Maybe not.

We've of course ventured into DC.  (Yes, this is all one month) We went in to check out the annual folklife festival on the mall.  On our way from parking we stumbled upon the DC Farmers' Market and the USDA Children's Garden.  They let the kids plant and make crafts and had some great tents for us to picnic under.  It was really awesome.  Your tax dollars make for my kids' fun, people.  Keep paying up!

Let's see.....this is getting long.  Okay, so Riley went to an awesome art camp, Savannah and I got lucky enough to join Kyla for her birthday at American Girl Place (which she loved!), we've hiked and caught butterflies and made ice cream.  I got to have a mommy-day celebrating Jamie's birthday at Quattro Goomba's winery, we enjoyed some bounce time on a particularly hot day, the boys got to go and pick up Grammy and Uncle's new lab puppies in Pennsylvania, aaaaaaaaaaaand, the kids made me breakfast when I got back from my trip.  Not in this post, because it just happened today, we competed in our first cardboard regatta, which will get its own post as soon as I have pictures :)