Busy July

July has been a very busy month.  We did lots of stuff, and now I have LOTS more stuff to blog about and lots more pictures to post. 

The middle of July was marked by another trip to the ER, this time for me.  I was cutting herbs and managed to take a slice into the tip of my finger. It was a little painful and since Daddy had taken Princess backpacking for the weekend, the neighbor took me to the ER. Of course this was the week of Vacation Bible School, so I spent my week in the kitchen of church directing the snacks with a HUGE bandage on my finger. After 3 weeks, my finger is still very tender and it hurts to type....but it will heal. 

This is the snack area where I spent most of the week trying to get 160 kids to eat healthy snacks.

Karen at Cruise center - 13

Munchkin did not want to be in this one... she was tired.

Princess Azalea - 12

At Nauticus Museum

Tazewell Mermaid - 11

Lola - Downtown Mermaid - 10

Chrystler Museum Mermaid - 9

Accidental Tourist - covered with ticket stubs.

The Williams School Mermaid - 8

The Palace Shops Mermaid - 7

O' Sullivan's Wharf Mermaid - 6

Ocean View Museum Mermaid - 5

Library Mermaid - 4

Mermaid - 3

Miss NATO at Willard Model Elementary School.  I just found the web site and supposedly there are 89 of these around the city.... I don't think I will find them all.

Navy Mermaid

The city of Norfolk has a cool art project and symbol of the city, it is the mermaid.  There are mermaids everywhere and even books about all the mermaids.  They are spread all throughout the city and the kids have decideded recently that they wanted to take pictures if front of these mermaids.  So now we begin.  I am hoping to do a lot of them over the summer. You will also see how hard it is to get all 3 kids in one picture and to get them to smile and look at the camera at the same time.

Her name is "Maid for the Fleet" and is located on the Main Navy Base.

Babysitter

There are days when I love our babysitters.  They let me go out and have fun, or have a date with my husband.  I had a nice little surprise this time.  I came home and downloaded the camera and found a suprise from the babysitter.  I love it when they have fun with the babysitter. 

Entertainment

Some days entertainment is a simple as spilling and ENTIRE box of spaghetti on the floor and letting the kids pick it up for me.  They loved it, i was not as thrilled spill it.

July on the water

Of course we took a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house over the summer.  This year we got all 3 kids out tubing behind the boat.  Of course we only had the camera the first time when Princess was the only one who wanted to go.  It took a day of watching before Buddy would try it. Munchkin got to ride on Daddy's lap. 

Grandpa was the wonderful driver of the boat and he has lots of patience because once this little girl started in the tube she did not want to stop.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!

Swimming Lessons

We completed one session of swimming lessons this summer.  The two big kids are actually swimming pretty well, and they like spending time at the pool. 

While the big kids are in lessons, Munchkin and I get to play in the kiddie pool.  She loves that, however I would like it a little more if there was some shade and temperatures below 95 degrees. 

Ice Cream

We have a ball with our ice cream.  We dug out the ice cream ball for a treat on a hot day.  The kids loved it.  The outside gets cold after a while, but fresh ice cream is great. We haven't used it for a while, and the kids didn't remember we even had it.

Father's Day

We had a good day with Daddy for Fathers day.  Of course his favorite part was playing with his gift.  He took this picture, and I just found it on the camera.  That means I did a good job if he liked it enough to take a picture of it.

Tourist

We had a friend visit us from Hawaii, It is a great opportunity to be a tourist for a little while.  We climbed the lighthouse on Fort Story. Actually the big kids did, they don't allow little kids to climb up.  Munchkin and I hung out on the beach.  After seeing the stairs, I can see why.  Buddy actually climbed up twice, he got down and then wanted to go back up a second time. 

It was a great opportunity to spend some time with a good friend.  It is nice to be a tourist once in a while.

Busy Summer

We have been very busy this summer. This is a normal temperature to see in the van. Of course that means we need to get ice cream on a regular basis. Everyone loves it