Avery's First Day of First Grade

Today was Avery's first day of school.  Unfortunately, it was pouring rain this morning, so we couldn't take our usual pictures outside or at the bus stop.  In spite of the rain, she had a great first day.  Her teacher, Mrs. Balunis is very nice as are the kids in her class.  She already has homework and tomorrow is her day to bring in something to "share" with the class, kind of like show-and-tell.  So they didn't waste anytime getting right into it but she just loves it!

More Summer Fun

Whenever we weren't travelling, we were having fun close to home!  The girls both went to a YMCA camp for a week.  This was Sierra's first year and she loved it! She was in the Scamper Camp for pre-schoolers and they did some neat projects including a flower leia and a message in a bottle.  Avery was in the Algonquin tribe and she had lots of fun swimming, boating,and playing games.

 

Off to our first day at Camp Foskett

 

 

 



 

Posing on our last day of camp

 

 





 

For my birthday, Cory and the girls took me to Mexicali Grill, which was great!  And, as you can see, the staff donned me with this lovely sombrero and sang "Feliz Cumpleanos" to me :)!

For the last week of summer break, the girls and I took two day trips.  One to the Boston Children's Museum and the other to Davis' Farmland.  They were both lots of fun and a great way to end the summer!

Hanging out in Boston outside of the children's museum

Trying to make a big bubble around themselves in The Bubble Room

 

 



Avery & Sierra climbing up the 3-story climbing thing

 

 



Avery trying out the saw in the tool room

 

 



Sierra doing some jackhammering in the construction zone

 

 

 

 

 

Sierra pretending to pick Avery up in the Bobcat...silly girls!

Later in the week we went to Davis Farmland, which has lots of animals to look at, pet, and feed.  There is also lots of imagination and playground areas and a Splash and Spray Park.  It was a good time all around!

Avery holding a baby goat

And Sierra trying to get a handle on him.

 

 



Avery brushing a little cow

 

 



Avery feeding and Sierra petting a sheep

 

 



Avery riding a donkey

 

 



Sierra on her pony ride

 

 



Over in the water area in the bubble tub

 

 



Getting rinsed off in one of the sprinklers

A Weekend in Maine

 Last weekend, we took our annual trip up to Maine to vist Uncle Joey, Aunt Jenna, Alex & Stacy at their Grandparents cabin.  The kids spent most of the time in the lake swimming, jumping, and tubing.  As usual, we had a great time!

The next-door neighbors have this floating dock in the lake.  The kids spent a lot of time swimming out to it and jumping off of it. This is Sierra, Stacy & Avery jumping together.

 Stacy, Avery & Alex floating on a croc

 

 

 

One day, we went to Wells State Park to do some hiking.  Unfortunately, the hike we tried to do was EXTREMELY buggy with mosquitoes.  So, instead we walked to the ocean to hang out.  It was really cool because there was a tidal pool that we could walk around in and there were all sorts of snails, hermit crabs and other creatures to hunt for.  The kids loved it!

 Here we are in the tidal pool

 

 Cousins at the beach

 

 

 

After the beach, we went to Kennebunkport for dinner.  We walked around town a little and took a horse drawn carriage ride.



 Saying goodbye to the horse

 

 

 

 

Then it was back to the lake!

 



 All of the kids helping Uncle Joey drive the boat

 

 We stopped in the middle of the lake and everyone jumped off the boat for a swim.  The kids thought it was so cool swimming out in the middle of the lake!

 

 Daddy & his girls

 

 Avery & Alex going for a ride in the tube

 

 Sierra & Stacy taking a turn

 

 Avery & Stacy in a different tube that was a little bouncier..Fun!

 

 Daddy & Sierra getting ready to go out in the bouncy tube...

 

 ...and there they go.

 

 Avery jumping off of the neighbor's dock

 

 Daddy & Sierra making a big jump together!

 

 Sierra getting ready to jump off of the neighbor's diving board

 

Avery & Stacy making a big jump together!



Our Week in Pennsylvania

At the beginning of August, we spent a week at Gramma and Grampa's in Pennsylvania for a visit.  As usual, we had a great time! We had a pretty good week of weather, so we went spent most of our time in the pool, which the girls just love!

 

 Sierra inching her way down the slide

 

 

 Avery showing off going backwards!

 

 

 We even got to swim with our cousin Braden for a little bit

 

 

 We stopped by The Sweesy's for a little while so the girls could jump off of their diving board.  They are fearless!

 

 Even Sierra jumped off without swimmies!

 

 Gramma had heard about a woman in town who breeds Miniature Horses so we went to check it out.  There were over 60 horses and they were so cute!  Avery loved every minute of it!  Sierra was more interested in the numerous cats running around.

 

 We stopped at Great Gramma and Great Grampa's house one day.   This is just a pretty picture of the girls in their backyard.

 

 Stopping for a minute to pose with Great Gramma and Great Grampa

 

 While we were there, the Olympics were going on, which the girls were just obsessed with, so we had all kinds of Olympic Events going on in the pool.  Here are the girls and Gramma racing in the pool.  After that there was an attempt at synchronized swimming that didn't go so well :)

 

 Having some fun with Gramma and Grampa.  The next picture on my camera is of the girls under water after getting dumped off!

 

 We got to spend some pool time with our friends Aiden and Brady.  Here we all are enjoying some delicious watermelon.

 

 A cute picture of Brady and Sierra

 

 

 

One day was supposed to be overcast and rainy so we went to Pymatuning Deer Park where they have all kinds of animals and a petting zoo.  They had so many different animals.  It was a lot of fun!  After that we went to feed the carp at Pymatuning Lake which, as usual, it was pouring rain while we were there so I couldn't get any pictures.  But the carp were as hungry and as ugly as ever!

 The girls couldn't get over this little horse and how fat he was!

 

 Hanging out with a big reindeer

 

 They even had pony rides!

 

 

 

 

 Next olypmic event...Diving.  This was Avery's first attempt!

 

 Then it was on to Volleyball with Grampa and Aunt Jacey

 

 

 We went out to dinner at Quaker Steak & Lube.  The girls loved it because they have all kinds of cars and other vehicles hanging from the ceiling.  It was very cool!  On the way home we got hit with a pretty good downpour that let up by the time we got to Gramma and Grampa's house.  So Aunt Jacey ran inside to get some toy boats and the girls raced them down a stream running across the street from the house.  Apparently, Daddy used to do this for hours after a rain storm when he was a little kid.  The girls had a blast!

 Watching the little blue boat sailing down the stream

 

 And then waiting at the end to catch it before it went down the pipe

 

 Picture time....with Aunt Jacey & Uncle Paul...

 

...and with Gramma & Grampa.