Last Week of July

So to finish up our busy July, we celebrated the 24th of July (Pioneer Day) by going to the "Days of '47" parade with some of my family. I didn't get many pictures at the parade, but here are a couple of Leah enjoying the parade on her Aunt MoMo's lap.

After the parade, we went back to my parents' house for some much needed naps. Then I tried to set up the kiddie pool in the backyard so Leah could beat the heat in the water. But someone had borrowed my parents' pool, so I had to improvise with the little sandbox. However, that didn't keep Leah from having a great time playing in the water. I even used water from the hot tub to fill it up. So it was a nice and pleasant temperature for her to play in.

She had a ball playing, but didn't always want to stay in the pool. She often ran over to the slide for a ride down. Which would cover her bottom and legs in grass and dirt. But she didn't seem to care in the least. (You'll see from the pictures that Ross also enjoyed soaking his feet in the water with Leah.)

Before long, Makynlee came out to join Leah in the fun. These two had a blast splashing together and chasing each other around. By the time they were done, the water was full of grass and dirt and who knows what else. They were two dirty girls in much need of a bath who didn't want to stop playing.

Here they are later on all cleaned up and playing on the bench swing. I know I say it a lot, but these two have so much fun together.

The next night we went to the Bees baseball game. We had a great time and, overall, the little girls did pretty well. They didn't care much about the game, but they definitely thought it was a fun place to play. They especially liked when Aunt MoMo bought a snocone and shared with them. This picture of Melyssa (MoMo) was actually taken by Leah (with a little help from me).

These two were on the go the entire game, but they were having such a great time. We have since gone to another game with them. They were both looking forward to going again and were both sad when it was time to go home.

During this week, my parents were with the youth in their stake on a Pioneer Trek in Wyoming. So my mom wasn't around to take care of Kynee during the days while my sister worked. So I offered to come back up and take care of her on Friday. Leah was more than happy to join me on a trip back to Grandpa's house. The girls did pretty good playing together that day. There was only one major cat fight that ended with both of them in time-out. One of their favorite things that day was playing in my parents' new free-standing pantry that didn't have stuff in it yet. They opened and closed the door while they were inside a countless number of times.

That evening after people were done with work, we met up with Ross and went to dinner at Texas Road House (yummy!) and then went to Trafalga to play. Trafalga is a local fun center with games, rides, miniature golfing, etc. We weren't sure the girls would be big enough for any of the rides, but they really wanted to try them and the workers let them ride. This frog hopper ride was one of those where they take you up about 30 feet in the hair and then drop you back down a little at a time on a bungee system, then take you back up to do it again. Both little girls wanted to try it. It was funny to see their different reactions to the ride. In the first picture, they are getting ready for the ride to start. So both are happy just waiting. But the next picture is taken about half way through the ride. Leah is clinging onto both of her aunts' hands with a look of uncertainty, while Kynee has a huge grin on her face and is loving every minute of it. But don't worry about Leah, she did have a good time and even rode it a couple more times before we left. Even though it involved a lot of panic on her part each time, she still wanted to do it again.

We thought the girls would enjoy the miniature bowling. They have little lanes with small balls, perfect for these small ones. Kynee got more into it than Leah. But I got a picture of both of them rolling the ball with MoMo's help.

We tried to all go miniature golfing, but by hole 3 it was obvious that Leah and Makynlee were going to make it a very difficult task. Both were enjoying it a little too much and we couldn't get them to leave anything alone. So I took the girls to find other things to do while the other 4 adults finished their golf game. Their favorite ride was a miniature pirate ship that rocked back and forth. We rode it over and over (with Leah clinging to me each time, of course - funny girl) and we even convinced the others to ride it with us when they finished their golf game. It was about 11:00 pm when we left that night, but everyone was having such a good time, that it was hard to pull away any sooner.

So that pretty much concludes our busy July. August is already a third of the way over. Our summer is slipping away so quickly. Ross has to report back to work next week. We've done enough fun things that we really can't complain, but it is still so sad to see it coming to an end.