July

 July was a fun, busy, and hot month for us.  We had a lot of fun!  At the beginning of the month we celebrated Mia's birthday.  She turned six years old.  I can't believe she is already six! She is smart, fun, and so much fun to have in our family.  We love her! 

We started off her day by opening presents.  She was supposed to be in school on this day so it was fun that she wasn't and we could spend the whole day partying. 

Alex got Mia this crazy, awesome unicorn doll.  It is perfectly suited for Mia.  

Mia also got a new American girl doll for her birthday.  She wasn't quite ready yet so she got a note from her instead. 

For the activity Mia wanted to go to Altitude.  It wasn't our first choice during a pandemic but it wasn't very busy and turned out fine.  She had so much fun! 

We wore her out pretty good! 

After Altitude she wanted to go to HuHot Mongolian Barbecue for dinner.  It was very good as usual!

The next day we hosted a birthday party for her with our family.  She wanted to have a rainbow theme.  Brandon made another incredible cake and it turned out so fun.  We are so glad we were able to get everyone together to celebrate our sweet girl! 

 

Alex finished up his baseball season this month.  He had a great season.  He usually played second base and had some great plays including an incredible catch in left field to save a few runs.  He also had some awesome hits including several triples.  It is so fun to watch him improve and work hard.  

One day this month our neighbor hosted a food truck that created creatures out of cotton candy.  It was pretty cool.  Mia got a unicorn and Alex got a baby Yoda.  

Just a week or so after her birthday her new doll arrived. Mia named her Aleah and she has loved her ever since.  

Our primary put on a bike parade this month.  The kids were excited to decorate their bike/scooter and parade around the neighborhood.  

We also spent a very fun evening at Cherry Hill with the Peterson's.  Unfortunately this is the only picture I took.  We were having too much fun! 

Mia got Just Dance for her birthday and has spent a lot of time playing it.  She is hard to beat. 

Brandon had to get an EGD done this month.  It wasn't too bad.  He was just a little sore afterward and they didn't find anything alarming so that is good! 

Alex and Mia love to have sleepovers!

We had a very fun 4th of July this year.  We hosted our annual pancake breakfast.  Despite the conditions we had a pretty good turnout.  

Then we headed to Grandma's house to celebrate her birthday.  We played games, ate lots of food, and finished the night watching The Sandlot in the backyard. It was a little noisy with all the fireworks going off but it was still fun! 

My kids did a lot of swimming this month.  Both in the backyard and at swimming lessons.  Alex decided to try out diving lessons this time and by the end of the summer he got pretty good.  

We spent another hot day at the zoo.  We were sad Brandon had to work but we had a great time. 

On the 24th of July we got to celebrate at the Cul-de-sac of fire! Our kids look forward to this all year and it was a lot of fun.  

I guess they are attacking Bayley! 

Wilson and Sadie created a very epic tv trivia game for us about all the best shows.  My team won of course.  

The next day we got to celebrate with our other side of the family.  We had a water fight (which included a few tears as always), the candy cannon, and fireworks.  It was so much fun! My kids are so lucky to have such fun extended families! 

Near the end of July we finally took our kids to Lagoon for the first time.  We had heard lines were short since they were limiting how many people could come in.  It ended up being a great time to take them.  It was a very hot day but we didn't have to wait in any lines.  We were able to ride every ride, many of them several times and spent a few hours at Lagoon A Beach.  Brandon and I took turns going on all the big rides with Alex and Mia was even pretty brave and went on all the rides she was tall enough for.  It was a very fun and tiring day! 

There were a few rides that we couldn't go on with Mia and she didn't want to go herself so Alex was always kind enough to go with her.  He looked pretty awesome on these little kid bumper cars.  

Eating a "dole whip" and pretending we are in Disneyland.