Butterfly Beauties

Boredom on a hot summer day brought about an idea to paint faces.  After a bit of research and some googling of ideas, this is our result.  Not to bad for my first time I'd say.  They wore them to Walmart and got lots of compliments... and probably some weird looks.  Still, we had fun!

A stroll through the park

Today we needed something fun to do to keep the kids entertained. It has been quite HOT the last week or so and we needed something to let them run around and not get too hot. We decided we should go to the new park in Mesa that has a splash pad and all sorts of cool equipment.

When we woke up, we just knew it was a Hawaiian shirt kind of day (and now that I know we have a Hawaiian shirt, everyday will be a Hawaiian shirt kind of day!!). Miles was ready to go out and enjoy the sunshine and warm weather.

The park has lots of different types of equipment. 

There is a cool zip line swing that the girls both got to try. 

They have lots of climbing equipment that has ropes in a ton of different directions and designs. 

Allie liked this part the most and would have stayed much longer if it wasn't so hot. 

Mom was smiling big too (probably because she thinks the Hawaiian shirt looks so good). 

The park also had a splash pad so the kids went and cooled off in the water. Allie was not shy about getting soaking wet within the first 10 seconds.

Miles took it a little slower and investigated the fountains more carefully.

Hadley wanted to walk around and see everything but not get too much in the water spray.

But in the end, everyone was soaked through. 

We got to take a ride home in underwear and a smile.

Miles also decided he would do some walking. This is a picture of him mid stride. He took about 10 steps in a row before finally losing his battle with gravity. Making progress though!

Miles - 10 months

Miles continues to grow up (I guess this is not Neverland). So today we celebrate 10 months by undertaking the onesie picture torture (he doesn't really like getting dressed up in these things and would prefer to not have to sit still).

Good pictures in the backyard. The grass was a little wet and recently mowed, so Miles thought it was more fun to get dirty than smile for the camera.

He did sit still for a second though. 

He got to enjoy some flight time afterwards for doing such a good job (it might be a bad thing that we are already having to bribe him to sit still for pictures).

Blame it on the rain

Rain is always a novelty here in the desert, so whenever it rains, we always head outdoors to bask in the brief relief.  

Miles, on the other hand, likes to get dirty in the rain instead.  Whatever floats your boat.

A few umbrellas added to the excitement of the precipitation and we did our best to enjoy the few minutes of rain.

Fun, food, and fireworks

This was our first Independence day in the valley of the sun so we decided to make our own fun, a bit last minute.  The day before we called our friends, the Rasmussens to see if they wanted to join us in a swim and bbq party.  We had so much fun swimming with friends and having a delicious bbq, followed by an amazing fireworks show in the cul-de-sac with our $19 firework package.  

After our show and some glowstick fun (in the pool as well), we walked over to the park to watch the firework show at the church down the street from our house.  What a way to enjoy the neighborhood and have lots of fun.  Horray for America!

Get ready, set...

Jump!

Our little friends:

Miles and Emmalie playing together

Syd, Macie, and Allie eating their scotcharoos in swimsuits.  What is better than that?

Cakes and Had found the poppers and did them all by themselves before the other could find out.  

Glowstick and firework fun!