Big Joe

I love this view from my kitchen window.  Every day the kids are outside playing with their friends in the shade of our tree.  They have spent so much time out there without us looking over their shoulders or having to stop them to move on to another activity.  Our garage has become a major hangout too.  Laney always has her music going and bracelet making underway for any friends that want to stop in and join her.  And you can find Carson somewhere on our block biking or climbing a tree with friends.  It feels more free than past summers.  At least Covid-19 has given us more time to enjoy the people we have right here in our neighborhood.  

 Charlotte got groomed for the first time and when she came out of the vet's office with bows in her hair the kids went CRAZY!!   Carson was taking pics with my phone on our drive home and texting them out to everyone.

 Millenium Park beach day with the Fricano's!

 Carson is back to lawn mower training.  He's grown a couple inches so that helps.

 Running the track with Grandpa one morning!

Carson jumped 13 hurdles in a row!

 We got to visit with Nicky and Aunt Sarah at Grandma and Grandpa Brang's house one Sunday afternoon.  The kids actually got to spend the weekend with them and they were oh so excited!  Patrick and I were pretty excited too!  We ran, played pickle ball, and golfed all in one day!

Friday night sleepover in the basement :-) 

 

 One morning, when the kids asked what we were doing that day, Patrick told them we were going to Uncle Tom's cottage.  The kids jumped, they screamed, they shook with excitement. It was honestly a better reaction than we got when we told them we were going to Disney World.

Evie swam out to the slide with the big kids this year.  She's getting braver! 

We bought "Big Joe" for our lake days.  This float can hold up all the kids so they can jump off it.  It's the most fun and the kids play on it for hours.  The best thing about it is that they refer to it as "Big Joe" like it's a person they know.   "Who's got Big Joe?!"  "Is Big Joe in the car yet?!"  "I'm taking Big Joe out, who wants to come?!"

 Grandma and Grandpa took the kids to a place called Moo-ville about a half an hour from us one day.  They had a blast and the ice cream was delish but the real treasure was the corn on the cob they brought  back from a roadside stand.  All 5 us of said it was the best corn we've ever had.