July

After coming back from vacation, I felt like I had to plan some fun things so the rest of the summer wouldn't seem like a let down. Now as school approaches doing nothing seems pretty good by itself. Also we got new carpet that is soft but ugly.

I took Silas through a very truncated version of the ancient civilizations unit I teach. This is our brownie archaeology.

Elizabeth gave us a VBS in a box from the church she works at and it was a huge hit.

We went to Summerville to meet baby Tatum and then on to Folly for our one beach day of the summer.

Everyone is over karate, but we did earn our red stripes. We got in trouble for not wearing karate shirts that day because turns out red stripes are only for the purpose of taking pictures that will hopefully be posted to social media. 

Adorable kid selfie.

I am loving Rory's new take on eyeballs.

Silas rode every slide at Neptune Island.

Visit with the Nixons, very few of which are pictured.

The drive-in!

Missouri

We drove in through St. Louis to meet Axel! He is a doll! Every time we see Bob and Kristen, Daron says "I wish they lived closer. I could see us hanging out with them a lot." Yes, please!

We were in Branson for most of our visit, but we hit up Springfield for a Bridgetones concert and Grandma's 90th birthday party.

The boys loved Silver Dollar City. I think it was Rory's first time at a theme park of any kind. He sat by Hannah on Fire in the Hole and I kept waiting for screams but turns out he is a thrill junkie.

I was feeling like a hero for finding us a speed boat rental last minute on the Air B&B of boats. The tide quickly turned as said boat ended up being the sketchiest thing I have ever laid eyes on. We finally found people in the world more cursed than Dad. First they were late because they forgot the tube pump. Then the pump didn't actually work. Next they got a ticket for making wake from water patrol as they were warming the boat up. After that the boat would no longer start and was missing some sort of mandatory life preserver (along with every cup holder and a good bit of the upholstery). I'm not saying that having a snake tattooed on your head or gold teeth is anything to be ashamed of, but I do feel like it needs to be mentioned to really paint the picture of what we were working with.  Needless to say, we decided to call the boat a wash and enjoy this variation of watersport, kayak tubing. 

We did some family tie-dying. Doll-doll made everyone their own beautiful quilt. We also went to the creek, set up a (non-homemade and actually functional) projector in the shop for movie night, and the Roebkes won our first annual corn hole tournament. Also, fireworks.