Dreaming of July

So here I am,

sitting in my living room,

on the couch

with the fire blazing in the gas logs

In front of the fire lays:

4 pr of shoes,

4 coats,

4 pr of gloves,

4 pr of socks,

4 pr of pants,

4 toboggans

and 

a few random shirts.

Why?

Because outside of our door

is a nice coating of ice and a little snow.

So since I am sitting all nice and toasty inside,

and it is so stinking cold outside

(average high for this time of year in our area is mid 50s - 

we are sitting at chilly 29° right now,

which is a slight improvement over the teens we have been

hitting at this time of night the past 2 or 3 days!

and we are expecting to hit 3° for a low! in 2 days!)

So let's venture back to July 2014

to recall a few warmer weather activities!

July 2014 was actually quite calm for this family.

Nana and Papa came down to watch fireworks with us:

(yes we were very much at a car lot!)

The two littles got the best seats in the house!

And of course we had to do sparklers!!

The littles took a little convincing, 

but they we couldnt' stop them!

This is how Jackson rides in a car.

(sigh)

The littles took swim lessons.

For the first time ever!

(Tony is second from the left, Lex is second from the right)

Mr. T was NOT feeling this swim lesson thing.

He was quite worried about drowning.

He would not let go of the instructor at all!

And after a ton of coaxing,

finally agreed to go under.

And survived!

We put the big boys to work in the yard!
Whoo hoo!!

We finished up our school year.

Jackson finished 2nd grade

and

Rico completed 4th.

A couple of days of swim lessons got thrown off due to thunder.

So we had 2 make ups.

One happened to be on a Friday when we would be out of town.

So we were graciously allowed to have a "private" make up lesson.

Tony Cruz thinks if he sucks his gut in,

he will float.

I wouldn't know...

I never mastered "the float".

Tony Cruz got MUCH better with getting his face wet!

And started kicking his feet,

but never loosened his grip on the instructor.

Just a few quick clips of their progress:

Ms. Priss did phenomenal!

She looks a bit exhausted in this next picture

because she swam the ENTIRE length of the pool

all...

by...

herself!!

Then we went to Raleigh,

for some reason...

can't remember why.

Nor can I remember why we drove the truck...

which we hardly do...

but all 4 passed out on the way home.

And I couldn't resist a picture.

During July,

we also went on an EPIC 

camping trip!

Tent camping...

to Aurora, NC.

With our scouting group.

There were about 40 of us that went.

On the drive out there,

we saw a real, live black bear walk across the road,

less than half an hour from where we would be camping!

Um, no thanks!!

The weather was amazing!

It was a tad drizzly and overcast but nice!

It didn't stop us from enjoying:

fishing,

boating,

kayaking,

paddle boarding,

grilling,

bonfire(ing)

playing

and

just flat having a ball!!

There is another EPIC trip planned this year,

but I will be flying,

well camping,

solo...

if we go.

Not totally excited about the whole

"tent" camping thing...

much less by myself,

without the hubs!