Please, Can We Get a Mouse?

We are mouse sitting for our friends again. The first time, the kids were a little bit afraid to pick up the mouse and hold it, but now they love to. Adam wants to teach it tricks like walking on a string. Adam asks all day if we can get one of our own. Look at that face. No, look at that hair! (on Adam)

Day Trip to NYC

We had a Saturday with nothing going on so finally decided to dive in and take the trip we kept talking about. We drove to Newark, NJ and got on a train. I thought it was cool how the ticket taker really punched the tickets like on Polar Express. We got off at Penn Station and just walked around. We made our way to Times Square, Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building and lots of shopping. Adam was in heaven at the Lego store, Elli loved American Girl, and Amy had fun at Toys R Us. I grazed the sale rack at Anthropologie and Riley was the navigator. Not much buying, but lots of ideas for Christmas!
Riley heard about PopTart World on NPR and knew all about it, so we had to stop in. We got poptart sushi and a poptart sandwich. It was pretty silly. The things people make money on!

Fruits of our Labor

This is what we pulled out of the garden this year. I tried the butternut squash and it was pretty good! The watermelon didn't work, but we are having the spaghetti squash for dinner this week. Next year we are not doing squash or melons. They take up too much space!

Cooling Off in the River

We got invited to this quiet little, pebbly spot by a river and it's just what the doctor ordered on a hot day! We've been a few times now and even Riley likes to meet us there when he can. Mom's can relax and kids can skip rocks, float down the water, and maybe even get along. No DS's aloud.
Adam thinks he was pushing Elli, but I think he's doing the robot.

Making Pools

The first time we went, we didn't bring swimming suits, so they had to play on the edge. They each made a little pool and tried to decide who's was better.

Goin Shootin

Riley loves guns and loves to go shoot them. We went with our friends, the Hendershots, and had a rootin tootin good time!The kids each had a few turns loading and firing the rifle. Good to know some good safety rules and how to hold it, right?
Even little Miss Elli had a go.
This picture looks so red neck to me. "I got to shoot the gun today, Ma!"

Into the Night

We kept on shootin till the sun went down. Here's Adam and his friends, Jacob and Josh.
I thought this was a great photo. Maria is due in September. Pow! Pow!