Swimming At Aunt Dusty's!

My sis is nice enough to invite us up all the time for swimming. Her house and pool is tucked away in beautiful mountains and always feels like a little get away when we go up there. I have no doubt my girls will very fondly think back to their time at their Uncle Frank's, Aunt Dusty's and Cousin Chase's house.

She really has a tough life.

While waiting for their meals, Dusty sets them up with coloring and cartoons. No wonder they love her house!

                                           

We see deer everytime we go up to her house. She has all kinds of wild life up there. If you look in the bottom left of this picture you can spot one.

My Silly Charlotte!

Charlotte does this thing where she pretends she's whispering to you but really she just moves her mouth and makes lots of facial expressions. I LOVE when she does this to me because I get to see her adorable face up close and I get to play along with her.

She has called her bathing suit a "baby soup" for the last year or so. It's pretty much the cutest thing of I've ever heard so I made sure to record it since I think she's starting to say it right now. Darn it! Why can't she stay 3 forever and refer to her bathing suit as her baby soup until the end of time? I'd be completely okay with that.

Neighborhood Walks!

I'm not sure why but I started this post months ago but never finished it. We haven't actually taken a walk for a few weeks now because it's gotten so hot but I need to plan an early morning walk soon because I bet it's beautiful at that time of day.

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We like to go on family walks around our neighborhood. We've found a perfect path along a canal for our treks.

 We get to enjoy nature while getting some exercise. Win! Win!

 Sticks are one of Charlotte's favorite things at this age. She reminded me of the little boy in The Andy Griffith show while walking along the dirt path dragging the stick behind her and making a line in the sand. Just reminded me of a childhood time from long ago.

Morgan loves the scooter she got for her 6th birthday. She takes it everywhere and is really good on it.

This is how our canal had looked for months but this summer it's actually been full of water! Look how dry the earth is in this picture. We were so surprised the first time we went on a walk and actually saw water in our canal!

Morgan is really into the show "Wild Kratz" right now. It's about nature and animal preservation. Morgan has really embraced the idea and see's herself as a spokesperson on nature's behalf. While on one of our walks, Morgan stopped to be our tour guide explaining the different species of plants, animals and flowers. 

She did pretty good.

 See! "Our" canal has water in it now! I'm not sure how the whole canal system works. I'm assuming they opened some type of dam somewhere to allow water to flow through the canal systems to the valley for the farmers during the summer. I should really look into how all that works. There's a dam nearby. I wonder if they give tours? Morgan can see how a real tour is done!

We have lots of farming out where we live. We live on the outskirts of our city and fields and fields of produce, orchards and vineyards surround us. Our city is booming so I'm not sure how long it will continue to be farmland but if it were up to me it would stay like that. I guess I'm more of a country girl at heart.

 It's hard to see but she's looking at some ducks in the water. 

We've even been taking Maggie with us on our walks and she loves it. She's such a good girl.

Food Trucks & Splash Park!

I've passed by this nice fruit stand with numerous food trucks a few times and always wanted to check them out. Daniel had a weekend day off so I of course used it as an opportunity for the family to head out to this food truck mecca and then take the girls to a splash park nearby.

We got there a little too early (in hopes of beating the heat) and there wasn't a lot of trucks set up yet. We went with the reliable stand by of tacos which didn't disappoint. The hibiscus tea was delicious!

The girls were treated to some fancy shaved ice!

Daniel, Maggie and I set up chairs nearby under the shade of a tree and relaxed while we watched the girls enjoy the summer.

   

This little one managed to finagle a cupcake from a nearby birthday party. 

Chocolate frosting mustache!

Last Day Of Kindergarten and End Of Year Performance!

Daniel and I attended Morgan's end of year award ceremony. We were proud of her because she received all the awards achievable for her class. She was proud too.

Look at that face!

I of course teared up watching their precious performance.

My girl on her last day of school.

I love this little girl so much. She makes my world go round.

Although Kindergarten has come and gone, I'm looking forward to experiencing every school year she has left.

Me and My Girls!

I love Daniel and my bed. Even if it's the middle of the day and we're just relaxing at home, I'll sneak away to our bed to lay down for a few minutes to check my phone or crack open a book. My girls always quickly find me and we end up with some much needed cuddle time.