Alot of catching up to do!

Ok, I think that I may have outdone myself this time! I think I am WAY behind in posting... I surely have a ton of pictures, but that would take entirely too long this late in the day. So, we will just have to worry about that another day.

First, I don't think I had mentioned that we have gotten a pool. Oh... I cannot recall the name right now. It is not a permanent fixture, but does come with a filter system to help keep it clean. Anyway, the kiddos LOVE it!! They are wanting to swim all the time. Jess has become quite the fish. She has no problem with being underwater, jumping, doing flips (sometimes). She has become very comfortable. Brandon does not want to go underwater, does not like being splashed. He is perfectly happy to "swim" around with his floatie ring and occasionally make up games to play with Jess.

We have been to the zoo. Going to the zoo at birthday time has become a sort of family tradition for us. Being that the kiddos have their birthdays close together is pretty nice too. One of the things we like to do is to go to the petting zoo area. They have a display showing how to measure horses in hands. We have a picture for each year at this display all the way back to Jessica's 1st birthday. Man, time flies!

For the third year in a row, Hendricks County has put together a Rib Fest at our local park. It is a good time for everyone. Along with some good food, there was a band, face painting for the kids, games and fireworks at the end of the night. We meet up with friends, hang out while the kids play. We enjoy it. Brandon decided to be a dare devil. He decided to climb the outside of the BIG, BIG tube slide. He was rescued (although, I don't think he wanted to be) and no harm done. I keep thinking of the "what if." This boy has no fear!

We had 4th of July fireworks at our house. This too has become a little tradition for us. The kiddos love to help daddy shop for fireworks. I'm not sure who is more of a kid at this time of year-- daddy or the kids! This year we brought the fire pit around to the drive way. It was a bit cool for July. We have some super cute pictures of the kids on Uncle Mike's motorcycle.

Daddy has been out of town quite a bit. This typically is a busy time. While we don't enjoy daddy being gone, they do get to learn about different spots on the map at least! It is pretty cute to have Brandon ask if daddy is in 'Tucky and Jess to pipe in with "no Brandon, I think he went to Alabama." They should be wiz kids in geography.

We did take another trip to the zoo. This one was a "short trip" with just me and the kiddos. It was due to be pretty hot and humid that day so we just hit the favored spots. Oh, and we also hit the dolphin show and rode the train. They were pretty excited since we didn't do those two things on the last trip a few weeks earlier.

And most recently, we took a couple days to stay with my mom (Grandma Anne) in Dayton. It is not too bad of a drive, but we still don't get there too often. But Grandma was excited to see us none the less. The three of us... And in reference to Jess getting too comfortable in the pool, she dashed off to jump in the 5 ft while I was getting our stuff put down. Did not have her life jacket on. She actually did pretty good! Until she realized that her feet couldn't touch the bottom to push off again. She was just out of arms reach, so I had to jump in. I had not packed my swim suit... complete with car keys and cell phone. It appears that my watch (that I finally replaced the battery in the week before) is water resistant. Yay! Key fob still works and my phone dried out. Jess' lesson... life jacket and ask before leaping!

So that should pretty much wrap us up for the last several weeks. I will have to get to work of those pictures...