The girls were both involved in swim club again this year. My sister is their coach. She does such a great job with them. They were swimming everyday. It really was amazing to see the progress in both of their strokes by the end of summer. I must be honest, I will not miss the swim meets nor the humid swimming pool sitting area!
Both girls were able to go to VBS with the Olin boys, dear friends of ours. They had a blast! Our church does not have VBS anymore and it is such a sad thing for me. So I just love that they are still able to have fun with their friends while learning about Jesus and God's Word. Thanks, Miss Lori!!! It was so much fun to see Bean come out her shell and venture out to new things with VBS and all the other fun things she did this summer.
We also spent time with friends hanging out. We enjoyed Stumpf Day and were so happy to be able to have Em and Meg stay for the day. We painted, rode bikes, beaded, danced in dress up...you name it, we did it! We also visited the wonderful Stumpf-a-doodle-do bed and breakfast! Lovely place! We were able to see Laura and Ben again. Very nice to spend that time with them both. It had been too long! Most of all we played with our cousins as usual. We love the time we get to share our lives with them. We played with frogs, turtles, hermit crabs, you name it...we had it!
We did get to go to Holiday World as well. That was a fun day spent with family. Nana, Poppy, Ennie, Uncle Mark, Aunt ConCon, Drew, Krista, Carley, Sammy, Doodle, Bean and Matt got to go. They loved it so much! Just a few weeks later, the girls went up to Aunt Tammy and Uncle Rex's house for the week to go to their Summer Sonshine Camp. It was so much fun for them! They loved the time they spent together with Randy, Maren and the new friends they met.
The girls were only home for a day before we were invited to join my sister, her kids, a friend of my sister's and her kids on a trip to Panama City Beach, Florida. They had a 15 passenger van ready to leave and decided to include us. That was so gracious. While I struggled on whether to go or not, Matt told me to go and enjoy. So I did. The girls and I had a great week together. It was eye opening to them to watch Mommy boogie board or snorkel...things Daddy usually does with them. I think Mama gained some respect that week. We all laughed a lot and loved the location. Thanks so much Hines Family!
Of course, in the middle of all of that we celebrated both girls' birthdays. Doodle is 10 and Bean is 7. Mommy also had a birthday, but truly I feel perfectly fine with letting my girls have this moment! :) Finally, school started August 10! We have had a blast getting back to work. I will write more of what we are studying soon. I think the recap of our summer has made me sleepy again!
