Pirate's Cove

Well, our local pools are no longer like bath water. There has been no humidity lately and overnight temperatures have been in the 60s. I really like hot and humid weather in the summer because it makes pool time so much better. JoAnn and I had planned on going to Pirate's Cove on Monday. It was not very warm, but we went anyway. JoAnn joked, "If we don't stay until 5:00, that will be even better." We stayed until 5:30. We were there for over four hours.

 I was last there two years ago and since then they took out the diving boards and that section of the pool and added two water slide.

The kids enjoyed playing in the pool and going down the water slides.  Josiah couldn't do the big slides because you have to be 42 inches for them.  The kids really loved playing in the sand.  Here is a picture of Ethan and Lydia.

Ethan dug a huge hole for himself.  That is Nathan and Amelia, his brother and sister.

The kids also enjoyed the smaller slide section of the pool.

I think they had the most fun piling on top of each other and trying to squish the person on the bottom.

It was another fun day at a water park but I liked the weather better the day we went to Volcano Island.

Firetruck Visit

Today, the local fire department visited our neighborhood. They have a new chief who wants them to visit every neighborhood and pass out safety information. When they knocked on our door, our kids asked, "Where is your firetruck?" They said it was around the corner and asked the kids if they wanted to see it.

They opened up the doors and let the kids sit in it.

The kids were rather happy about this.

This is the pumper truck. Later, the equipment truck stopped by.

Wesley was very interested in all the tools.

Lydia had her blood pressure checked in the ambulance.  She didn't want the electrodes put on so the boy beside her was checked.  She told me later, "If they see a flat line when they check your heart, that means you are not doing very well."  That is an understatement for sure.

Josiah tried on a headset.

Lydia tried on a hat.

Wesley asked what is the heaviest  tool.  It's the 16 pound sledge hammer.   

I am always impressed by how nice the fireman are and how they genuinely enjoy showing the kids (and the adults) the firetrucks and ambulance.

Hiking in a Storm

Last weekend, we went to Blacksburg for a quick visit.

On Saturday, we ate dinner at Macados with David and Amanda and their girls.  It was a "kids eat free" night.  After dinner, all the kids and dads went swimming in the hotel pool.  The water was too cold for me.  Our local pools are like bath water now.

On Sunday morning, we ate breakfast at Gillie's (delicious) and then walked around campus.

Chris and I met while working at the library at Virginia Tech.  Here we are back where we started.

Lydia loves posing for pictures.

We went hiking at Cascade Falls

It was beautiful, especially when the sun was shining.

A group shot.

I hiked this trail as a child and a college student and now a mom.

A little water fall.

Josiah started out walking with me and then with Chris.  I think he figured out it was more fun to walk with an older cousin than his parents and he was very happy to walk with Claire.

In front of Cascade Falls.

Just our immediate family.

David and family.

Once we started walking away from the falls, we could hear thunder in the distance.  I asked Amanda, who was a girl scout leader, "What do we do on a hike in a storm?"  She answered, "We keep going until we get to a cave we can wait in."  Once it started raining, she kept telling Lydia and Lucy, "Hurry up. Don't run."  We reached the cave after getting moderately wet.

We waited about 30 minutes for the storm to pass.

It would have been nice to look at the radar on our phones, but we didn't have service.

When I asked Lydia her favorite part of the weekend, she said, "Hiking with Lucy."  The cousins all had fun being together.

We met Chris' aunt and uncle for lunch at Boudreux.  I forgot take a picture of Mike and Ieda.  It was so nice to see them.  Lunch was delicious.  The kids loved it also.

Volcano Island

Today a good friend and I took our kids to Volcano Island. This was my family's second visit there.  We went with the same friends to Water Mine last summer.

I had a great time on these water slides today.

The sign said "you must be 48 inches tall" but one of the lifeguards told me that it just depends who is working at the top.  Lydia and Amelia aren't 48 inches tall but they both swim on the swim team.  The first guard didn't question them and just let them go down (maybe because I was with them).  Lydia said the second guard asked them how well they could swim.  I had to convince a third guard to let them go down (I just happened to be with them that time).  The guards probably aren't that strict because the water at the bottom isn't that deep and there is a guard right there in the water.

Wesley and Nathan had a great time trying to dunk each other.  They did the water slides a few times.

Lydia and Amelia tried it also.

Josiah spent a lot of time going down this little slide.  The water at the top was very cold, but the pool was warm.  It was very hot today; I think the heat index was over 100.

There he goes.

He got to practice his swimming every time he went down.  Kids can't do this slide with a life jacket on so I took it off and let him swim.

  It was just a short distance that he had to swim.

It was fun for me the first fifty times he did it.  I went down the slide a few times just to cool off.  I had to drag him away from the slide.

He got so tired that he started sucking his fingers while he waited for his turn.

There must have been water on my lens.

Learning to Swim

Josiah recently started swimming with his face in the water with his backpack on so I decided to let him practice without his backpack. Now, he will often beg me, "Let me swim to the wall without my backpack."

He keeps getting better and better at swimming but most of the time, I keep his backpack on him to keep him safe.

Baseball Game

On Friday, Chris was given two tickets to the Nationals game. I think it has been several years since Chris last went to a game and it was Wesley's first game. He doesn't play baseball so he had a lot of questions about the game. Of all the food choices, he wanted pizza.

Here is the view from their seats. Wesley is already asking to go back.

Since Lydia didn't get to go to the game, Chris took her out to lunch on Saturday.

Fireworks Party

Last night we continued our annual Fourth of July tradition. This was our fifth year celebrating with wonderful friends.

While the adults enjoyed delicious food and drinks, the kids ran around inside and outside of Michele's house.  We had to make our kids sit down and eat dinner.  There were 19 kids there last night (one was missing from the photo shoot).

Michele once again bribed the kids with bomb pops.

Barry had plenty of sparklers and other fireworks.

Mike was busy lighting all the sparklers.

Josiah got in on the action this year.

You can see one of the bigger fireworks behind Lydia and Wesley.  I love this picture.

This is another favorite of mine.

Here is a picture of Chris and me as we waited for the Falls Church City fireworks.

The city had a thirty minute firework display.  During this time, the boys (and some of the girls) were having light-up light saber battles as the fireworks went off in the background.  It was pretty cool to watch.

Near the end of the fireworks, Wesley went inside and came back with a slice of pie - twice!  He had a plate but no fork -either time.

After the fireworks, we went back inside and had a wonderful dessert that one of the neighbors brought over.  It was an Australian Pavlova with fresh berries.

Our kids went to bed at 10:30 last night.  It was such a fun party.

Forth of July Bike Parade

Today, our neighborhood had its first every Forth of July parade and party.

Families came with decorated bikes, scooters, wagons, and strollers.

Josiah has moved up to riding his own (blue) balance bike.  Lydia is still riding a hand-me-down bike from Wesley.

There were crafts, cookies, muffins, and cupcakes.

The kids also had popsicles.

It was a fun party and hopefully the start of a new neighborhood tradition.