Woodbury Days

Today was a big day. The girls got to be in their very first parade! It was Woodbury Days this weekend and the gym had a spot in the parade. Maya sneeked in at the last minute and was by far the youngest and smallest one there. It was HOT and all the poor girls were red in the face and sweating the entire parade route. They had the time of their life however. : )

After the parade, Pavel and Elena (the gym owners) had all the gymnasts over to their house for swimming and snacks.

They even had a diving board!!!

Tooth Fairy

Last night at 3 am, it FINALLY happened! Maggie lost her first tooth!

This is what she wrote on the envelope she put her tooth in for the tooth fairy. : )

Storm watching

This is what's going on as we speak...or as I type I guess you'd have to say. Mags and I were out on the deck watching a thunderstorm roll in just to the north of us. It was very nice out and we were talking about lightening and clouds and all kinds of interesting stuff.

We were watching lightening far away and listening to distant rumbles of thunder.

Then suddenly the clouds started to look like this.

I'm telling you...it was SO COOL!

Slightly scary because it was coming our way...but still SO COOL!

If the world does some day come to an end...this is what I'm sure it will look like.

Awesome.

Oh...by the way...we're all fine...no tornados...it blew over with nothing but some wind. : )

Scooter girls

Maya finally got herself a scooter. Maggie's had one for a while, well, since her last birthday I guess, but anyway, they are a most popular item on our street, and if you don't have your own scooter, you are out of luck and not part of "the gang". Aaron made Maya a deal that if she could learn to proficiently brush her teeth, she could earn a scooter. Well, the day came a few weeks ago when we finally deemed her "proficient", so off it was to get that long awaited scooter.

Maya's has bigger wheels than Maggie's last years model. I was at work, but apparently when they brought the scooter home, Maggie saw that the wheels on Maya's new one were bigger than hers and promptly decided that Maya's was faster and threw a big, fat, fit. Aaron tried everything to try to convince her otherwise. He raced her down the street and let hers win, got neighbors to tell her that big wheels spun slower because they were bigger...everything. To no avail. But now time has passed and all is well. Thank goodness.

You should see these kids on their scooters. They are fast...they turn on a dime...they scoot up and down driveways like they are "one" with the scooter. It's pretty amazing.

Camping

After a 3 year absence, we finally returned to camping at our favorite place, Tettagouche State Park up on Lake Superior. We reserved our favorite spot, space 24. Maya had never been camping and we decided she was old enough to try it now.

We went hiking up on the bluff out to Shovel Point. We brought the backpack, thinking Maya would totally weinie out on the walking. She rode on the way out, but actually walked the whole way back!

Views along the way.

Daddy and Maya at Shovel Point.

A cool breeze coming off the lake on a beautiful, warm summer day.

All the girls!

This is a cool place where climbers repel down the cliff. There were none there the day we went, but we've seen them go over the edge before.

Our campfire. Waiting for daddy's favorite meal...fire cooked hotdogs and beans. Mmmmmm!

One day we went down to where the Baptism river empties into Lake Superior. There is a little rocky beach. The girls threw rocks, waded around, and even did a little swimming. Lake Superior is FREEZING!!!!! The river is much warmer. It's kinda weird. It was a great day.

A tired monkey taking a little rest on the beach.

This is about how far out you can go in the lake without losing your toes to frost bite. : )

Playing on the beach.

This is on the river side. SO much warmer.

Daddy and the girls in the river.

Even Bella got in on the swimming action, much to her dismay. She HATES swimming and we've only made her do it once before. She's pretty good though!

Proof that the girls actually did swim in Lake Superior!

Pool Party

Last weekend we were invited to a pool party by Rae, one of Maggie's little friends from gymnastics. Her grandparents had an awesome pool and hot tub. Three of her friends from class, Courtney, Jordyn, and Rae were there. They had a great time in the pool until a thunderstorm came through - but they didn't lose a beat and just jumped into the hot tub!

We are so lucky that she has made such great friends in gymnastics. Their parents are awesome as well! Good thing since we spend so much time together. : )

Random

We're all packed up and ready to hit the airport tomorrow morning. Seattle here we come! But first I had to dump all the pictures off the camera. Here's a random sampling of what was on it.

New swimsuits...so excited to be twinsies!

I've seen this in several blogs that I follow as Muffin Tin Monday. Well, it wasn't a Monday, but you get the idea. I think I need some smaller muffin tins though. It was hard to fill all 12 holes! The girls thought it was fabulous though. : )

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Posing for the camera! She's cute and she knows it!

Playin' in the rain.

Our neighbors were digging holes in their backyard for new trees. Worms were a plenty.

I suggested they make a house for their worms. I found a box, they filled it with dirt, and decorated the box with markers. It was a GREAT time filler!!!! The worms were evicted after 2 days and now reside in the field at the end of the cul de sac. : )

On a different note, Happy Birthday to my littlest sissy Sidney. She's the big 30! How can that be??? And today also marks my mothers final day as a working woman. Happy Retirement Mom!!!! Just in time for us to come and invade the house. : )