We took a trip in the spring to Lone Elk State Park. It's Izzie's favorite place to go because she gets to lean out the windows while we drive as she looks for the elk, deer and buffalo. It was a beautiful day, and I love this picture...
We left the park with a new addition to the family - a single tadpole, of course named "Tad". Tad did survive just long enough to turn into a tiny little frog, but died almost immediately afterward. I haven't figured it out just yet actually, but maybe we'll give it another try next year.
We spent a LOT of time at the pool this year. However, early in the year Audrey had a bit of a scare and spent most of the year on the stairs. Toward the end she got a little more into swimming with a lifejacket on, so I'm hoping next year she'll be ready for the kickboard races on swim team.
We finally made it to Meramec Caverns this summer! We picked one of the many 100+ degree days and went underground. It was a refreshing change of pace and the caves were beautiful. We also really enjoyed the history behind them and the kids learned about Billy the Kid because he used the caves as a hideout for a long time. I thought it was cool they had dances in the main cavern as late as the 1930's. There were hitching posts inside for the wagon teams. Incidentally, how cute is my husband?
Is it any wonder these are so adorable?
And the rock formations were pretty swell, too. The kids were very impressed.
We made it back to the Veiled Prophet parade for the Fourth of July. It really is one of my favorite St. Louis traditions and I love that the kids still get excited to go! Saint Louis has really done a lot to clean up the downtown area in the ten years since we first moved here and it's been fun to see. I can't wait to see how the new archground designs will play out.
Erick ran into his friend James, so it was fun to have an extra for a little while. The kids sat on the curb and Justin and I enjoyed the blue umbrella in the background. Or at least that's how I'd imagined it being. In fact this photo was taken at the beginning of the parade and not too long into it I was out on the blanket and everyone else was huddled in the shade. Have I mentioned how hot it's been this summer? I was really missing the water that used to run down the spanish fork ditches for their parade!
Audrey loved the floats, of course and was great at pointing out details. She's really got an eye for "pretty".
And how classic is this?
At the end of the parade Matt was pretty worn out...
While Izzie, true to character, was not. We tease about her being our Energizer Bunny because she really does just keep going, and going...
I love summer swim team! The kids did awesome this year and are really coming into their own. I don't think we had a butterfly that wasn't disqualified, but the fact they are learning the strokes impresses me. Izzie has a fantastic backstroke and Erick I think will be our "fly"er. He's a real natural with the wiggleworm move and I think next year will be his year. They love it and I love that we get out to the pool daily. It's a great summer sport.
This is what the rest of the fam does during the meets. Not too bad, huh?
Finally, I learned what a spiritual dog we adopted when Daisy showed me her rendition of "feasting upon the word". These are my mission scriptures and she fully ate 24 pages. It was really a mixed blessing because I've held onto this set for a long time. It was pretty thoroughly marked, and I think sometimes that's helpful and sometimes it starts to hide things. Losing the pages in the middle helped me finally and officially move into my "new" scriptures, a set I purchased after my mission that was inscribed with my maiden name. They've been pretty untouched for 10 years but it's been fun to get a new set finally and start over on my marking and thoughts. So in a sense, thanks Daisy. Her feasting has helped me do the same!
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