This Summer, Day 43

Paddy came over to play in the backyard and...he brought water balloons!  Hooray!  We had snow cones.

Daisy says that Paddy is her best friend, and he is a very kind and fun friend.

I drove Leah and three of her friends to Kennywood to ride with their night passes, and after the little girls and I took supper to grill at the pool as we waited there for Russ.  The sky darkened very, very gradually.  Only one grayish cloud loomed above, and it was off to the side.  It's funny how one smallish gray cloud could encompass the whole sky when it was above us!  Rumbles began, and the kids had to get out of the pool.  Still, though, I knew it would blow over and our grilling plans would remain intact.  I heated the grill.  The rain held off.  I put our sausages and chicken on.  It began to sprinkle.  Our food was 75% cooked.  The sky opened and lightning flashed down.  We grabbed the food and all of our things and met Russ at home for an inside picnic.

This Summer, Day 42

Today was Virgnina's last day of day camp, the most fun day of all, Water Day!  She wore her suit and I sprayed her up with sunscreen.  It was HOT, probably in the mid-nineties!  Her troop made some sort of pasta today over the fire, and they also got to do archery, MY FAVORITE!  I wasn't a helper today.

It was so hot that I took the two little girls to the pool after I picked Virginia up at camp, and she stayed later to swim with a friend a while.  Leah went to see Bye Bye Birdie at Robert Morris with her friend, Lindsay.

In addition, today was Grandma's Birthday!  We went to Bella Frutetto to celebrate, and the food was delicious.  Happy Birthday, Grandma!

This Summer, Day 41

Today was Day Two of Virginia's Girl Scout Day Camp at North Park!  Once again, we cooked over an open fire on a day with temperatures in the nineties!  Today it was a chicken stew with dumplings that turned out to be delicious, fruit salad, and little chocolate-filled biscuit bites cooked in our charcoal ovens.  The girls are doing a great job of starting and tending the fire, measuring and cutting the food, and trying new things.  They also did a creek hike today, but camp was dismissed early due to threat of storm.

This Summer, Day 20

Today we visited the beautiful and fun yard and pool of our friends the Schinkels!  Another family from First Trinity, the Bolengs, also went to swim and enjoy the great lunch that Gretchen made for us.  The kids had a great time together; it's so nice when they get to spend time together outside of church.  We are blessed and thankful to have such great families at First Trinity!

Daisy was a little tired on the way home.

Virginia's swim meet at Fox Chapel was rained out after six events due to a wicked and beautiful thunderstorm.

L

Virginia received a late-night makeover from her big sister, Ruby.  Virginia is always beautiful, but tonight she looks glamorous, and WAY TOO OLD!

 Oh yes, and we also had late-late night waffles and bacon the end.

This Summer, Day 19

On Monday, we made a paltry attempt at laundry and ran a fun and productive errand to Target, but the day's real accomplishment is setting up the water zone on our front yard hill:

 The cow belonged to Russ's Grandma Polly.  His tail wags and sprays. It is a rare item and always a conversation piece!



Daisy and Paddy were supposed to hold hands and cross the road together!  Daisy didn't follow protocol:

We crossed to play in the yard and pool of our neighbor, Nicholas!

This Summer, Day 18

WARNING:   PHOTOS OF A LIGHT SABER BATTLE TO FOLLOW

After church we slurped some noodles at Noodles and Company, then cooled off a bit at the pool.

In the evening, Russ and Leah went into the city to see two films together, The Bling Ring and a documentary about the commercial fishing industry, Leviathan.  Leah's description of Leviathan insures that I will never see it, even though she wasn't awake for the whole thing and couldn't give a complete review.  The Bling Ring, I think, she and Russ found OK but not terrific.

The other girls and I had a french fry and story picnic in the backyard:

Then, the real excitement began when the neighborhood Jedis came over for a light saber battle with the two youngest Lucases.

This Summer, Day 17

We all went swimming at the pool we joined this summer, the Ingomar Swim Club.  It was a beautiful day there!  We ordered pizza for lunch.  Daisy got a new swim vest and she swims sometimes in the baby pool and sometimes with the big guys.

It was the night of the super moon, and we went out late to view it, although it was covered in a haze and wasn't as sharp and clear as we were hoping it would be!