Block Party
July was eventful as any summer month ought to be. Our community put on a big annual party to celebrate. They called it Highlands Day because our community sits on a hill called the Highlands. They brought in several bouncy houses and about 30 different booths. They had carriage rides and a lot of games the kids could participate in and local restaurants on the Highlands sold food to the adults and ice cream from Ben and Jerry's. The kids had fun and we bought way more tickets than we had time for. Hopefully they will use those tickets again next year.
We feel pretty proud of our garden this year. It turned out much better than last year and hopefully will continue to get better as the soil are tilled and rocks removed.
Since last year the Highlands has dramatically changed. About 20 new shops and restaurants are coming in and a new movie theater, which got done first and so nice that it's only a few minutes from our house. They had a week where they were showing older movies for $2. We took the kids to see The Croods (second time) and Alvin and the Chipmunks. I also took the kids to see Despicable Me 2. I would've rather watched Monsters University but Reena had a girls night out with her girl friends from school and already saw that so she wanted to see something else different.
We celebrated the birthday of America just like any American would - with food. We started off with raspberry picking and prepping for our block party. I made some homemade potato bread and turned the raspberries into jam. I brought it to the block party and it received glorious reviews. Success!!! Potato bread is a super yummy way to eat potatoes.
Best part about summer is outdoor swimming. Both of my girls are so tanned now.
I can honestly say that we live on the coolest street in the world. We have some super friendly neighbors that we've gotten to know and love. It is through the block party that we got to know them as well as we do. I think people in America are too comfortable inside their homes and don't come out to get to know their neighbors. Mormons are just as bad. They mostly only associate with other Mormons, almost exclusively. But how could the church grow if all we do is hang out with other Mormons?! My intent on designing a big porch was so that we could put seats out there and open our house up as a friendly house.
We got soaked!!! But what a fun day to get soaked. It was so refreshing! Looks like I have a big water balloon underneath my shirt.
I signed the kids up for a swimming camp since I can't or more like don't want to get in the pool to teach Reena anymore. Brie has been taking lessons at Tiger Mountain Aquatics, a place we absolutely love. It is small and a private pool so it costs a little bit more than the community center. But it is cleaner and best of all class size is 3 or less kids. It was a lot of work driving them to it everyday for 2 weeks, but it was worth it. They learned so much and so quick. Both Brie and Reena could swim by themselves in the water without floatation devices, although Brie gets tired quicker.
We treated Reena to her first birthday gift that she wanted - ears piercing. She wanted her ears pierced so she could wear my earrings. Brie wanted to show that she's tough, too and also got her ears pierced. On our way to the mall Brie fell asleep and woke up a little unsure if she wanted it but went through with it, too. Both girls were very brave. They had tears in their eyes from the pain but was very brave and didn't scream. We're very proud of them. Gotta be tough to show their little brother how to be tough.
Could she be any cuter with those missing teeth?!! I seriously love this girl. Her daddy was just flossing her teeth one night and the tooth fell out. They were both like "huh?" What a funny and sweet girl. Since it was close to her birthday the tooth fairy made it extra special by giving her a certificate and silver dollar of course just like the first time she lost her first tooth.
They're back!!! I miss my big tall grass!! But let's talk Reena's Fresh Beat Band Party. See you on the next blog.
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