Gosh, to think that July has come and gone is just so hard to believe! But, to think that my trip to NY was just a few weeks ago also seems so hard to believe. The remainder of July flew by but we got into a really nice routine of just enjoying life here at home and keeping busy and having fun. The kids are all displaying that kissed by the sun glow and Ella and Julia most days have "pool hair, don't care!" We've swam pretty much every single day and have had a lot of fun with family and friends. We just love, love, LOVE summer!!!
A little swimming with Poppa one afternoon.
Joseph attended an outdoors type camp beginning on July 5th. The camp was 3 weeks long but only 2 days a week-it was the perfect way to break up July! After dropping him off every Tuesday and Thursday the girls and I would head to Lake Miramar so I could walk the 5 mile loop and then we always stayed to feed the ducks. It was a nice little routine with the girls and I liked getting in a good walk during the week since normally I wait until the weekends to walk now.
Joseph attended camp with two of his really good buddies from preschool and they had so much fun! His shirt came home brown every time and he was soaked and filthy!
Swimming with Sydney (and Cole) one day. Sweet cousins!!
We've continued with our once a week get togethers with two other friends at the Westwood club which we always look forward to.
I love how this picture captured Joseph and his buddy, Chase, talking under the water! Such a fun summer for these boys!
One night I found Joseph asleep here with the headphones and couldn't stop laughing! I don't know if Ella was being too loud or what but definitely made me smile!
Ella, of course, wanted to sleep close to him so she made her own bed at the other end of the hallway but she was wide awake still!
We met up with a friend from preschool at the library for their exotic animal show and Joseph was called up as a volunteer which he thought was pretty cool.
Another day at Lake Miramar feeding the ducks...or feeding Julia!!
He was super excited about backwards day for camp!
More fun at Lake Miramar. Ella had been asking since we started going to ride her scooter so one day I let her. She did great but was much slower than I normally like to walk and it probably would have taken us 2 hours to get around it! She had a blast and was super proud of herself!
She made it to the 1 1/4 mile marker before I was able to convince her to get into the stroller and enjoy the rest of the ride.
The ducks were getting brave and really coming up close to us which was fun for the girls!
Another week with friends at the club.
This is normally what happens when I work out at home in the mornings! We keep talking about purchasing new furniture for our family room, but I'm pretty certain we should wait a few more years and get all of the wear and tear out of the ones we have!! I know I've mentioned before, but I have totally given up on having the kids staying off of the furniture-it just isn't worth my time!
Julia has made so much progress this summer in the pool! She loves jumping off of the side and prefers to swim without the puddle jumper (with an adult, of course) but will put her head under water and pretend to dive down. If she jumps off the side and doesn't go under she will tell you, "under, under!"
Daddy helping Joseph and Ella work on their dives.
Uncle Mark came to visit for a long weekend which was a blast! We headed to La Jolla Shores for the day on Saturday the 16th.
After the beach we went to Galaxy Tacos in La Jolla, which was delicious, and the kids loved the decor!
Lots of pool time with Uncle Mark!
On Sunday, Rich and Mark hiked Potato Chip Rock (Mt. Woodson) in the morning and then we headed to Coronado after Julia's nap. We had an early dinner at Village Pizza, played on the beach for a little bit and then went to the concert in the park.
Rich took Monday off so we hiked Torrey Pines that morning. Ella continued her track record of not liking this hike so Rich just gave in and carried her (and Julia) the entire hike up to the top. Once we were at the top, she was fine so she hiked the trail down and had a great time. She just does NOT like the beginning!!
Proud of his writing in the sand!
Both Joseph and Ella love the boogie board! Joseph is getting really strong on it and is confident to go out and ride them in by himself, which still makes me nervous so I like to have Rich or myself out there with him just in case but he seriously loves it!!
Ella loves it, too!!!
And, this girl is another beach babe! She'd stay in the water all day, too!
I had to include a few pictures that Ella took his month, of course!
Daddy got in on the fun, too.
I love that Ella captures this face of Julia because she makes the craziest faces and will often just bust out with one of these crazy ones. She is seriously so funny!
Another walk at Lake Miramar...Julia definitely loved feeding the ducks (or herself!) the best!
Loved the time with these girls on Tuesdays/Thursdays during the month of July!!!
Joseph, his buddies and his counselor (Kai) on the last day of camp. We are so glad that we signed him up for this camp as he had such a great time! For us, it was the perfect amount of time, too-kept him busy a few days of the week during July which was just great!
And, back at the Westwood club with friends again! We definitely had a pretty set routine this month which included camp, Lake Miramar, Westwood club, and lots of pool time!
It is so neat to watch the relationships form between Joseph and Julia and Ella and Julia. Julia definitely loves them both, but also has a very different relationship with both of them. She still can't say Joseph but in the past month or so has started calling him "butta" for "brother" which is just the cutest thing! Her and Ella seem more like "friends" where they will play and then fight over petty things like a toy, etc. where Joseph definitely takes on the big brother role and she seems to look up to him already even at such a young age and he really helps her out. So sweet!
Lately Julia's attention span has really improved and she will sit and play with a toy for quite a long time. She especially seems to enjoy building with duplos but will even use the small legos to build with (thankfully she doesn't put things in her mouth!) I caught her one day in the playroom sitting next to Joseph and Ella concentrating really hard on building something.
After the weekend with Mark at the beach three days in a row, the boogey boards ended up in the backyard somehow and have now become the favorite pool toy!
Joseph attempted riding the balance bike in the pool one day, too, but found out quickly that it didn't work so well.
Poolside with this sweet girl!
We had Sydney and Cole spend the night over one weekend and the neighbor boys came over to swim with everyone, too!
We had plans to see Finding Dory with the Ozecks on Sunday at the base on Coronado so on Saturday night when they spent the night we watched Finding Nemo to get everyone excited about the movie the next day. The kids did great the following day at the movies (the first time for our crew) and thanks to Uncle Dave for letting Julia fall asleep on him which made the movie more enjoyable for everyone!
Julia kind of watched, kind of played!
Sunday morning the boys started the morning off right with a little concert for everyone to enjoy!
The girls playing dress up with my clothes!
Joseph and Ella started swim lessons on July 25th at the Westwood club. Even though they both know how to swim, the club offers levels that will work on strokes, etc. so we signed them up. Ella was in level 3, and was the youngest in that level by a few years, and Joseph was in level 4. Swim lessons were for 2 weeks, Monday-Thursday for 45 minutes so we have spent a lot of time there over the past two weeks. The kids both loved it though and learned some new things and I've seen improvements in both of them so it was a great decision. Ella was a little shy the first day but the coaches were really good with her. On the second day, I was pretty sure we were going to have a meltdown because the one coach who really helped her the day before wasn't there and it was a male replacement-she started crying as they were stretching but by the time they were in the pool she was fine and did great and really warmed up to him by the end of the two weeks. That is my only complaint though-I just wish there was more consistency with the coaches from her class-there was always one that she recognized but the second coach always rotated.
Most days after lessons and then just swimming after we would pack a lunch and stay there to eat and play at the park area...and of course to hit up the snack bar for either otter pops or ice cream treats!
The craziness (and cuteness) that happens while I work out (or try to at least!)
This girl has mastered the jump off of the couch and will always say, "Mama look, mama look!"
Hanging at the club after swim
They have discovered the mini golf course at the club and have loved playing in it! It is always empty while we are there so they just run around it and check it all out.
On Tuesday the 26th, Rich was out of town and one of the libraries close by hosted a jump rope group to perform so we went to check it out. The kids LOVED it!! The following day, Joseph and I were talking about joining the swim team next year and he said to me, "I think I want to jump rope instead!" ha!
All of the kids got a chance to try it out! Julia did, too, but I didn't get a picture of her.
Back in our pool with friends on the 27th!
And, then back at the club on the 28th!
I would buy Julia the same ice cream as Ella normally and the strawberry shortcakes were definitely their favorite but I didn't want her to eat the whole thing so would always break off the top half-the first time she didn't notice but she started to catch on and would yell at me or start to cry about it! You can't hide much from her anymore!
Pretending to share with me!
A little nighttime swimming one night!
We went to story time at the library on the last thursday of the month and I just love watching Julia there! She totally loves it-well, maybe not so much the book part but loves the songs and the shakers! She really pays attention to the librarian and follows along with all of the moves and will sing, too!
A little welcome home wrestling with Daddy after he travelled for part of the last week in July. The wrestling always begins with just Joseph and Rich but both girls are always quick to jump in on the fun!
You can see Julia underneath Rich in the middle of it all!
To end out the month, this picture just had me cracking up! On the last day of July I went for an early morning walk-Julia was still asleep when I left so on my walk Rich sent me this picture! Definitely a resemblance there!
On top of all of the fun we've had, Rich has also been really busy at work in the yard. We had the fence put in last month on the side yard so he's worked hard at painting it, putting together a shed, planting some trees and trying to clean up the front yard. We are hoping by next month to have grass on the side yard and then the next project is to revamp the pool deck. We love our home but there is definitely a never ending list of projects to be completed!!
Looking forward to our last two weeks of summer in August and then gearing up for the first day of school on the 16th!! We've had such an awesome summer!
