There are not many things that are funner than playing in the rain. I loved it, my kids love it - who doesn't love it? Well......I don't know if Joe liked riding his bike home in it, but I think it looks fun:)
Our gutter fills up really fast - it makes a great wading pool.
Is anybody worried about what kind of germs I might be exposing them to?
Singing in the Rain!
At the beginning of the show we got a fly-by from four T-37s, and we were just a few yards away from where they shot off a replica 1861 three-inch ordnance rifle and a Coehorn mortar courtesy of our town's fort artillery group (and No, I did not take any of these pictures to the right). It was 
extremely loud, but the kids loved it. Thousands of people were sitting everywhere along the river on the grass with blankets and lawn chairs. We picked a place on the sidewalk, which was great with the nice thick blankets we brought, and we were as close as we could be to the fireworks display. We were all impressed, children and adults alike. If you're really bored you can watch a part of it here on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d31EXvNYF0 
It was a great ride, very scenic and peaceful. We passed people fishing, jogging/walking, BBQing, feeding the ducks, etc. Really nice. When we got to the end of the trail, we turned around to head back. That's when we saw a sign that said "No skateboards, No rollerblades, No scooters, No bicycles!" It deflated us a bit, but not our tires, so we rode back on the road instead of the path. The road runs along the river too, but somehow it didn't seem quite as fun as the path. Oh well. In other news, Alex got his first real haircut. His hair was getting really long - this before picture doesn't do it justice. 
It was really cute, but just getting too long. Well, we pretty much buzzed it, but with the longest clip.
He looks like JT, but with blond hair. Every time we look at him now it freaks us out just a little, because we're not used to it. But he's still just as cute as ever. We cut JT's hair the same day, as well as Madelyn's bangs. I guess Madelyn got the hair cutting bug, and stupid me, I left the scissors in the bathroom, and....well here's what her hair is supposed to look like.
Notice that her ear doesn't show in that picture. And here's what it looks like now on one side.
There's a chunk or two right above her ear, that's covered with semi-longer hair, that she cut almost to her scalp. It's kind of hard to tell in the picture. Cora and JT never cut their own hair, so I've never had to deal with this before. It's pretty sad, and we're not sure what to do about it, like if we should cut her hair really short or just leave it. It definitely could have been worse, I realize that. This is about half of what she cut off; maybe a third.
It's sad, but it's funny at the same time. At first we didn't realize how bad it was. Then we kept finding clumps of hair all over, and even pulled a few more clumps from her head that somehow hadn't fallen yet. I guess we should expect things like this from Madelyn, but she still catches us by surprise every now and then.
Cora loves soccer. So far we haven't put her on a team, but for the last two years she's done a soccer camp on base during the summer. It's been fun to watch her. One of the drills they do is all of the kids have their own ball, and they have to try to kick the other kids' balls out of bounds, while protecting their own ball. The other kids mostly worried about getting away from each other, but Cora was going after everyone. She's not the best player, but she's not afraid to be aggressive and do her best. The first time they did that drill, she was the last one left with her ball.
JT and Madelyn had fun too, running around the track and football field.
I was the proud soccer mom (I have a mini-van too, so I fit the stereotype). And even though Joe was on the swing shift that week, he was able to take his dinner break during that time and come out to watch Cora. I'm still not sure if we're going to put her on a team, though. I'd like her to try some other things too before she makes a decision, and before I have to spend a lot of money on it.
One Word Tag You're It....
No, it's not clown makeup. Apparently Alex is allergic to peaches. I suspected he was several months ago. I gave him peaches once and he got a little rash (nothing like this though), and I hadn't given him peaches since. But my other kids like fresh peaches. Madelyn had one today, took two bites, and left it on the kitchen floor so she could go play. Well, Alex's one objective in life is to find things he can eat off of the floor. When I found him, his mouth was buried in that peach, and he was thoroughly enjoying himself. I took it away, and about 10 minutes later he'd broken out. Nothing that Benadryl won't cure. It didn't even seem to be bothering him - but it looks a little sad.
