rose colored glasses

seriously july is almost over! definite picture overload here but, we have done so much and i am conserving energy for the next round.

you can't forget a day at the beach when the sun starts to toast the earth.  we made drip castles and hudson plowed the sand while ava splashed and dipped and dived.

 you know he always has a tractor stashed somewhere!!

we even walked to the dam where the water rushes over and creates a waterfall and stream.

we also hit the fair on an oh so sweaty day. ava pedaled her hardest in the tractor pull and then decided to let the horses do the work for her.

of course, somehow....hudson found another little boy with a great big pile of tractors to play with inside one of the barns right next to the giant tractors on display outside and the calm cows lazily chewing and resting inside.

 then we stopped at the city zoo and met the new wolves and got a cool drink inside the lion's mouth.

 we even had the chance to catch a wooly.

 ava has mastered the art of riding a bike!!!

 we took a trip to a new town and had a picnic lunch in the park.

 one day, i hope to get a nice picture of both kids together.

we visited the county zoo. the bears seem to always know how to strike a pose. even the robins got in on the deal by taking a splash in a rock puddle. i ended up bringing the lion and monkey back home with me. pure wildness at times!

 seriously, i may just have to hire a professional photographer.

way cool!! i love the face paint.

and there you have it. in a nutshell. one full month. full of rose colored glasses as we have so much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to.  

we really do love that color pink in this family. what a blur.

black and blue but, pure genius

 it took some convincing but, ava finally agreed to just getting ice cream and cones at the store instead of stopping at culver's for ice cream that would not even make it home at least without being half-eaten, dripped and spilled in the car.

 then we were lucky enough to find black raspberries in the woods. tons of them with tons of thorns. check out the black and blue fingers can you tell they like to dig in and not really pick!

 and, double score. ava is a genius. she wanted a pie crust. i was busy making dinner so i suggested a graham cracker. she smooshed berries over one side and we added a roasted marshmallow and wah lah! balck raspberry smores. sooo good!!!

 the next morning, i found these two still in bed reading scooby, upside down....at first ava was confused about daphne being upside down:). so cute. so sweet. 5 minutes later.....

brotherly and sisterly love commenced with a brawl over baby. you wouldn't think that we had at least 10 or so in the house:)

crack me up.

hilarious! how 2 kids can crack each other up without ever really saying anything.

yea! for gramps.

i remember lots of times riding with dad now grampa in the tractors doing fieldwork. a and h get such a thrill from being apart of this as well. and, lucky them, the tractors now have air conditioning.