Woops

There went July. I started this blog entry, trying to squeeze one more into the month, but life swept me away and here I am, in August.

So let's start with July, shall we?

Apparently the sand in the sandbox is too mainstream for Madeline.

We attended an "underwater puppet show" at the library - they did shadow puppetry and glow in the dark shape puppetry with an underwater theme. It was especially good for Claire, who paid close attention to the lights and the shadows.

We had a fun time at the Street Performer's Festival.

The train ride is a big part of the adventure. :)

Kathy and I relived our teenaged years at the NKOTBSB concert and had an absolute blast!

We were definitely not the craziest "old" ladies there! :)

We took a spur of the moment trip to Slave Lake to visit the Thompsons, and had a great time! Here we are at the top of Marten Mountain overlooking the lake.

On our walk to the park, Ben and Madeline took the lead. It was very cute!

Hanging out on the bridge. Don't we all look so cool?

The whole gang, minus Ben, who is hiding out of the frame.

The girls and I took in the Capital Ex kick off parade and had a great time together.

Madeline has been playing hairdresser a lot lately.

Here is Ryan, getting all spiffied up.

For the third year in a row, we attended Monday Morning Magic at Capital Ex, where the rides are opened up only for families of kids with disabilities. We always have a great time.

Ryan and his new friend Ricky Ray - he knows his dad will LOVE this picture!

Ryan and the girls spent an afternoon at Rob and Olivia's and enjoyed a lovely summer day with them and Cairo.

Madeline reminds me a lot of "Fancy Nancy," the character in a children's book series who loves to make things fancy. Ryan found a bottle of "fancy" lemonade at the grocery store and promised her a delicious, elegant breakfast with it to drink the next morning.

She dressed for the occasion and we enjoyed a beautiful picnic as a family.

We had another fun time with the Thompsons when they came to visit us.

We explored a new park together.

Pictured above with Claire is Lisa - our lovely helper for the summer. She's been a welcome addition to our family a few times a week and we really love having her around! Luckily she doesn't mind hanging out with us!

In other news:

My sister Mel is doing well on her mission in Ireland. We get to hear from her about once a week via email and it's good to have that contact with her.

I started something "fun" this month. Steph and Brandon transferred the reins of their flyer route over to me, so each week I load up my ipod with some good songs and traipse through our neighbourhood, delivering the junk mail that people complain about. Despite feeling like a kid with a paper route again, it's a nice chance to get to know our neighbourhood and get a little exercise and extra money.

Ryan's been working hard at the Apple Store this summer, even running one of the summer camps for kids.

We got to help out a bit with Greg & Steph's move to their first house! We're glad to have them close by and are so happy for them.

Madeline's friend Oliver had a fun birthday party at a spray park and we enjoyed a lovely summer afternoon with friends.

We've spent a lot of rainy days inside and ventured outside whenever we could.

We definitely had an enjoyable July. :)