Summer With Friends Part Two

We have often shared that we are very fortunate to live next door to the Chrismans.  But we still could not have predicted how close our girls would be with their two granddaughters.  And this summer we finally made a point of traveling to Louisville to hang out with Libby and Lucy on their turf.  

The main attraction was the Louisville Zoo.  It was a hot day, but we were ready to tackle it head on.  Callie and Libby were ready to lead the way.  The entire day they were inseparable.  It is quite amazing how well they get along.  In fact they got along so well that the day adventure led into Callie having a sleepover at Libby's house.

Reese certainly didn't want to be left out of the mix, and as you can see from this picture, she was also prepared for a day walking around in the bright sun.  She couldn't wait to see all the animals, and loved pointing them out to Lucy.  It would be hard to say at this point that Reese has a favorite animal.  Each one received equal oohs and ahhs.

We did manage to get one picture of all of them together.  Ironically enough, this was in an open crate labeled something along the lines of "Gorillas from Africa".  Just by looking at them you can see that it was a hot day and we had been on the go for a while.

Chris knew how to solve this problem, however, and promptly bought all the girls ice cream.  It's kind of his special power, seeing as he was the one to give each of our girls their first taste of ice creamy goodness.

After the ice cream break we hopped in our wagon, saw a few more sights, and then made our way to the Gipe's house where Alex and Sarah prepared a wonderful meal while the girls played in the backyard.  And we did what we do best with the Chrismans and enjoyed a few adult beverages.  It was a great night overall, and once again demonstrated how lucky we are.

Although we did not get to the local swimming pool as much as we had hoped over the summer, we did have some great days there with a few of Callie and Reese's friends from day care.  Callie and Reese are more and more comfortable in the water, which is great.  But it also reinforces the need for swimming lessons.  Maybe next year we will finally make that happen.

We had quite a bit of fun over the summer and had a number of play dates.  But some of the most fun we had was when Callie and Reese just got to hang out and play in the backyard.  Any time it was sunny out Reese wanted to fill up the pool.  The girls would run upstairs, get on their bathing suits, and start playing around.  That pool is the best five buck investment we have ever made.

We knew summer was coming to an end when we attended the church picnic and the girls got to hang out on the inflatable slide for hours on end.  

The smiles reflect the fun they were having, but for Callie, it also was a smile of anticipation.  She knew that the end of summer also meant a big change was coming.  She was about to enter kindergarten!