And the Summer Begins

Our summer began with a flurry of events.  The weekend after school let out, Libby and Lucy came to Lexington to visit their grandparents as an end of the year reward.  Their visits always mean play dates between our two households, but this time we picked it up a notch.  On a sunny Saturday, Sarah Gipe decided it would be fun for the girls to have a lemonade stand just like she did when was a kid right next door to our house.  All four girls were excited to get things going.  They made signs, set up the table, and Reese yelled "Lemonade for sale" at every car that drove by.

Now when Sarah Gipe organizes an event, she goes all out. She remembered how local firemen came by in their truck to buy her lemonade all those years ago as well as the Herald-Leader snapping a picture of her stand. So what would any mother with these memories do? She called the Herald-Leader to let them know that history was repeating itself and the lucky reporter pictured here got to swing by the stand to take pictures and interview the four young entrepreneurs. It was pretty cute. In the end the girls each made five dollars after paying Sarah for they start-up expenses. It was an afternoon well spent.

What says summer better than a backyard pool and sprinkler party. This marks the seventh summer of our $5 inflatable pool, which has brought joy to countless children. In this case, it brought smiles to the faces of Callie, Reese, Vivie Anne, Mason, and Emerson. We were lucky to have all three of the Johnson kids join us for the afternoon. They have always been fun, but now Emerson brings a whole new level of fun to the mix.

And of course Reese loves Emerson the most because his presence means she is not the youngest. Emerson, meanwhile, has the ability to give a powerful stinkeye if he his not pleased or fully understands what you are trying to do. It had been quite some time since we had changed diapers, and with watching Emerson all afternoon we had to put our skills to the test. Vivie certainly was close by to make sure we were doing everything right, and when Sarah pulled some adept maneuvers, including getting Emerson to take a nap, she provided some strong feedback. "You're pretty good at caring babies," Vivie said to Sarah. Good to know Sarah is still as sharp as ever!

Indeed, our skills are so good we had them all enjoying a nutritious lunch together on the blanket in the backyard without any complaints about the food we were offering.  However, this probably is more because the Johnsons are so polite that they would never reject what we put on their plates.  Seriously, if you ever want to host three well behaved and fun kids for a day, call up the Johnsons.

Speaking of well behaved children, we next had the opportunity to hang out with Claire and Ella Abraham for the day.  John was out of town, Grammy Gayle had just flown in, and Sarah had taken the week off from work.  It was the perfect time to head down the road to Natural Bridge State Park for a good hike.  Everyone was in good spirits as we started the day and the girls loved hanging out with their older counterparts.  And Sarah loved the idea of no electronics and some good exercise in the fresh air.

The view at the top of Natural Bridge never seems to get old.  This was the first time, however, that Grammy Gayle had seen the natural beauty that Kentucky has to offer beyond the horse farms of the Bluegrass.  And it is only about an hour drive away from our house.  Every time we head out this way we are reminded that we should do it more often.

Of course summer never really starts until you hit the local pool. And what makes this summer the best one yet is that the girls are more comfortable in the water and we are more comfortable just letting them go and play in the pool. It is a win-win situation that has validated the investment we made in swimming lessons starting about a year ago.