July - Part 1

July has been so much fun! Dan and I both have Fridays off, and we've jumped right into the summer festivities during our long weekends.

I took the girls to Busch Gardens one afternoon. We got to take pictures with Elmo! But no hugs, since some COVID restrictions are still in place. Thankfully, the COVID case numbers have lowered recently.

The girls rode rides in the Sesame Street area, and got soaking wet at the splash pad there.

Their other favorite place at Busch Gardens is Land of the Dinosaurs, which has cute dinosaur statues and a huge climbing playground.

They're pretending to stomp grapes in the Italy section of the park.

We rode the carousel and a few other rides as it was getting dark

Emma said she was nervous about the fireworks show that Busch Gardens was putting on every night in the summer, but really, I think she was just too tired by nighttime to want to stay in the park to watch the fireworks. So we opted to go to our car and watch the fireworks from the parking lot. Both girls loved them, of course, and we were all ready to get home afterwards!

We also joined Tim and Dawn and their boys at Water Country one day in July. It was a super fun time, but I have no photos since water parks and cell phones don't mix well.

My company, Epsilon Systems, had a wonderful 4th of July BBQ picnic this year. We haven't had any social gatherings for over a year since COVID started, and it was a good chance to see everyone relax and have fun. My friend, Denise (left), was the main coordinator of the event. Our friend Mona (right), and I helped a lot with the set up and clean up before and after the party. 

Our families got together a couple of days before the 4th to celebrate, also.  

We bought these amazing water balloons that fill up when you attach them to a hose, then they automatically release and seal themselves! The kids could fill the balloons themselves, and it took 3 minutes to fill about 100 of them.

The kids had a blast drenching each other with water balloons. 

The adults stayed far, far away and enjoyed chatting instead.

Since the 4th of July was on a Sunday, we attended church and had a low-key day otherwise. But when we heard neighborhood fireworks going off at 9 pm, we couldn't resist finding them. We sat at a local lake and watched some pretty big fireworks across the water, then walked home.

Another fun opportunity arose when I learned that the Portsmouth Children's Museum had finally re-opened! It's been closed for a year and a half, due to COVID.  It's one of the girls' favorite places to go, so I made a reservation and bought tickets to visit.  The kid-centric, hands-on exhibits are so much fun, and we didn't leave the museum until closing time.

Tiny Emma sitting in the giant living room furniture.

Emma's at the "bank" writing a check to herself for $10,000.00.  I'm not sure who's going to sign that one.

Hallie enjoyed taking care of the stuffed animals at the vet center.

While Emma pretended to be one of the animals at the vet. 

They had an interesting mirror/window exhibit, which allowed you to sit across from someone else and mashup your features with theirs. So here I am with Dan's hairy chin.

Hallie drove the bus in the museum. She said she knew exactly what she was doing, but Emma felt less than confident with her driving skills. Ha!

Then Emma got to drive the museum's fire truck. Hallie rode the back step so she could jump off at a moment's notice.

They have an amazing bubble room at the Children's Museum. Dan and Hallie are completely encased in a giant bubble!

Emma was able to do it herself for the first time, and it was Ahh-mazing!

One of the best parts of July was when Dan's sister Robin, her husband, Rob, and our nieces, Naomi and Miriam visited Virginia for a few days during their long camping trip across the country. We've missed them tons!  I took some time off work and Emma, Hallie, and I spent a couple of nights at Dan's parents' house so we could maximize our time with Robin and her family.  The girl cousins had the best time playing together again, and Dan was able to join us in Williamsburg each night for dinner while they were here.

One afternoon, Dan's cousin, Jon, and his family joined us to swim and have dinner. I didn't get any photos of the family gathering, but Robin took this picture of all the girl cousins. Left to right: Chloe (Dan's cousins, Jon & Carrie's, daughter), Naomi, Emma, Miriam, and Hallie.

Robin, Naomi, and Miriam gave us a tour of the camper van they've been traveling and living in all summer.

The girls climbed up to the top where there's a pop-up bed for the kids to sleep on. The main level of the van has a queen-sized bed for Robin and Rob, a bathroom, and a kitchenette. 

We spent a lot of time in Dan's parents' pool while we were all staying there. Even Robin and Rob's dog, Bridger, jumped in to cool off for a few minutes.

Speaking of swimming, we enrolled Hallie in her first swimming lessons at the YMCA this month. 

She had four private lessons, and while she isn't swimming without a floatation device yet, she did a great job following instructions and gained a lot of confidence in the water. 

Emma was invited to a birthday party for one of her classmates, and although we planned for her to go, she had caught a cold over a week prior to the party and was still coughing a lot on party day. Although she was most likely non-contagious, I didn't want her to cough on anyone since we're being extra cautious about sicknesses resembling COVID.  So we quickly dropped off her friend's gift, but didn't stay for the actual party, which was of course sad for Emma. We wanted to do something else fun but social distanced, so we went to the beach instead!

We drove to Virginia Beach at around dinnertime, which we think is the perfect beach time. In the evening time the beach crowd thins out, the temperature cools down, and we don't have to slather sunscreen on every inch of our daughters' fair skin. We normally spend a couple of hours there, then go home to shower, snack, and go to bed.

Emma helped build and decorate a big sand fort, and *almost* forgot to be sad about the party.

Dan's continued to play hockey two nights a week, but his games have been too late for us to attend recently. He finally had an early evening game one Sunday, so we went to cheer him on!

He even scored a goal for us!

His team is called the Hedgehogs and they have Sonic on their jerseys, which the girls think is "adorable". I'm sure that's what the guys on the team were going for. Heh!