Smith Mountain Lake

Towards the end of July the girls and I headed down to Smith Mountain Lake to visit with their Mimi, Great Grandma Sugars, Great Aunt Roberta and their second cousins Tommy and Carina.  We had a wonderful and relaxing few days filled with lots of pool time!  Make sure you check out the video below of our little fish!!!!

Watching cartoons

Jules and Tommy helped make dirt cake

Carina and Josie

Pool time!

Jules went down the slide for the first time!

Our little fish!

Fun in the Sun

July has been a busy month filled with lots of fun events for the kids.  The weekend after our return from Colorado we went to the Hanover Tomato Festival with the Ayers Family.  David and I have been to the Tomato Festival a few times before but are always amazed at the traffic jam getting into Pole Green Park for this event.  It's crazy!  This year we even took back roads to avoid some of the traffic and still found ourselves in the car for almost an hour and a half.  Luckily the kid area made up for it for the girls!  This year they had fun rides, bouncy houses, free crafts and more. 

John and the girls

Josie keeping cool in her stroller

 Helping Jules through the obstacle course

Going down the slide at the end of the obstacle course

Jules and Kendri in the kids Ferris Wheel

 Jules and Kendri playing dress ups after the festival

The following week, in between my tutoring schedule, we went with Stephanie and her daughter, Emma Grace, and Elizabeth and her daughter, Eliza Grace, to a story time and then down to Stony Point Mall to play in the fountains.  We've been to Stony Point a few times but this was our first visit to the fountains and the kids had a ball!  Jules was thrilled when Merrilee, Kendri and Rylin joined us after lunch for a little extra fountain time! 

 Jules and Josie

 Emma Grace

 Jules being silly

 Rylin and Josie in matching outfits

Jules and her bff, Kendri

That weekend we were invited to a birthday party for David's cousin, Patrick.  The girls had a great time seeing Susan and Bill as well as Kristin and Patrick.  Jules especially loved getting dressed up for the party!

 Getting ready

 Dessert!

 Kristin, Bill, Susan and Josie

 So much fun!

 Josie and Mommy

 
Also that weekend, we headed up to Northern Virginia to visit my college roommate Kelly and her precious new baby, Olivia.  I so enjoyed holding a new little baby again, although I'm certainly not ready for another one just yet!

 All the ladies

 

 My girls and Olivia

Colorado

As usual, we had another wonderful family vacation in Breckenridge, Colorado!  We spent the week hiking, playing in the pool, visiting Copper Mountain and Vail, and enjoying our time with David's family.  We were amazed at the amount of snow still on the mountains-we've never seen so many white caps in the summer.  It was a truly beautiful sight!  This post is a picture heavy and shows just how much fun we had on vacation.  Enjoy! 

Sawmill Reservoir:

 Breathtaking

Crazy amounts of snow melt

Copper Mountain:

 Riding the Gondola up Copper Mountain

 Picnic lunch on top of Copper

 Snow!

 The girls playing in the snow

 Helping her sister

The Ellington ladies

Loveland Pass:

 Continental Divide with Anne

 Crazy Snow

 It's a bird...its a plane!

No Comment!

Gondola Ride and Hike in Breckenridge:

 Riding the Gondola

 Cheese!

 Hiking

 It's Josie's Cabin

 Daddy and his girls hiking

Check out Josie:  passed out!

Giant dandelion

Lookout Mountain:

 American Bison

 Overlooking Golden

 Apparently the girls were looking at something else...

Jane and Zeke overlooking Golden

Fun Times:

 Kayaking on Lake Dillon

 such a cutie

Flying Jules

Jules and Mommy having fun

Tired Josie

Holy Hail!

July 4th in Denver:

 Wide awake almost 2 hours past bedtime!

 Waiting for fireworks to start with Oma and Opa

 Opa being recognized for his service

 Excited to see fireworks this year!

 Jules was more interested in the music than taking a picture with Mommy

We had a fantastic Fourth of July and hope you all did too!  Summer seems to be flying by and we continue to stay super busy.  We still have quite a few things on our agenda this summer including visiting Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia Beach and Cincinnati.  Hope you're all enjoying your summers!