Summertime Sentiment

Being that it has been a couple of months since my last update, I figured it was time to post! Isn't it funny that I actually thought I would update every week??? Mmmm, hmmm... right. I started this blogging thing before having an active little girl! I will try to maintain it monthly from here on out. We shall see! So here are the updates...
July ~ Earlier in July, we went down to Iowa to help my sister's family put up a pole shed for their horses. My aunt, uncle, and cousins came too, which made it more like a big party. Well, the guys probably would say it was anything but a party. Later in July, my whole family (parents, sisters and their families) went to Wisconsin Dells and stayed at the Chula Vista Resort and Waterpark. We went to the Tommy Bartlett show and were able to see Lake Delton all drained out. Needless to say, there were more juggling acts than there were skiing stunts. We celebrated dad and mom's 35th anniversary at Marley's Caribbean restaurant which was great. But the most memories were made in the watery wonderland at Chula Vista. And of course, all of the kids LOVED the waterpark!
August~ Mark continued working on outside projects while I continued working on... you guessed it... landscaping. One August highlights was going to the Steele Co. Fair with my mom, sister, and relatives (saw some Ze-donks & kangaroos at the petting zoo!). Also, Mark, Ava, and I went to the Tommy James and the Shondells Riverside concert (and celebrated Mark's dad's, um, 40th birthday), and we also made it to the Hatfield family reunion (Sara's side). Mark said that on our reunion nametags, we should have been the McCoys. So like Mark! Last, but definitely not least, we went to our niece Zoee's birthday party. It was dog-themed and we had a howlin' good time! The house was called "The Dawg pound", there were hotdogs, puppy chow, and other themed foods, served in dog dishes (newly-purchased of course!). Shawn, our brother-in-law, placed the pinata strategically over my dad's newly purchased '08 Corvette. Dad caught onto that one right away. No heart attacks ensued. Fortunately we were not mandated to bring our dog, Cash, to the party.
September~ Earlier this month, Ava and I were able to go to the Marigold Days parade with family. We watched our share of marching bands, firetrucks, and shriner cars (that was Ava's and Josiah's favorite!) The following weekend we co-hosted a neighborhood picnic. We had a great turnout, but unfortunately had about 30 people in our garage due to the cruddy weather. Then last weekend, we went on a car run over to Wisconsin with my parents and many other couples. They took the Corvette and we took their Camaro convertible. We went to Hanson's Holdup (by Arcadia) which was a western-style bar & grill. It had an awesome view! Luckily we were able to do the run baby-free because Mark's folks took the rugrat. She now knows many new bad habits! kidding... THE BEST HIGHLIGHT OF THE MONTH IS THAT AVA IS WALKING!!! She has changed ALOT over the past couple months and is going to be one on October 9th. Where has time gone???