Best. Summer. Ever.

End of school year celebratory dinner at The Melting Pot

Lucy and Elliott at dinner in Rapid City, SD

Bear Country U.S.A

Elliott, Lucy, Jill, Margot and Delaney

Geode hunting

This needs no caption

I love Delaney in this picture so much

At the entrance to Storybook Island, the cutest place on Earth

Bricks? Thumbs up to that idea!

Sticks?  Thumbs sideways.

Straw? Thumbs down-bad idea.  This was Lucy's idea, by the way.

Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh

Piglet

I couldn't believe Lucy had actually heard of these two

I think this was my favorite scene-Dr. Seuss

Grumpy faces for Grumpy

Margot's controlling Pinnochio's strings

Flower selection before planting-summer's here!

Friend dinner at Casa Bonita

Another summer tradition-Hot Pots!

Father's Day hike

Friend dinner/bike ride/fun time

At the Okee Dokee Brothers Concert (see video below)

This is why people think they look alike

In Iowa, Grandma Marvin and Eden

The Old Man and the Young Pup

Cousins

Sisters and Chris Morris

Catching lightening bugs in Grandma and Grandpa Ellsmore's backyard 

In Michigan! I was obsessed with these hydrangea bushes in our front yard

Margot with the teens

The beach

This sign was on the second floor balcony of our adorable house

Margot's first time at a beach

Lucy loved paddle boarding!

The rental house was amazing

Happy 4th of July

Watching the pre-firework excitement from our front porch

The view of the lighthouse in South Haven where we were staying

Saugatuck, MI where we went for the day and the girls got to watch the parade

It should be "Welcome to Beautiful South Haven"

I couldn't stop taking pictures of the girls playing in the sand

Mermaid tail

The twilight run in the water was a sweet memory

Our sweet family

Kristy and Mark

Close up of the lighthouse

Wine tastiing

Cathy took this great picture

Photo courtesy of Wes the neighbor and playground monitor

The Reids/Reids/Smiths

Cathy and Andrew

Back home

Our Anne of Green Gables party with raspberry cordial and poundcake

This is so Lucy.  I constantly find these little notes and lists all over the house.  This one is an agenda for what she planned to do on her swim playdate with Sofie

I think they were at the "candy stand" part of the agenda

Carmen, Jess and I out for a night on the town.  Carmen comes about once a year and we usually get together with her friend Jess when she's here.  Always a great time!

Hiking riiiiiight before it started to pour down rain

Lucy's first lemonade stand, she's wanted to do one forever and I finally caved

Out to dinner for Daddy's birthday

They love each other 

My little fish-see video below

"scared" of the dinosaurs at the zoo

zoo train selfie

T-Rex

Last pool day of the summer :(  With Grace and Warren (Dub)

Lucy got her bottom teeth pulled to alleviate crowding and then about 3 weeks later her top tooth was loose enough to pull 

Rockies Game

Cotton Candy for dinner? Why not!

The night before school started but we had a blast

Look out 2nd grade! Here comes Lucy Reid

She went to a dance camp this summer (see video below) and was chosen to carry the banner in the Western Welcome Week parade

Lucy with the Heritage High School Belles, the dance troop from her camp

Western Welcome week tradition -face painting

I could make a whole blog post of all the face painting we've had recently, this one was from a celebration for the 50th anniversary of Ramano's, our local pizza place

Margot's first day of Pre-K.  She's officially a red dragonfly with the same teacher that Lucy had-Ms. Cathy, we love her!

Lucy's teacher sent me this picture from the eclipse viewing at school

Summer 2017 Highlights:

1. Lucy made a bucket list of everything she wanted to do and we did all but one of those things!  It was a great summer.
2. Our two week trip to Chariton, then Iowa City, then Michigan, then back to Iowa City, then Fairfield, then Chariton then home was FANTASTIC.  We've wanted to join the Reids/Smiths in Michigan for a long time and I'm so glad Brian finally caved and we made it happen.  We all had a blast and a week with our KS/MO family isn't enough time
3. We went swimming a lot, rode bikes a lot, did lots of fun art, played outside and got bored at home-everything summer should be
4. The summer began with a trip to South Dakota (3 days total) to see the Wards and of course, Mount Rushmore.  We loved South Dakota and there's so many more pictures I could have posted and we will definitely go back to explore more.
5. I started back to work on August 2nd in my new position as the English Language Development Instructional Coach for Littleton Public Schools.  While I miss being at Lucy's school every day, I love my new job.  It cut my summer a little bit short but we still squeezed in lots of after work fun in August.

Today is the last day of September and then we enter the best month of all-October.  Can't wait for all the fun that fall brings!