We started out July celebrating the 4th. Brian, Emily and Rachel walked in the parade with the John Ireland school entry. Caitlin, Natalie and I had prime spots at our friends, Jessica and Charlie's house. Ken and Gladys joined us at the end of the parade and then headed down to Godfathers Pizza for our traditional after parade lunch. This year the Gleisner's JoAnna, Grace and Jared joined us. The pizza was good the air conditioning great and the company was the best! After lunch we headed back our house where Kenny and Brian worked on the house and Gladys, the girls and I hung out and relaxed. It was great. :) In the evening Brian took C, E and R down to the fireworks and I stayed back with a sleeping Natalie. When they got back the launched a few firecrackers in our driveway. It was a nice 4th celebration but look forward to hosting a big party next year after the remodel project!
Caitlin decided this year that she would try tennis. She really enjoyed it and hopefully she'll pursue it more when she's in high school. I'm not sure how much she actually learned about the game, since it was taught by 4 high school kids, but at any rate I guess it was a good introduction to the game.The girls all took swim lessons and I'm happy to report that all of them passed whether they wanted to or not.
Emily didn't want to pass because she doesn't want to tread water for 5 minutes in level 5. But after some talks by both of us and her awesome swim teacher MacKenzie she now knows that she doesn't have to be a lifeguard and she just has to try the 5 minute tread. She was worrying way too much about the future! She did an awesome job and we are very proud of her! She got to take semi-private lessons with our friend Abby.
Rachel took semi-private lessons with our friend Kael again this summer and they had a great time. Rachel was much more comfortable in the water this time around. What I couldn't figure out was why she would listen to her instructor with out whining but when I tried to help her all I heard was complaining. Hmm.. She also had MacKenzie for a teacher and LOVED her! She was even brave enough to jump off the low board and swim by herself to the side. After that she decided she'd go a step further and jumped off the high board! Crazy! She's come a LONG way! We are very proud of her for being so brave this year.Caitlin took regular (2-week) lessons in Level 5 and had no problems. She's such a natural. I just admire her for being so brave. She pretty much walked down to the pool by herself, did her lesson and walked home the first week. The second week she thought one of us should really come and watch and I'm so glad I did. She didn't have a problem at all with the 5 min tread and she learned how to dive off the board. She did awesome and we are so proud of her for always doing her best! (pictures to come)
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We celebrated our nephew Owen's 3rd birthday at my brother's house in Rogers. It was a beautiful HOT day and the kids had so much fun! Bob and Laura added to their fun house by getting a trampoline. The kids had a blast. And they all took turns! :) Owen's party was the Cars theme and was very cute. I think his favorite toy was the one we gave him. A remote control Mustang just like the big one and Gpa and Gmas house. Annie and Matt were great hosts and made awesome bbq ribs. The only bad part of the afternoon was when Natalie and Owen got stung by a wasp. Kind of puts a damper on things when the b-day boy gets injured. They were good troops though and bounced back pretty quickly. It was a very very fun day!
