Pack Meeting Plummet

Big sister A went to Daddy's last Cub Scout Pack Meeting this week.  A new Cub Master is taking over for him.

While he was filling the new guy in, big sister A was playing tag on the stage in the gymnasium.   It was pretty dark. She fell off the stage on her face. She seemed fine, but Daddy took her to the ER just to make sure that everything was okay.

Visit to Granpop's House

Hubby was telling someone on this trip about how I used to make fun of him about being from Idaho (so rural). And here we are again in N.Y. with a good demonstration of how rural my hometown is.  We took this photo about a block away from my dad's house. 

We stayed at a hotel there since there was already a lot of family at Grandpop's house. They had a minion visiting one morning:

It was great to see Goomie. She seemed really happy and we had a nice visit showing her the new babies.

And what would a visit to Grandpop's house be without a lot of professional picture taking?  It is so wonderful having a talented photographer who wants to take our family pictures every time he sees us.  Some of the subjects of these pics are much more willing than others.

Baby L's shirt is perpetually wet from drool and then dirty from scooting around on the floor. I should have changed it before her photo-op:

Grand and Great Grand daughters with Goomie:

Cousins!

 My favorite part of this pic is the babies in the lower right corner. Cousin N looks like she is trying to get baby L off her toy.

Hershey Park

I have fond memories of going to Hershey Park as a kid and as a teenager.  I was excited to show the kiddos the sites.  We started with factory tour.  It is one of my favorite parts of the park. I still love seeing how the chocolates are made and smelling the warm cocoa, not to mention the free candy bar at the end!

The amusement park is huge! We were there all day and did not get to see all of it. 

The weather in the morning was perfect, breezy and not too hot. Baby L spent the first part of our visit relaxing.

We did the Carousel first and brother S was pretty scared. It was a good gauge for the type of rides to let them go on.

I didn't know the carrousel was an antique.  I remember riding it when I was a kid.

They have rides for all ages and we were busy going from one to the next.  Luckily the lines for little kid rides were pretty short.

The kiddos met some candy men, but they were afraid to get too close.

By afternoon it was pretty hot outside and we changed into our swim gear for the water park area. I don't remember much of the waterpark from my previous visits. It was amazing. Huge.  They had a wave pool, giant splash pad, this crazy water slide play area called Water Works:

Baby L was not too sure about the water temperature:

They also had this huge "beach" area with a life size sand castle for the kids to splash through:

The only ride that we all went on together was the Ferris Wheel.  Most rides are not good for babes in arms, so one of us always had to sit out.

Big sister A rode on her first roller coaster with daddy.  He said that he looked over at her after the first hill and her face was white with a look of pure terror.  But then at the end she said "I want to go again!"

By 6pm we were all super exhausted.  We had dinner at the factory deli, bought some souvenirs, and enjoyed looking at the huge chocolate bars ("Biggest in the World") that they were selling. We stayed at a hotel near the park that night. Everybody was asleep as soon as they hit the bed (or before that).

Daddy's Phone

Here are some photos that I just found on hubby's phone from the 4th of July with the cousins: 

And brother M sleeping in a box:

All-in-One Update

The big news this week is little miss L is pulling herself up.  I keep thinking that she must really want to keep up with her siblings, she is growing up so quick. She has had a couple big tumbles from her new heights.  She also had her 6 month check-up this week and measures 16 lbs 10 oz. and 27 inched tall. 

 Slumber parties have been the name of the game this week.  Last night the kiddos all slept upstairs together. It is perfect timing since I will be repainting their room and the hallway this week.

I almost ripped out these cauliflower plants so many times. With all the rain they did not go to seed and finally made 3 nice heads.

We have lots of self starters in the garden this year. Since I have been focused on the house updates, I just let a lot of them be and set aside my formal garden plan.

 I have several unplanned squash plants growing. I dont usually plant them because of the squash bugs. They are all from seeds in the compost. This one made a nice little pumpkin before the bugs found it.

House progress. I was going to just touch up the paint in the LR and DR, but I kept thinking I should just do a full update to one of the popular grays of decorating lately. I know whoever buys it will want to change it again, but at least this color will be a neutral crowd pleaser.  It is one of Benjamin Moore's best sellers ever, Revere Pewter HC 172:

For some reason it looks way cooler (color tone wise) in my house than in than in all the samples?  It is supposed to be a "warm neutral".  Maybe it is just that we are used to the super warm grello (greenish yellow) that has been on our walls for the last 6 years?  It's pretty and I like it.  Just not what I expected exactly. I will take some more pics when I finish getting it all prettied up.  I took this one after one coat in the LR and nothing in the DR yet.

Here are some pics after the second coat:

 And here are some fabrics for making new throw pillows and such: