Summer of Fun, Week of July 15.

In case you're wondering, this summer has been a lot of work.  It's also been a lot of fun!

KidsGames, the free sports and arts camp sponsored by our church, took place last week, so we spent our evenings hanging out at Archer High School.  We spent our days doing the following:

Monday:  Gym.  Johnny's.  And an impromptu playground stop.

Rabbit Hill has quickly become one of our favorite places to play.  The smaller playground by the baseball fields is perfect for our family.  The big kids LOVE it and Emmy can pretty much (safely) play on all of the equipment by herself.

When it's not raining, the weather has actually been pretty nice.  And cool, which is always a bonus!  We thoroughly enjoyed the playground on Monday...and for once it wasn't a big deal that we were outside at noon in July!

We cashed in the last of our CityPasses and headed to Fernbank on Tuesday.  Fernbank is, without a doubt, one of our very favorite places to visit.  We chose not to watch an IMAX movie this year (way too tough to pull of with the two babies on my own!) but had such fun exploring the rest of the museum.

Babe and Harry were stoked about the dinosaurs.  Hadley mostly wanted to know if the "bones" were boys or girls.

We had a great time exploring all the animals in the "Walk Thru Georgia" exhibit as well.  Places like Fernbank make me wish I lived a little closer to the city.  We would totally have an annual pass here. :)

NatureQuest was our second stop.  All three bigger kids immediately took off exploring!

In fact, I had to bribe Emmy with my cell phone just to get her to sit still long enough so I could nurse Thatcher.  That girl was ALL over that place. :)

It's going to be interesting next summer when they're both up and running. :)

After NatureQuest, we ate lunch in the cafeteria and then checked out the new exhibit on mammals (but not before indulging the the kids' photo op obsession).

We turned the corner in the mammal exhibit and both Babe and Harry let out a simultaneous, "Oh my gosh!" That thing (the largest land mammal ever, I think?!?!?) was HUGE!

We ended the day exploring our "Senses."  Babe had a blast using the green screen to share the forecast.

Emmy's favorite exhibit by far was this shadow screen.  These three crazies danced and danced (to music that must have been playing in their heads) for a good five minutes.  Buddy and I just sat back and smiled.

A good time was had by all.

Auntie joined us on Wednesday for a trip to Babyland General.  We left a little later than we had planned (I spent the morning digging my old Cabbage Patch Kids out of the attic) and decided to stop for lunch before hitting up the hospital.  We got a little adventurous and tried something new.  We'll definitely stop at Creekside Deli again!

Babyland General was everything we expected.  Babies, cabbages, and and babies born out of cabbages. Pretty simple stuff.

The three big kids all brought their own baby on the trip.  Hal, a CPK I got for my tenth birthday, came with Harris, Hadley brought her own doll, Lovie, and Emmy drug along one of Babe's babies.

Buddy didn't need to bring a baby...he fit right in on his own. :)

Harry and Babe have been saving their money to purchase a toy this summer.  They chose to spend their "dollars" at Babyland.  Hadley picked up a stuffed horse and Harris chose a large, stuffed meerkat.  While the two biggies shopped, Emmy made herself at home with the strollers, toy kitchens, and baby bottles available for pretend play.

This cute guy hung out with Auntie.

We witnessed the birth of a baby girl, Audrey(?), during our visit.  

Both Babe and Harry got an opportunity to hold the new arrival.

We passed a creamery on the way home and decided to stop for ice cream.  I don't think Auntie knew were were going have to sit outside...

Our outing for Thursday was a trip to Ben's office and lunch with him at Moe's.  The kids love going to Ben's office to play with his "Walking Dead" figurines.  As you can see, the new meerkat (Rebel Alliance) and a super old My Little Pony I found in the attic also made the trip.

Thursday night brought the close of KidsGames.  We spent an awesome week loving on the kids in our community and had such a great (and tiring) time serving.  Each child got to participate in a sport (baseball, softball, basketball, or soccer), an art (photography, art, or music) and Bible discovery time.  Harris chose basketball and music while Babe selected soccer and photography.  On Thursday, we had a cookout for all the kids and their families and a showcase of all the artwork the kids had created throughout the week.

Raven made a birdhouse in her art class,

Hadley put together a collage of pictures she had taken throughout the week,

and Harris' music class put on a little performance.

The whole family came to eat and watch but only Tyler and me took a pic together. :)

On Friday, the kids and I relaxed.  We went to the gym, ate lunch at Johnny's, and spent some time at the library.  When Ben got home, we loaded up and headed to On The Border for dinner.  Harris and Hadley continued their zombie-themed play after eating.

I love my kids.  I'm not sure what I did before they were born.