Summer of Fun, Week of July 8.

And, just like that, Summer of Fun was back in full swing. :)

Monday:  Gym, Johnny's, Library.  That's how we roll.  We try to get to the library about once a week.  The kids love it there and we're so thankful for a library with so many great books as well as neat activities.  We haven't been able to participate in any of the story times or puppet shows this year (scheduling conflicts!) but we've still made the most of our time there this summer and are participating in the Summer Reading Program.

On Tuesday, the kids and I headed out to Mayfield Dairy.  We had to remove our annual Mayfield trip from the itenirary last summer when the Visitor's Center closed but were beyond excited to hear that it had reopened this year!!!

We took some time to explore the store,

check out the big cow,

(photo courtesy of Harris)

enjoy the tour and end our morning with ice cream!  It doesn't get much better than that.

We also had Game Night on Tuesday evening.  My sweet (manipulative) Harris very kindly suggested that it was Babe's turn to pick the game.  That boy wanted to play her princess game so badly he couldn't stand it...but he also didn't want to let anyone know that was his choice.  Babe was more than happy to do his dirty work for him. :)  I won both rounds but we all had a great time playing!

On Wednesday, we hit the zoo with Auntie.  Once again, we purchased CityPasses this year and had a blast using them.  The zoo was our first stop.

Hadley was THRILLED to see Kelly, the elephant.  The weather was slightly overcast and many of the animals were up and moving about.  Kelly was no exception.  Had was in heaven.

Doe loved the bird exhibit! My sweet girl (and oldest boy) did everything in their power to "pet" a bird.  I think Harris succeeded.  Emmy did not.

All of a sudden, my kids have become obsessed with these picture-taking opportunities.  They BEG me to take their picture every time we run across one.  I do my best to oblige.

And what trip to the zoo would be complete without pictures on the various statues?!?!?  I LOVE Emmy's face in this one; she was obviously thrilled to be riding in the back!

Photo bomb!

We made it to the Naked Mole Rat playground (a favorite!) and stopped to play, feed Thatch, and have a snack.  It started to sprinkle just as we finished up so we headed right over to "Snake World" so we could "freak ourselves out."

Below is the picture Harris took to send to Ben.  Daddy hates snakes!

Even though it stopped raining rather quickly, the thunder continued for a while, causing both the carousel and the train to be shut down.  The kids weren't too upset, though, because Auntie gave them $2 to experience the "winds of Africa."

It started out well...

but quickly got a little too windy for Babe.

There was nothing to do but take a picture. :)  For the record, Harris loved it.

We finished up the day with a stop at The Varsity for lunch.

Everyone loves The Varsity.  Eating on "the bridge" was super special, too.  Don't worry:  Babe and Harry spit, kick, and punched at our view of the Georgia Tech campus.

My favorite memory of the day, though, might have come when were loading up to head home.  Thatcher had a blowout and as I attempted to change him, Cassidy snapped some pictures.

She also gagged, leading the big kids to do the same:

And, not to be left out:

Love that little bitty girl!

On Thursday, we spent the day with Granti, Auntie, DB, Raven, and Sam at the Aquarium and World of Coke (CityPass perks for us!).

Here's my girl pretending to ride a dolphin after the Dolphin Tales shows.  Granti wept, in case you're wondering. :)

It was a very long day (we left our house around 9:30 and got home about 6:00) but it was well worth the memories!

Mom, especially, loved the fact that Coca Cola has done such a great job marketing and promoting and celebrating something so unhealthy.  

I don't really care.  I love Coke.

We spent Thursday evening at the skating rink for Quinn's birthday party.  Surprisingly, Babe and Harry really enjoyed it.

Ben thought he was going to be better than me but I proved him wrong.

We finished off the week with a trip to the gym and lunch at Johnny's on Friday.

And yes, my kids eat parmesan cheese as an appetizer.

We even ran into Double Ben there!!!!

After lunch, we headed out to purchase backpacks and lunchboxes for the upcoming school year.  The kids chose backpacks that came with headphones.  They're still "rocking out" on iTunes with those things.

Harris got a hold of my phone on Friday afternoon and, after a failed attempt to reach Ben by calling him, struck up a text messaging conversation.  Harry took this picture of himself and sent it.  The conversation itself consisted of a lot of Harris typing things like, "awkward" and sending pictures back and forth.

The kids watched "Lady and the Tramp" with Tyler for movie night while Ben and me met some friends for dinner at JCT Kitchen.  Pretty perfect evening to a pretty perfect week.

Summer of Fun forever!!!!!!!!