Back in July, six days after he was home from Warsaw, Brian left for a Romeo and Juliette with the Bar Harbor (Maine) Music Festival.  We were sad to see him go so quickly, but Kate and I were able to join him thanks to Delta Skymiles.  Colin and Jane stayed home in the care of friends and Nana as travel with everyone is out of the budget for now.   The first thing we did was eat lobster.  

Kate did enjoy playing with the meaty leg.  I was a bit nervous to travel with Kate as she does not have the travel experience that the older kids do.  She was a great traveler, but the first night in Maine, she did not want to settle down.  We had to go on a sleepy drive. 

We spent as much time as we could in Arcadia National Park.  This was an awesome hike that includes these planks around the lake.  We then had the famous pop overs with our old friend Ryan, yay! 

  

We walked out to Bar Island, as during low tide, there is a sandbar allowing crossing.  You need to time it well because in high tide, you'll be stuck. 

 

View of Bar Harbor from Bar Island.  And below, proof I was there too, ready with a baba and the diaper bag. 

 

Back in July 9 (is it really the end of August already???  School starts THIS Monday, ahhh!!!)  but yes, back in July, we got to see one nephew just home from him mission in Uganda while his brother was just getting ready to leave on a mission to Louisiana.  Above, Mike enjoys some hammock time with my kids. 

The LOVE their big cousins!!

 

 

On the way to the MTC for a last J Dawg.  Mike worked here and opened his mission call here too.  Sometimes I can hear Jane talking about J Dawgs just for fun.  

 

Kate will be almost 3 next time we see Mike!  He's doing great, so proud of him! 

 

I was out checking the light back in early July before I was going to take some photos of our friends and got these shots of Jane.  She has declared herself a Bug Scientist.  It's very cute, she has a little collector box and has even taken bugs to bed.  (She also thinks you get bed bugs from having shoes on the bed, and colored Colin's sheet with a marker in an attempt to give him bed bugs, hmm. . . .  )  I am not sure what mess is on Jane's hand, so hard to keep up with the mess! 

 

She was being very cute and talking to her bug.
And sometimes I wish I had a little sign for Jane that said "she dresses herself AND she only just turned 4!" Since she is so tall, people can be thrown off by her bad behavior, and she does come up with some amazing get ups.  The above matches because it is all cherries, and it was actually pretty cute.

  Below, a shot of Kate on my back.  We got a great new hiking backpack from phil&teds (of course!).  It comes with a little mirror so you can check on the little one.  Kate was a super good girl, just hung out on my back through my photographing.  She can get a very serious face. 

 
\I took some photos of some of our oldest friends from college.  Utah is a fun place and a Mormon cross-roads, meaning we get to see lots of old friends.  Sadly, I do not have photo proof for all of them, but we always love seeing old friends!  We had such a good time hanging out with them, such fun! 

Sweet little sisters!  Their oldest daughter is just Colin's age.  We want to forbid them to marry to bring them together.  

 

 

 

Cute little twins!  They loved the raspberries! 

 

Colin has been keeping the Tooth Fairy busy this summer.  First one front tooth. . .

Then the other. 

The toothless wonder.  He lost another this week while eating a carrot he picked from the garden.  Kind of funny, a couple years back when Colin was taking a hip hop dance class, the teacher asked if anyone had any questions (about the dance they were doing).  Colin's hand shot up and he asked, "what does the tooth fairy do with all the teeth she collects?"  The teacher said she did not know, so he explained they are ground up into dream dust to help kids have good dreams.  Funny boy.  Today he asked me would happen if the whole world were made of marshmallows.  

 

We have had a busier summer than I imagined.  Here are some quick things of which I had some photos.  Above, Tracey Aviary!!!  Our Pass of all Passes gets us in on Mondays and our kids love it! 

Colin got to drive a tractor at his cute friend's party, and Jane got a cupcake.  That girl has a serious sweet tooth, just finished today getting her 10! cavities filled.  We have a lot of money in Jane's mouth! 

 

 

Jane has been very Nana focused this summer.  They are very sweet little friends. 

This was back when Kate just started pulling up to things.  If only this were all she is doing, she is now a master climber!  I have a little chair in the kids room and she climbed right up it the other day to access a whole new level of mischief!

 

Dip cones!!

A couple photos from the Children's Museum.  We have gotten just a 6 month membership to get us through the winter the last couple years.  I love that they offer the 6 month option.  Having it all the time would get old, but I do love that there is a lot for Kate to do too.  Always a fun time. 

 

More Liberty Park, and below, Hoogle Zoo! 

 

And this is at Seven Peaks, which explains Kate's lack of clothing.  We were testing if she is a pickle girl and she loved it!  In our family, the girls like pickles and the boys do not (minus refrigerator pickles from garden cucumber) 
And below, our friends in Warsaw sent this awesome sun cover for our stroller. I have used it a ton, and love that I can take baby out in full sun and not worry about sun screen.  But this photo was taken about 11:30 pm on July 4th.  We walked into downtown Holladay to see the fireworks show.  We brought the baby carrier for Kate as I new the big kids would want the stroller coming home.  Colin knows he is a bit too old for the stroller, so he requested the sun net for privacy.  They both conked out!