Who needs sleep?

After bowling, a special dinner, stopping at the candy store (went for cotton candy and they hand none!!), Matt and the kids went camping - in the back yard!  They had been asking to for a while and this weekend just kind of worked out.  One way to get it to look like they are sleeping...use a flash in a dark tent!   

 Rufus was on watch duty for a bit, before he wanted his warm bed in the garage.

They didn't do too bad, and did sleep all night in the tent.  Next time, air mattress needed for the grown ups!

Bowling!

This afternoon we took the kids bowling!  Anna has been a few times this summer with school (they go to the bowling alley on campus) and the boys have been wanting to go.  So we all went.  And since it wasn't a whole bunch of kids, they got to wear bowling shoes too!  I think that added to their silliness!  :-)

They each had a different technique.  Mason really wanted to use the holes but due to the size it just didn't work.  So he went with the between the legs toss.  

 Anna went with a side toss of sorts (as did Olivier).  Thankfully those bowling around us were understanding of the kids.

 And did I mention they were a bit silly?

 This is how Olivier often carried the ball.

 And off it goes!

 Mason struggled with fouls a bit.  Bummer!  :-(

 I liked this photo because you can see how they are all paying attention.

 And this is a good "action" shot of Mason.

 And did I mention they were being silly?  :-)

After bowling we went out to dinner with their free dinner certificates for completing the summer reading program!  They were very proud to tell our server what they had done to earn their certificates!  And we are very proud of them!

Oh my, look who is 4!!

Amazing!  That is all I can say!  Rhys is 4!  The kids loved playing together!  Add on pizza and cake, and boy was it a great time!  :-)  Love how it doesn't take much to make it a special treat.  It is so much fun to watch Rhys grow and her fun, silly personality is coming out more!  Amazing!

It is just amazing!

Happy Birthday Grandma and Grandpa!

This weekend we celebrated Matt's parents!  Fun times since their birthdays are just a few days apart (and since his mom is "19" a few years too!).  We had everyone join us for dinner and some ice cream Matt made at work, a great birthday treat and for national ice cream day!

It is hard to believe that there are now 8 Arnold kiddos running around (okay, Corbyn is still crawling but she will be chasing them down soon!).

And Anna and the birthday girl!

 

Baseball!

We joined my brother and his family today for a local baseball game.  The kids were thrilled to see and play with their cousins (it had been way too long!).  During the game the mascot walks around the stadium for photos.  When poor Rhys was asked if she wanted to go for a photo she jumped into her mama's lap and looked like she was going to cry.  She was screaming!  Poor thing!  Anna and Mason were excited to get their photo taken!

Michelle got this cute photo of all the kiddos (and Matt and I).

 And the three girls!  Anna loved having girls to play with!

A fun evening!  

Swim lessons

The kids have continued swim lessons at the outdoor pool this summer and are all doing really well.  Anna is still very uncertain about her abilities but we were excited to have her go on the diving board for the first time.  The first two times she went on it she "slid" in by sitting down and kind of falling into the pool.  

But she got braver and actually started jumping.  She really trusted her instructor and herself.  We are very proud of her!

Pre 4th of July fireworks!

This year we decided to check out the fireworks at the local baseball stadium, and, like last year, not try to squish into the stadium.  We played outside the stadium, we had friends join us (yeah!) so the time went quickly.  

 Soon the game was over.  The home team won!

And it was time for the kids to put on the noise canceling headphones.  After last year we realized that we should, and since they work as headphone we got some for the plane trip.  They worked very well for both purposes!

 And a couple of photos of the fireworks!

It was a wonderful evening!