Hey, did anyone see July?

It was here a minute ago...

Well, I made a promise to myself to try and do 2 blog posts a month...and with a little luck, I just might get this one done :)

The month of July was bound to be our busiest month yet. We had both "long-weekend" vacations back to back. First up was Matt's mother's side of the family. The Lunn-Wiley Reunion. It was held out in Kansas City, MO the third weekend in July. It is something we all look forward to every other year. We were unable to attend the previous one, so the last one we attended was right after we got married...fast-forward four years and we now have two kids in tow. This year Levi was able to run a free a little more. He was obsessed with Ryan and Dylan and they did a great job watching after him and playing with him. They even brought him a kleenex box full of toys. It was gift wrapped and everything! I feel blessed to have such a wonderful (large) family. It is always a joy to spend time with them :)

The following weekend we traveled to Independence, OH (a suburb of Cleveland) to meet up with my Aunt Ruth and Uncle Den (my dad's sister and her husband). We spent four days hanging around the pool, eating and site seeing. The highlight of the trip was the three-hour train ride we took from Independence to Akron. It wound through the local national park. We saw bald eagles and beaver dams, and we each had a head set that gave us historical facts about the area. We decided to go on the train ride because Levi likes trains, but we all enjoyed it. Levi, of course had a blast. He got to do some running around, made a little friend, and went to the gift-shop car and got some souvenirs. And got to use the potty on the train...that was an experience!

That pretty much wraps up our July adventures. Here are some pictures from our trips.

Lunn-Wiley Reunion

It was really hot that day!

Levi and his buddies. He will probably always look up to these guys.

Rachel and one of our cousins Evelyn

The weekend in OHIO

Here they are with the conductor before departure.

He is ready to roll.

She may be special cargo, but I think she belongs in a seat.

Levi is showing his new friend the picture of a train.

Rachel seemed to enjoy the trip.

Mr. Joe Cool

He is so into music that he has started listening to an mp3 player...He is growing up too fast.

Overall, the kids were rockstars when it came to travel. They do best during the day and don't even watch the DVD player as much as we thought they would. We only put it in the van when we go on trips so we thought the novelty of it would keep Levi glued to it most of the time, but he lost interest pretty quickly and just listened to music, slept, or played with toys a lot of the trip. We feel very fortunate that our children do well on vacation. Both in the car and at hotels.

Father's Day and Beyond

I realized this week that it has been almost a month since my last post, and with summer blazing by, I need to keep up on my posts in order to capture all the cool things happening in our lives.

We can start with Father's Day. We had a great time with both of our fathers as well as making Matt feel special. We spent Saturday with my family. I got to go put-putting with my dad and came "close" to winning :) Then we all had dinner together and I got a chance to get some pictures of all the kids. Not great, professional ones, but some is better than none, right?

On Sunday, we celebrated with Matt's family. I so enjoy having the chance to see all of our family in one weekend. I especially like that Melissa and her family can join us at all of our gatherings.

We rounded out June with the Freedom Festival here in Fishers. The weekend was beautiful and the kids seemed to have a good time. We got to enjoy a good band and some fireworks on Sunday night with some new friends from church as well as Auntie Rachel. Levi was so-so on the fireworks this year. He wasn't scared like last year, but he wasn't excited about them either. Maybe next year he will be. Rachel seemed to be drawn to them. She stayed awake for them both weekends.

Our Fourth was basically a three-day experience. Friday night we went to our first Symphony on the Prairie of the season. Which also made it Rachel's first one. The Star Spangled Symphony is always a packed event, but boy was it ever on Friday! Roughly 10,000+ were there. We sat in our car for an hour and a half after the show just waiting to leave. So we didn't get home until after midnight and both kids were still awake when we left. Rachel fell asleep on the way home, but not Levi. Needless to say, Saturday was a little less eventful. We still managed to see some family and celebrate with Aaron and Kasie (my brother and his wife) as they have recently moved into a new home. Then on the Fourth, we had a spent most of the day at home relaxing, then we went to Matthew's parents' home and went swimming and had dinner. Then we managed to get the kids home and in bed by 8:30 and they slept through the fireworks that night. I know that seems odd, but after the eventful weekend they had, I figured they wouldn't realize what day was actually the fourth .

So this week is our only week of normalcy in July. Next week we leave on Thursday for Kansas City, MO for Matthew's family reunion. I am really looking forward to this! We haven't been to a reunion since 2006. A lot has changed since then :) We have seen a lot of his family since then, but not at a reunion.

Then following week we leave on Thursday again to visit my dad's side of the family. We will be traveling to Independence, OH for a long weekend. Again, I am very excited about this. I hope to stay on top of the blogging during this month, but I make no promises.

I will leave you with a few pictures and some videos.

Peek-a-boo!

Cutest advertisement ever!

*Random video alert*

I found this in our June file and thought it was funny. Levi would love nothing more than to have a Tigger tail. He would do more bouncing than he already does if he did have one. Last Halloween, I dressed like a cat. He has kept the tail of that costume and he makes it his Tigger tail. Here he is trying to bounce like Tigger.

Isaac

Lilly

Natalie

Sisters and BFFs

Hanging with the big kids...

not feeling the love.

*Random video alert*

Here is Rachel's trademark sound. She has chosen to share this with our entire church during the sermon no less. I guess if the entire congregation is going to hear a baby noise, this is the one to hear.

A good toss.

Amiyah~ looking all cute.

She will be bigger than Rachel in a month or so, no doubt.

We were eating dinner and she just crawled up on his legs by herself.