what haven't we been up to??!

this month has really flown by already! wait!! this month??! this whole SUMMER has passed with lightning speed...just a few short weeks till school starts again for us!

noemi and lance had their first session of swimming lessons. they had a BLAST! i would have been slightly more fun for me if i could have been in the pool in the mom and tot class with samantha...but the desk person i talked to on the phone said that bekah was too young for level one and would have to be in mom and tot...i can't be in the class with two kids...so therefore it was none...all three of us got to sit and watch 4 days a week for two weeks. it actually was pretty convenient because right after swimming lessons we were able to go to the school next door for the free lunch program!

then for the fourth of july, we got to do some traveling up north and lance got to meet gaga and papa for the first time. we had so much fun with troy's parents. on the morning of the 4th, we went to a parade and got loaded up with candy. that afternoon we went to the park for the fair. the kids got cooled off by a fireman and a fire hose...boy that was nice!

then we walked around enjoying everything that was there. as we were waiting in line to get some food there was a booth next to us that had a sign that said "free mini manicures". the end results: two very happy little girls! unfortunately for lance, it was not something that he got to benefit too much from. :) but while we waited for the girls to be done we got to watch some native american dancing. lance was mesmerised...i don't think he minded the wait one bit!

that evening we were invited to a barbecue with some friends and family. we got to enjoy good food and scenery with good people while we waited for the fireworks show. it was beautiful!

the next morning was something i had been looking forward to for a long time! we went FISHING!! i'm not sure who was more excited, the kids or me...but, really, does it matter? :) i was a little leery about our chances to catch anything because it was overcast and stormy looking...even as early as 7 am. but we tried our hand.

it took a while, but noemi was the lucky girl who got the first catch of the day! we were very excited!! we named him tom!

bekah caught the next fish. i was not able to get a picture with noemi and tom because he was taken off the line so fast, but getting a picture of bekah and her fish was even more exciting. i had a line in the water when bekah caught hers so i propped the fishing pole as i went to get the camera. as i was getting the camera focused i saw that i had a bite!! aah! what was i to do??! it was my first bite! do i take the picture and risk loosing the fish...possibly the pole too, or skip the pic and see what i got. obviously you know my choice. :) and, yes we did lose the fish. (pole was safe and sound) the next excitement was noemi caught a huge fish! although, unfortunately as we were trying to reel it in, we discovered that the line was wrapped around a cable underneath the dock. we were trying to figure out what to do...hoping that maybe the fish (whom we so affectionately named sherry) would help get the line untangled, bekah got a bite too! woohoo! but we soon discovered that she too caught sherry. we caught the same fish twice! what are the chances...catching the same fish while it was still on the line of another hook. but, alas, there was nothing we could do we had to cut the line on both poles. it was a sad moment. lance was the next one with a catch. he managed to catch himself a catfish! those suckers are fighters! when he was reeled in he was bleeding pretty good...he actually swallowed the hook. lance named him bloodhead. ahh yes, definitely named by a boy! ;) i actually never caught a fish...i had a good 6 bites, but with my inexperience i either waited too long or i tried to set the hook too quickly. oh well, next time i suppose. the last fish was caught by troy as i was taking bekah to the bathroom. we didn't get much of even nibbles after that because the wind really picked up and it started raining lightly. between 10 and 10:30 we packed up and headed back. 4 fish...not too bad for our first trip as a family! lance's catfish and the other three were stripers.

we had some delicious fish for dinner!

we just kinda hung around until monday when troy, lance, samantha and i headed out. noemi and bekah got to stay with troy's parents for a week. we missed them tons, but they had a ball! troy's parents brought them back home the following saturday.

while the girls were gone lance started another session of swimming lessons to help keep him occupied. his last day was this last thursday. now we just have 2 weeks left of summer...school starts on august 4th this year! how crazy is that??!

i hope you all are having a fabulous summer!