July!

I am on a roll! I would like to be caught up and ready to go for August...since it's currently August. Our July 4th was great. The 4th of July is my favorite holiday, hands down. We began our morning with a pancake breakfast at the church; we gathered together with friends for a fun afternoon of laughing and eating; we headed downtown once again for fireworks! The Washington Monument is still under construction because of the 2011 earthquake (hence the scaffolding).

The fireworks were amazing, just like last year.

We spent much needed time at the pool.

And when you go to the pool in the morning, this is what happens around 3-4pm.

We met up with the Good family in Gettysburg for some sightseeing. MAN that day was hot! But Gettysburg is always fun.

We had the Wangberg kids over our house so Heather could continue packing. The girls liked having some "older brothers"!

We went to Chick-fil-a for Cow Appreciation Day. I was so surprised by how many people, including adults, dressed up for the occasion! We'll go back next year for sure.

After a delicious lunch, we headed over to the library.

We went to our first Lowe's building day (thanks Lois!) and it was a success. The girls were so proud of themselves for building their Pizza Planet cars. I thought they turned out pretty well ;)

The biggest and most exciting part of July was Uncle John and Aunt Hillary coming to visit us. We did A TON during the week they were here. First stop from the airport was a Café Rio dinner, followed by dessert from Georgetown Cupcakes. A-mazing doesn't even begin to describe these desserts...

The next full day was DC day--we walked all over the National Mall. Of course it was ridiculously hot that day, but we survived! Prepare yourself for plenty of pictures :) Washington Monument

White House

National Archives

Sculpture Gardens and fountain

Capitol Building

Air and Space Museum. Here we went to the Lockheed Martin IMAX theater and watched a movie about the Hubble telescope. Fascinating stuff.

Smithsonian Castle

WWII Memorial

Lincoln Memorial. We took a break from the heat here; there was even a sprinkler which the girls ran through.

MLK Memorial

Jefferson Memorial. If we weren't so exhausted, we would've checked it out. (It's my favorite monument!)

We wanted John and Hillary to have the Jersey experience, so we headed up to North Wildwood for the weekend. First was breakfast at Duffer's, followed by some games at the arcade.

Of course the beach was a must!

Springer's was also another must on our list. Aunt Katie had a "sprinkle cake" made especially for Miss Cate's birthday and it was incredible. Strawberry and blueberry cheesecake in the middle--Cate loved it!

Although it was a tad overcast, we were back at the beach after a Beach Slam breakfast at Pompeo's.

It's a good thing we did come back, because Santa was at the beach for a Christmas in July celebration!

I think of the girls' favorite parts of the weekend was the boardwalk. We took them on the rides for the first time before dinner at the Ravioli House. They. Were. In. Heaven. It was so much fun to watch them light up with excitement.

Their faces were priceless. They were fearless. They could do anything!

Later that night, the boys had fun with a 3-point shooting contest on the Wild Wheels Pier.

Thank goodness for Sunday (a day of rest ;D). On Monday, their last day with us, we stopped for some South Street steaks in Bethesda and then we went to the temple visitor's center. After that, we drove to Arundel Mills near the airport and walked around for a bit, with stops at the Disney store and the Lego store.

It was so sad to say goodbye to John and Hillary. We loved having them visit us and we miss them terribly. Can't wait to see them in March AT THEIR WEDDING! :D We got back into our regular routine with a Family Fun Day at the Montgomery Mall. The chocolate store had a deal going on for that day--decorate a chocolate lollipop for free! Can't pass that up!

We went to another Lowe's building day and met up with the Heit's. This time the project was R.C., the car from the first Toy Story movie.

Here are the girls on a little train ride at the mall, which we rode while we waited for Dad to finish his eye exam.

On the last night of the month, we went bowling with the missionaries and a couple who they are teaching, Mack and Linda. It was a lot of fun. The girls want to go bowling again "tomorrow," says Cate. :)

Whew! There is the Killion July for you. :)