family fun...

I was going through some pictures from July to see what we had done but I hadn't recorded here and I realized two things.  1) I really didn't take that many pictures and 2) we did several things that have become family summer traditions.  And that was a sweet realization for me, I love family traditions. 

Ever since John was little, which means literally for the past eight years, one of his favorite places to go is a local park that has stables and pastures for horses.  Our family calls it the Horsey Park, here are some pictures from last summer. 

The boys especially love the miniature horses.  The spend a lot of time at the fence talking to them and petting them.  They also like to give them grass to eat, even though the have grass in the pasture they are in already.  This year we learned that the little white ribbon of electric fence that is right below the second rail is actually live.  Luke had the misfortune to touch it, it shocked him and proceeded to scream.  Which scared John, Grace and the horses.  It was funny to Mark and I because the we didn't know who (or what) had screamed and those little horses can jump.  Lesson learned, hopefully...

For some reason, John has decided he wants to carry his sister whenever we go out.  It is a nice gesture and one I truly appreciate but she is big and heavy.  I'm always afraid he is going to drop her or she is going to unbalance him and they will both go down.  But he manages and she loves it!

We also went to Longwood Gardens for a picnic one evening.  It was spontaneous, really it was.  We decided to go let the kids run around and burn off some energy.  We stopped and picked up some food at a local store and spent about 2 hours walking, running and eating.  It was really fun.  The kids just love going there and it is always fun to do it as a family.

I'm not much of a still life or nature photographer but the kids love the bull frogs that live in this pond and the lily pad flowers are so pretty.   Can you spot the bull frog?

We really had some sweet family times in July.  I'm glad I'm going back and documenting them...