Relaxation.

 Luke's first baseball card!

 Pete and Nate try some moonshine. 

 Yet another day at the pool. 

 Julia and Sophia have become fast friends. 

 Celebrating the 4th of July at the Parranto's amazing house. We had a great meal and were going to drive to Downingtown to see the fireworks, but found ourselves so relaxed in their beautiful courtyard that we simply stayed put and put on some fireworks of our own. It was a beautiful night!

 A dinner with friends night at the pool. Its quite a cast of characters! 

 A great and late party at the Andersons! More fireworks and a long night of swimming and playing outside. 

 Brunch at the olive branch in the borough. 

 Best Buddies. 

 Three happy babies in happy baby. Yoga has replaced TV before bed, we have been almost TV free for most of the summer and its been wonderful!

 Luke gets a buzz cut. 

Watching the swim meet below from the upper pool. I think that both Luke and Julia will join the swim team next year. 

We are deep into the heart of summer, and its a blissful time for our family. The kids are so easy ~ they are playing together so nicely, and they are LOVING our hour or sometimes two of "workbooks" that they do every day. Luke is well into and occasionally past the first grade workbooks, and Jules almost through the kindergarten ones. They simply love to learn, and its so fun to sit at the table with them and watch their little minds figuring out math and money and reading and whatnot. I love it! Its been a really fun bonding thing for all of us. Luke is tearing through book after book, and we are keeping a list, for every 10th book he reads we take everyone out for ice cream. 

I was worried that I would regret our decision to go camp free this summer. Jules did think like a scientist at the very beginning of June, but that was it. I was going to enroll Luke in a literacy camp, but honestly feel like he is so far ahead of where he needs to be and is enjoying reading and doing his workbooks that it just didn't seem like money well spent. I can say that our days are rhythmic and relaxing. We spend most mornings at the gym, where they still go to their regular classes (cooking, art, etc) while I work out and spend some time with my girlfriends. We come home and do workbooks and eat lunch during the heat of the day, and then everyone goes off to their "Naked Nap".  I think that this started on the cruise ~ but there is something about stripping naked on a hot day and sliding between cool sheets in a dark cool room that just makes napping an exciting endeavor for them, so we have kept it up. They wake up around 3 and by 3:30 we are either at the pool or at a friends house or having friends here. We have done a LOT of entertaining these past few weeks ~ dinner parties, girls nights here, neighborhood get togethers etc......having the basement finished is just so freeing when it comes to hosting large crowds. Its been really great to get to know a lot of our neighbors better and the kids are making good friends amongst the kids that they will be in school with in the coming years. Nate has been out of town all week, so we have been doing late nights at the pool, eating dinner there with friends and coming home at 7:30 for some yoga and bed. 

Nate and I have been getting in a lot of golf, and I was thrilled to get fitted for new clubs this past Sunday. I can't wait to get them in my hand and get out on the course! I've picked up activity with the Food Cupboard, and have arranged some fundraisers with local restaurants, which has me really excited! We are in the process of trying to set up a spanish class for families ~ nothing like this exists in our area, and so we are making one! I'm also in the process of setting up a new yoga program for kids at a local yoga studio after meeting its owner. There used to be one place that did kids yoga, and they went out of business, so there is a real need for something like this! I've also decided to get certified to teach yoga, which I am really super excited about! Its a 200 hour teacher training and it will start in September. Who knows exactly where it will take me, but I see a real need in our community for prenatal yoga and kids yoga classes......so I figure that the first step towards perhaps starting a business is getting certified to teach it myself! 

I can't believe that we are already mid way through July. I don't want summer to end, after missing last summer I truly feel like I am able to appreciate these beautiful days with my kids in a whole new way. I'm so proud of the little people that they are becoming! 

I've signed Luke and Julia up for GCVSA soccer for the fall ~ I can't wait to see them out on the field together! We have been eating lots of wonderful, fresh food, and truly just soaking up all that summer means in our area. Its a busy weekend of entertaining and parties this Sat and Sunday, and then I plan to take the kids down to Cape May on Sunday night. I will be down there all week with just my Mom, and then Nate and my Dad will come down Thursday night. We are excited to take them to the Ocean City boardwalk and enjoy all of our favorite Cape May treats like Uncle Charlies ice cream and miniature golf. 

Overall I just feel extremely lucky to be home with these little people who I love so much. I see so clearly how it was NOT the right time for me to consider going back to work ~ this is exactly where I am meant to be, right now. I feel like I dodged a bullet in taking on something that could have been really bad for our family ~ and am increasingly grateful for the relative simplicity of our life right now.