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After church on Sunday, it was time for Leah’s mermaid party. Of course, there were lots of decorations. I’ll show you a few close up, but for now make sure to notice the seaweed and bubbles on the wall, and something interesting hanging from the ceiling.

Leah told Jen she wanted her cake to be chocolate and vanilla, because some of her friends liked chocolate and some liked vanilla. So, Jen obliged. She baked a 3 layer cake, with 1 chocolate cake layer, 1 vanilla cake layer, and 1 chocolate/vanilla swirl layer. Of course, Jen also added fancy decorations.

Jen also made a fancy mermaid banner for the occasion.

Hanging from the ceiling were jellyfish that Jen and the girls made. By putting them right under the lights, the glowed above us.

Once all the guests arrived, Jen entertained the with a reading of Mermaid Sister.

After the reading, the girls made seashell necklaces.

The girls were very still while they focused on stringing their necklaces with beads.

After the necklaces, we moved outside to make some sand art. This involved a little parental assistance.

After all those crafts, the girls needed a snack. Jen prepared fancy snacks from under the sea, including sand dollar cookies, seaweed grapes, star fish cheese crackers, and goldfish.

Jen also made a starfish piñata, per Leah’s request. This was Jen’s first piñata. Here it is hung up and ready to be attacked.

Leah was happy to get the first couple of whacks in.

It didn’t take long before it broke off its string. So, the girls attacked it on the ground. I love Leah’s war cry here, though using two hands might inflict a bit more damage.

One of the smallest of Leah’s friends ended up being the toughest. She hit harder than anyone and pushed the piñata almost to its end.

It’s raining candy. Can you catch it?

Then it was time for cake. Yum.

After cake, the girls blew some mermaid bubbles.

Soon after I started taking pictures of the bubble blowers, they decided I would make a good target. So, I was attacked by bubbles.

My view of the bubble attack.

You probably already noticed them in all the other pictures, but all the girls are wearing mermaid tails sewn by Jen.

We didn’t open presents at the party as we had so many other fun activities to do. But afterward Leah was very excited about all the fun gifts her friends gave her.

The party was lots of fun for all involved. Thanks to Jen for putting in so much effort to make it great, and to all the girls who came.

Jen asked Leah over and over where she wanted to go out to dinner with family to celebrate her birthday. She always had the same answer. Chick-fil-A. It is not only delicious, but includes a toy (it’s a bug light).

We purposely went to the least busy Chick-fil-A in the area, which worked out well. Here’s the whole crew enjoying the fancy birthday dinner.

After dinner, we went to Grams’s house to open presents. Aunt EA and Uncle Scott upheld their standard of fun singing cards. This one even includes a dancing mustache.

After presents, it was time for cupcakes.

One of Leah’s gifts was a set of tiny Frozen characters. I told her I would extract them from their packaging while she was sleeping. Once they got out, they posed for a picture.

Thus endeth the first day of celebration. But twas not the last.

Last year, we hosted a Back to School BBQ for Leah's preschool class. This year, Jen decided to change it up and switch to an ice cream party. Yet again, we had around 60 people (a bit under this year) at our house.

Immediately upon arrival, the kids decided running or rolling down the steep hill in our back yard was a fun activity.

We supplied the ice cream and everyone else brought lots of toppings. While everyone couldn't fit in the kitchen to fill their bowls at one time, here's a shot at the initial onslaught.

We fixed bowls inside, but then headed outside to eat. It was very nice in the shade on the porch.

Some decided that the hill was not just for running/rolling, but also for eating ice cream.

After ice cream, there was a lot of playing. This included frisbee throwing. It only got stuck on the roof twice.

The hill is not just for running, rolling, or eating ice cream. It can also create new sports. Here the kids put the soccer goal at the bottom, carried soccer balls to the top, then rolled them down toward the goal like a bowling ball. I call it hillside soccer bowling.

While many of the kids played outside, many others packed into our basement playroom for some fun with toys.

The party was a lot of fun. It's a bit sad to know that this is the last beginning of preschool we'll ever celebrate. But we'll just focus on the fun year of preschool we've got ahead of us instead of thinking about that.

Happy birthday Uncle Scott (or Ankle Scott, if you prefer)! It was great to celebrate with you a day early (especially given that salted caramel cake!). I hope your actual birthday is as much fun, though you won’t have these two cuties to help you blow out your candles.

This may be hard to believe, but Jen and I have now been married for twelve years.

We were married July 27^th, 2002. It’s crazy that we both still look exactly the same ;) (OK, I don’t, but Jen pretty much does).

To celebrate a dozen years of wedded bliss, we’re going on a cruise in October. But on the actual day we went out to dinner at Tersiguel’s, a very fancy French restaurant in old Ellicott City. We were excited about our soup and entree, but thought our dessert (ice cream and sorbet) would be less exciting. We were wrong. Jen’s butternut squash ice cream and my coconut sorbet arrived in bowls made entirely of ice. The presentation was very cool, and the desserts were delicious.

We had not planned to be home for the 4^th, so we had not made plans to see any fireworks. We decided last minute to head to the UMBC parking lot we'd been to 2 years ago to see the Catonsville fireworks. When we arrived, we were surprised to find friends already there.

Leah's got something to say to Maya about her Rapunzel doll.

Keira and Maya were kind enough to share some glow bracelets with other kids, which our girls very much appreciated.

They were about 20 minutes late, but the fireworks did eventually arrive.

The fireworks were pretty amazing. Just look at Leah's face watching them.

Despite being July, it was a bit chilly after dark. But we didn't mind, as we just cuddled up together with our jackets and a blanket.

Here are a few more shots of the fireworks, to give you an idea of what they were like.

Sadly, the fireworks came to an abrupt and early end. We're not sure why. Some said it was due to an injury, others said it was due to wind causing the fireworks to land in the crowd. Regardless, the evening was fun despite the lack of a grand finale.

Aunt Caroline’s birthday may have been more than a week earlier, but we ended up celebrating it on the 4^th of July with dinner at Carrabba’s.

Molly was a big fan of the bread, both for eating and for facial hair simulation.

They don't sing at Carrabba's, but we do. She seems to be enjoying our rendition.

Make a wish!

Since Hurricane Arthur ruined our plans to celebrate the Fourth of July at the beach, we decided to instead celebrate at our house. Here we all are at our celebrator lunch.

After lunch, it was game time. Aunt Caroline, Charles, and the girls went to the basement to play Xbox while those of us over 30 played Texas Rummy. It’s a fun card game similar to Phase 10 that Scott taught us at the beach.

Jen decided very last minute to make the girls 4^th of July skorts. I'm sure the girls will be showing their patriotism all summer long!

The skorts make the girls giggle. Or, maybe that was Uncle Scott.

The main event - celebrating Grams’s 60th birthday. Aunt EA made sure Grams was fully adorned, and Aunt Caroline made some yummy red velvet cupcakes. I think Grams is excited.

What??? One gift from all her kids. What could this be?

It’s an iPad!

Happy birthday Grams! We love you!

That about covers the first couple days, but this is a week long trip so there's much more to come. Well, at least it was supposed to be a week long trip. More on that later.

A year after Caroline graduated, she's at it again. This time with a Master's degree in teaching. We made the trip down to St. Mary's to see it happen.

Not only was Caroline graduating, but she was selected as the student speaker at graduation.

She did a great job with her speech. She even threw in a shout out to a couple of little girls. Here it is in its entirety.

Here she is getting her degree from the college President.

She's a happy graduate.

And here she is with her family.