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After a morning on the hot beach, we spent a little time indoors in the cool watching World Cup. Molly thinks she can help Uncle Scott appreciate the World Cup game he’s watching by bonking him on the head repeatedly with her new toy unicorn.

Then it was time to stay cool in the pool. Molly showed off how she can swim down to the bottom to pick up diving rings.

Leah spent a long time just swimming from one person to another in the pool, with very little break between each trip. She can move pretty quickly now. Here she is coming at me.

Here’s Leah having fun with Aunt EA. Jen and I got to relax on the side of the pool for much of the swimming as Aunt EA and Uncle Scott swam with the girls. It’s nice to have aunts and an uncle around.

For Grams’s 60^th birthday, we all went to a beach house on the Outer Banks (Southern Shores, to be precise). It’s the one behind the girls. In fact, our room is the room on the top floor on the right (with the hot tub on the deck outside it). After arriving, the girls were anxious to hit the beach as quickly as possible.

The girls didn’t want to go far in the water, but Molly did get a little damp in the spray.

Next step - sitting in the water and letting the waves wash over their legs.

Leah enjoyed the light splash.

After sitting in the surf for a bit, a larger wave came in. It picked Leah up and moved her six feet up the beach, leaving her drenched. She wasn’t a fan, and so decided to sit in the sand for a while.

Molly was OK with getting all wet, though she still ran from the waves when she thought they might be too big.

The next day, it was time to hit the beach again. This method of burying Aunt Caroline may take a while.

Well, that was a failed attempt.

Leah opted to avoid the surf today, and instead played in the sand and shade.

Outdoor swim season is fully here, and the girls are loving it. You'd never know that Molly was so afraid of putting her face in the water just last year.

The girls are now taking swim lessons at our neighborhood pool. Since the girls are now comfortable in the water, these are focused on learning strokes now. Here's Leah swimming toward her teacher's arms.

While Leah's in her lesson, Molly's practicing streamlining and kicking.

We're looking forward to a summer filled with a lot more water fun and a lot less water fear.

This week, Leah tried out soccer for the first time by going to a UK Elite Petite soccer camp. The coach was fantastic and very creative. Here, he's given the kids pinnies to wear as super hero capes.

Leah had a great time, and was an excellent listener.

In this game, the kids were mice and the coach was a cat. They had to dribble around to collect "cheese" and then bring it back to their cone. Then they had to hide behind the ball so the cat wouldn't see them.

In this game, the kids had to run into the "cuckoo's nest" and dribble a ball back to their team's base. Leah's got her ball and is moving quickly back to her team.

She's moving so fast she's a blur.

Nice dribbling.

In this game, the kids had to steal balls from other teams. Leah's just collected this one and is hurrying back to her team's base.

She had a great time at soccer camp, and now wants to do soccer again in the fall. Right now, she really wants to be on a team, but she may decide she'd rather do some more clinics before getting competitive.

Finally, after a couple extra days due to all the snow, it was the last day of school for Molly. Here she is, ready to go finish out first grade.

For comparison, here she is on the first day of school this year. I'd say she's grown up a bit.

After school, we got a picture of the neighborhood kids just like we did the first day of school. There are a few more kids here than there were then, plus a few extra friends.

Here's that first day of school picture.

The girls have been asking to get their hair cut short for a while, but Jen told them they had to wait until after their dance recital. With the recital done, it was time for a haircut. Here's Leah before they left for Cartoon Cuts.

And here's Molly before going to get her hair cut.

Molly's hair was cut shorter than I think I've ever seen it. Note the new earrings Jen bought her after the haircut as well.

Leah's hair is quite short as well. She came home in a funk, though, because she didn't like that Molly's hair was shorter than hers. I eventually cheered her up enough to get a picture, but it took a while.

Of course, it didn't take too long after I got her to cheer up before she started being silly.

And silliness leads to laughter.

I think Molly's new haircut has given her some attitude.

It’s dance recital time again, and this year it’s much more serious for Molly. She was in three different numbers - one ballet, one tap, and one jazz.

Molly’s jazz dance was to I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair from South Pacific. So, they had big tubs for doing just that.

I sent a box of "Happy Summer" surprises to Emmie and JJ last week. Emmie's dress matches the dresses I recently made for Molly and Leah. The girls are excited to all wear them when we get together next month.

The best part about JJ's new outfit? The pockets!

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.

Like last year, Stacie and I took the little sisters to pick strawberries at Gorman Farm. Here they are finding the perfect ones to pick.

You must taste them along the way, right?

Leah and Matilda were proud of their loot, showing off the biggest strawberries in their bucket!

The strawberries were gone in 2 days! So, next week...strawberries at Larriland Farm?