Top 10 Reasons July 2012 Has Been Awesome...

...In no particular order.

1) We went camping for four days, just the four of us.
We went to Banff National Park, pitched our tent at a sweet campground over July long weekend, and had an awesome little family vacation. I think it's our first. Usually our vacations include travelling to visit family, which we love, but this time it was just us. The kids slept so well that I'm seriously considering just camping in our backyard for the rest of the summer. The kids loooooved it, and still talk about sleeping in a tent. We hiked, and campfired, and hiked some more, and took photos, and played with dirt and sticks to our hearts' content. There are lots of pictures, too many to round up at the moment, so this is all you get, sorry. Maaaybe more later.

2) Going to Calaway with these guys.
We love our families. This was a good, good day with (most of) the Roberts Clan.
SO. much. fun.

3) We finally made it to the Calgary Zoo.
We all waited for a day when Daddy could come witness the kids' first zoo experience. The ice cream was delicious. The animals were very cool; the kids were fascinated. And thanks to Diego, Renae knew exactly what a "pygmy marmoset" was when we saw it, and that a flamingo can stand on one leg. Hahaha!

4) Grandma Sharon Roberts arrived!
Darren's mom applied for a position doing the architectural painting inside the Calgary Temple currently under construction. She got the job! So she's staying with us for 6 weeks. She has all sorts of cool things to tell us about when she gets home with flecks of gold leafing all over her face. We're so excited to be able to look at those walls from here on out and know that Mama Roberts helped paint them. It also may have been part of our elaborate plan to have her all to ourselves for most of the summer...mwahaha...
5) We moved our rooms around again. We do this very, very often. Having Mama Roberts around means that we can successfully empty rooms and maneuver furniture while babies play happily with Grandma. Have I mentioned yet how heavenly it is to have her here? Honestly, heavenly.

 6) The Popsicles.
It has been so hot for so many days of July, that we have been sure to take advantage of lots of cold homemade popsicles. From coconut-chocolate to yogurt-berry, we have loved every lick. Hot weather is delicious. Have a fave popsicle recipe to share? Send it our way!

7) This little guy got a bona-fide black eye!
Something you may not know about Micah is that he falls all. the. time. No joke! I'm nervous for him as a teenager because I foresee a trip or five to the Emergency Room due to his magnetic attraction to physical accidents. This time he was running around with a blanket over his head pretending he was in a tent (see #1) and whacked his eye on the edge of the piano bench. So it begins...

8) Renae turned THREE! I don't know if you remember this post, but true to form Renae has waited until her third birthday to even attempt to sing a song. She loved to listen to songs and hear other people sing them...sometimes making up little tunes of her own...but no matter how much I encouraged her to sing simple songs, she refused. I had almost given up hope of her being a song-singer, thinking that maybe instead she would turn out to be a proficient song-enjoyer....until she busted out the "ABC's" almost word-for-word (letter-for-letter?) within a few days of turning three. Turns out she knows the words and tunes of about four other songs, too, and has turned into a song-singing machine pretty much overnight. Seriously, I don't know when I this will stop surprising me.
Also, she got a doll house for her birthday...which has produced some pretty hilarious moments for me and the flies on the wall as she plays.

9) We went to the Zoo again!!!
This time for cousin Levi's birthday. I think next year we're investing in season's passes to the Zoo and Calaway Park. Seriously, worth it.

Um...who's the Ham on the left...??

Um...who's the Ham on the right...?

10) The all-around awesomeness of our every-day summer playing.
I feel like I'm an elementary school kid all over again having this job driving a school bus. We get these two precious months to play as hard as we can and enjoy the laziness and freedom of a whole, entire day ahead of us. We have been taking full advantage...from spending time with family visiting, to long walks with friends, to playing at parks forever, and getting sunburns at the huuuge splash park close by, to sleeping in (!) until at least 7:30am, to cramming in a ton of DIY house projects that have just had to wait, to being able to let the kids run around in practically nothing aaalllll day...Oh, this summer just feels divine so far. And it's not looking like it's going downhill anytime soon.

So far, sooooo good.