Summer is one of my favorite times of year. It is so much fun to spend more time with the girls, enjoy the Oregon outdoors, and go on adventures. July was a super busy month for us.
This summer has been a hot one, so we have spent a lot of time eating ice cream. Natalia has a permanent food beard.
On Independence Day, we went to my parents' house for a BBQ. No cookout would be complete without a rousing game of ladderball. Here you can see the enthusiasm on the spectator faces.
This year there was a ban on fireworks in South Eugene due to dry weather. We drove 6 blocks to cross the No Firework Zone and light some small fireworks. Someone (probably me) decided it would be a good idea to give the small child a sparkler. It seemed to workout ok.
As usual, my mom had a delicious and festive spread.
We also brought along a storage bin full of fireworks and water balloons for more BBQ fun. The balloons were the kind that you put on the hose and it fills up 50 at a time. They were great and quick, but really small.
The next day was my birthday, so we had a birthday eve cake. On my birthday, we continued the mini golf tradition. Natalia had lots of fun climbing on all the obstacles.
Bella amazed us all and got a hole in one!
We also celebrated with an ice cream sundae at Red Robin!
July brought a great harvest from our garden. We had zuchinni, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce, and peppers.
In July, we also noticed that Nina had been rapidly declining. After six years with twice daily insulin shots, she was not coping well. Plus, she was sneaky and liked to sneak things she shouldn't. She passed away later in the month.
We had the girls spend lots of extra time with her and prepared them for the inevitable.
Bella must have missed the dog portrait memo.
Natalia made some friends at the mall.
And continued to have food beards.
Several anesthesiologists at Jose's work retired, so we went out to one of the local wineries for a fantastic retirement celebration!
We also watched lots of softball games since Jose once again played on his work team.
Natalia was cute and made lots of expressive faces!
And Bella morphed into a teenager that loves to sleep in late.
July always features the local Relay for Life.
This year we made luminarias to honor Auntie Laurla and Nana.
And sometimes we wore our construction hats to Target. I really have no explanation for this.
This month we also went to the Lane County Fair. The girls loved the treats, the rides, and the animals.
Bella was tall enough to go on the gigantic ferris wheel. We had fun watching the sunset and had a great view of the fair and the city.
The girls enjoyed going on rides together, too.
Despite Bella's dislike for hiking, we trekked up Spencer's Butte.
It was a mostly fun adventure in the forest.
I think Natalia got the best deal.
At the top we took lots of sweaty pictures.
We also made friends with a fat squirrel.
We had a busy month full of summer fun! Bring on August!
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