Summer Time - June into July

This summer has been amazing in so many ways, but in some ways it's been bittersweet also. We have done a lot and had so much fun, but it is also kind of the end of a season for us. Avrie starts school on Thursday and I keep thinking about how different it will be for us. Yes, we will still have summers to just come and go as we please, much like we did this summer, but Avrie won't be will us girls in our normal 8-4:30 activities and I'm already missing her helpful presence that entertains her sisters and keeps me on my toes. :)
  But this is about our summer, and what a fabulous one it was. It started with a bang with a quick trip to Michigan. We had a baby shower to go to for my cousin that we hadn't seen since her wedding, when I was pregnant with Quinn so we headed up for a very short, but good visit. The following weekend we headed North again, but only an hour north to go camping in Macon.

We stayed at a campsite right on the lake and the girls played in the water while we relaxed in the hammock. Other than the storms at night and forgetting the dog food, it was a great weekend.

We got home from camping and immediately started preparing for our Hoell Family vacation to Myrtle Beach. It was really fun to travel with family to the beach and enjoyed having the girls spend so much time with cousin and aunts and uncles. They loved hanging out on the balcony on the 15th floor and playing and the sand and especially collecting seashells. We went off to the aquarium and played putt-putt golf. One of the best parts was that Uncle Chip got to come meet Ella for the first time and to see the girls for the first time in almost a year.

As we traveled home from Myrtle Beach, my parents were on their way from Michigan with my neice Haileigh. They ended up getting into town about an hour after we got home. We spent 2 weeks doing lots of fun things with them and then just Haileigh stayed for the following week. We went to camp, we went swimming, we camped in the travel trailer, we went to the water park and painted pottery, and best of all the the cousins just played and played and played.