July with a Bang

July started with a bang --literally --with having our good friends, the Mohontys, over for Independence Day.  We had a nice BBQ and then lit fireworks. Adelaide finally summoned up enough courage to try holding a sparkler this year. Joseph, on the other hand, has never had any fear of fireworks. Even as baby he has always been mesmerized by the glowing lights and loud noise. It was hard trying to restrain him to a safe distance.

Just a few days later, we celebrated Adelaide's fourth birthday with a pool party.

I made a beautiful "princess cake" because that's what she wanted. --I had to dig around for a frosting recipe that wouldn't instantly melt when we took it outside in the heat. (Meringue frosting worked great!)

It managed to stay together quite well.  Adelaide loved it, and everyone else was quite impressed.

Here is JoJo and his Beloved enjoying some watermelon together. (We joke that these two were betrothed at birth, because they were born only a few days apart. . . . And they're both so cute!!!)

Happy birthday, Big Girl! 

The very next day, we left for a family vacation to Galveston, including amazing Moody Gardens. We bought a membership so we could do everything there is as much as we wanted.  It was all wonderful!  

The Rain Forest Pyramid was amazing.  They have a special section just for butterflies, and apparently, they love people, or at least our family, because everyone had one land on them.

(Notice Sadie's sad face in the above picture when Michael got to hold one; then a look of joy and triumph when one finally decided to land on her.)

As always, Michael loved the reptiles and amphibians best.

Joseph's favorite part was watching all the fish.

My favorite part was getting to see the bird feeding when we were within a few feet of  a dozen or so scarlet ibises and all other kinds of birds were flying above our heads trying to catch a tasty treat.

They Aquarium Pyramid was equally amazing. They have huge tanks of seals, penguins, sharks and other tropical fish.

And all kinds of smaller tanks with sea turtles, octopuses, sea urchins, and seahorses. --They even had a bunch of teeny-tiny baby seahorses in a special hatchery. So cute!

Joseph enjoyed getting almost-eaten by a megamouth shark. And again, he loved the fish! He could have stayed in here all day, easily. We almost did.

But we also had to see the Dinosaurs!!!  Michael and Sarah were less-than-impressed with these animatronic beasts, but Ada and Joseph loved them. They insisted we go through this exhibit every day we were there. (Actually, JoJo was a bit scared and wanted me to hold him when we first entered the tent, but by the time we were done, he was in toddler-boy heaven.)

While waiting for lunch one day, Matt invented a new game for JoJo --Dino-Soccer.

Apart from Moody Gardens, we visited La King's Confectionery. Boy, walking into a candy store with four small children is DANGEROUS!

We also toured the Flight Museum and got to see a few antique planes take off.

And of course we played at the beach, but I didn't want my phone getting sandy, so I left it in the car each time. Hence, no pictures. :-(


Back at home . . .

Our smart little boy put two and two together and decided to go fishing for our goldfish with the plastic fishing pole from our "Let's Go Fishin'" game.  Thankfully, he has been unsuccessful so far.

JoJo thinks he's such a big boy. 

Michael was "really bored" one day, so I let him make a marble cake all-by-himself-with-mom-supervising.  It turned out quite good, and he was quite proud of himself.