July Photo Roundup

This summer we really took advantage of our pool and grills. A majority of the nights we would pack up our food and grill down by the pool. It worked perfectly because I would try and prepare most of it during Macy's nap, Ja would grill it up while Macy and I swam, and then we would eat it together. Sometimes Ja would swim with Macy while I cooked. We found some very delicious recipes for steaks and burgers and wondered why we would ever go out for steak or burgers again because ours were so delicious. Cooks Illustrated taught us that grilled chicken doesn't have to be flavorless and dry, steaks don't have to be over-done and chewy, and burgers can be so flavorful and juicy you don't need condiments. We would also grill up vegetables and eat the plenteous summer fruits.

 We sometimes invited friends over to enjoy our new found favorite way to enjoy summer. This was our third summer here, why didn't we do this earlier?!

We also learned that Macy is a lover of beef! She would down a whole hamburger, bun included! She loved our steaks as long as she had some sort of sauce to dip it in. She called it chicken, but she loved it all the same. Sometimes she would eat more steak than I would!

Macy scaling the pool fence.

 Macy made huge strides this summer when it came to swimming. At the beginning of the season she wouldn't allow me to let go of her even though she had her pool floaty on. Gradually she became more brave and at the end of the summer she would walk in the pool completely on her own and start floating without me. If I tried to hold on her to her she would tell me to stop and that she's a big girl. I am so proud of her and how brave she became!

We were (and still are) so very sad we had to say good-bye to Silly. She moved away from us and we miss her so much. Just yesterday Macy asked to play at Silly's house and wanted me to go bye-bye so she could play there.  Macy hasn't (and probably won't) realized that Silly is many, many miles away and we probably won't see her until Christmas. They were such good friends it was hard to say good-bye. I really miss Silly's mom too :) Don't they look like cousins? This is the last hug they shared hours before Silly's plane left.

Macy reading to her friend. This was not staged at all. 

 Macy's friend had a birthday party that was supposed to be a pool party. Unfortunately it rained the whole two hours of the party. That didn't stop some of the kids from playing in the pool. I didn't bring Macy's suit because it was raining but when she saw the other kids in the pool she begged to go in. I let her and she eventually was the only one out there in the rain. It didn't seem to phase her that it was raining, she had a great time throwing the balls around and climbing from one pool to the other.

Painting with watercolors from Grandma.

 We have been watching A LOT of Tangled this month. Not the whole movie though, Macy makes me skip to the parts she likes the best. Her favorite parts include (but are not limited to): baby princess in the beginning, the man (when Flynn Rider comes sliding down the roof), the horsey (Maximus chasing Flynn), most of the songs (except the lantern song which is my favorite), and flower dancing (Rapunzel dancing in the town square with the flowers in her hair). Napoleon gets some time in too but it's mostly been Tangled. I can't wait to see what her movie fascination will be next month.