....no vacancy.....

.....we just had a family of five leave yesterday and tomorrow, we have a family of four arrive for a long weekend.......our house has bustled.....doors have opened and shut constantly, the kitchen has been open more than it has been closed, and laughter has waifed up from our basement every morning, as the six of them have made their way to the playroom while the mommas sleep til 7am......

.....the tv has collected dust, the swing set in the back yard may need to be oiled and we have probably gone through hundreds of paper plates over the course of the last week (yes, we are recycling!)......

.....it has been busy, hectic, funny, loud, sweet and chaotic, to say the least.....and we are ready to start it all again tomorrow......

......more on our adventures with visitors next week......

......the month of July had a few days that were slow and lazy......here are a few of my favorite moments  that captured the epitome of our summer......

.......Horse Camp.......

.....hardly a camp, but somehow the friend that referred this program to me referred to it as so and the name stuck.....any random day from 9-12pm, Miss Jocelyn takes 2- 5 year olds in her backyard for water play, arts and crafts and an opportunity to brush and ride the ponies.......hardly a horse camp, but the kids love to call it that and they love going to see Miss Jocelyn's horses......

.......and a bonus for me that all three of my kids fit in the 2-5 age bracket......going to the grocery store alone and hitting a spin class during this time frame does amazing things for my sanity......

.....Daddy daughter dates........

.....here is Elsie's face after I hung up with Stefan who told me he was coming home at 4:30pm to take her fishing on a random Monday night......

.....we giggled over the task of making ham and pickle sandwiches for their picnic dinner and they were off for a few hours.....

.....they did not catch a fish, but I know my girl came home with her love tank full.....

.....and I got to run the two younger ones around the neighborhood before making our own special dinner to share over a much smaller table.....

.....it is interesting to see how siblings interact with one another when the dynamic shifts......watching Callie embrace being the only big sister and seeing Brody adore her in this role gave me some good, wide grins.....

.....Mini road trips.....

......90 miles south and two states down, we popped in for a visit with old friends......our NYC neighbors are leaving the city faster than I can make all the going away parties.....

....yes, we all miss Manhattan, but suburban life for many of us has its perks......

.....we loved the 8 hours with our buds and summer just would not have been complete without an opportunity to spend some quality time with them......

....Lazy backyard days.....

.....actually, we have had a good amount of them......yes, we have had a ton of friends and family in to see us this summer, but we have also had lingering mornings, late lunches, bedtimes that would make me cringe in the fall and our fair share of fireflies caught in our fly nets.....we have resisted camp schedules, over committing and being on a time table and that has made the summer sweet......

.....we also eat watermelon everyday.....

.....happy last month of summer.....