Tony's vacation, part 1

July 18th was a Saturday, but we considered it the first day of Tony's vacation from work. Our neighborhood had a children's bike parade that morning, but the kids woke up a little late and we didn't get to the starting point on time. When we met up with it, Faith took off and I didn't get a picture of her! But Buddy refused an offered ride on an ATV trailer and wanted to ride his trike instead. Here's Tony running along, pushing the trike, and trying to catch up (spoiler--it didn't happen!).
.



It was pretty cool, there was a fire truck leading the way and an ambulance brought up the rear.



We finally gave up and drove the car to the ending point where there was water, frozen treats, and sitting in the fire truck!

That night we decided to go out to dinner and Tony let Faith pick the restaurant. Of course, we ended up at "Chuck-a-grandma's". Christian was on one that night, he kept laughing and screaming and being crazy.



Then he stuck a napkin on my head and took a picture of it.

.




And got Faith to join in on the silliness.


Sunday morning I just had to get this shot of Tony & Crumpet snuggling so cute. They were both asleep until I got out my camera. Note to Tony's truck driver coworkers--this is how tough guys should spend their early Sunday mornings :)




That evening at Tony's parents' Christian came up with a fun game. You sit in the wood bark wearing no pants,




.
.
then you stand up and see how many've stuck!
.
.




.
.
.
Faith showed off her creativity with some rad washable marker tatoos. Buddy's is a horse and hers is a dolphin jumping out of the water.



On July 21st we had Ann's family including Mike and Natalie's family including Scott (aren't the guys so lucky to finally be included?) over for a barbeque. The kids started off on the trampoline while I grilled up some hamburgers & hot dogs.





The dads congregated to chat,

as did the moms :)

Lots of swimming was going on. Faith's showing me that she can float on her back. Her little friend Hunter (on the dolphin floatie) loved it so much that she hardly came out of the pool!

The guys got up the badminton net and played a few games. The kids had fun with it, too.

Sparklers were a hit!

The kids couldn't get enough of roasting marshmallows. Many weren't eaten, though and ended up as a sticky obstacle course on the patio.

We ended the night with a fun firework display. I'm so glad our friends came over, we had an absolute blast!

.

Tony's vacation: to be continued . . .