The Folkers Family Blog: Summertime and so much to do...

It's been almost a month since school got out, and I guess I have a lot of updating to do! Steve's done a great job of keeping the kids busy this summer. They've done a lot of free bowling and had a lot of of play dates with their friends. For a while there I forgot that Trevor lived here - he was spending the night out with friends, going from one place to another almost every day.

We enjoyed a nice visit with Steve's brothers and their families, who were here from California earlier this month. We decided to do Marisa's birthday party while they were in town, because it's not every year that Marisa can celebrate her birthday with her cousins. So we had three lanes at the bowling alley, with several of Marisa's friends and all of her cousins on the Folkers' side. She had a great time. Later in the week, all 21 of us went for the family photoshoot (I should add that the last two family photos were taken within 5 days of Trevor's birth, and 3 weeks of Marisa's birth. I was so happy to not have a newborn for this one!

As Georgia is officially no longer in a drought, we pulled the sprinkler out for the kids to play in this past weekend (on our assigned watering day, of course). I found the old slip 'n slide in the basement. We've been under strict watering restrictions for so long that I think the last time we had the slip 'n slide out was for Trevor's 2nd birthday. Marisa had never seen it! Since Ben loves to drink water out of the hose, we figured he would enjoy playing in the water too. So we filled up the baby pool for the dogs and learned very quickly that they're not big fans of water. Drinking, yes. Playing, not so much. Oh well!

Speaking of the dogs, Sam is almost six months old now and is doing great with his house training. He hasn't had an accident in a long time (knock on wood), but sometimes he "dribbles" around the house when he has to go outside. He's almost done with his obedience classes, and has learned how to sit, lay down, shake and (sometimes) stay. What a difference just a month has made.

Steve and I recently went to see The Fray at Chastain. I seriously don't remember the last concert we went to, so I was so excited to get out and see a good show. It was a lovely evening until it started to rain during the fourth song. And not just rain - thunder, lightning and a serious downpour that continued through the entire concert. We stayed and, in spite of the fact that we were soaked to our bones, I was so glad we did.

Here are some photos from the last month. Enjoy!