End of Summer?

It's funny how just as you are getting ready to go back to school, summer weather finally hits in full force.  The past two weekends have been pretty warm, so a few weeks ago we squeezed in a trip to a beach along lake michigan not too far from our house, and other than the sand really smelling like fish is was really nice and the kids had a good time.  Hannah was bouncing all over the water and going under with ease, Leah was much more cautious but she's become much more confident in the water this summer too (she just isn't quite as fearless and she gets pretty cold - the lake was cold even for me!  Joseph and Hannah just don't care as much)  Last weekend we went camping in Minnesota and met up with the Grogg and Gould crews.  I haven't had a chance to go through the pictures yet, but it was a good time even with Hannah throwing up, Leah peeing her pants, and Joseph burning his finger.  There's always some kind of excitement with the Conway crew!  Our house is finally starting to cool off now that we're moving back down into the lower 80s again, and though it's hard to tell summer is winding down, Joseph starts first grade on Tuesday.  So I guess that means the summer ends this weekend!

The Lemonade Stand

Joseph had a big idea on our drive back from Ohio after the 4th of July.....and he wanted to keep it a secret and get started right away.  Since we were a bit tired the night we returned, we had him draw his idea on paper and list out the materials he needed, which ended up being a very cool design for a lemonade stand involving something like 52 NAILS, 22 BOARDS and PAINT.  Jay and Joseph made a trip to the store (Jay may have gone back several times), did some sawing and painting and hammering, and while I drew out the bubble letters for the sign it was Jay's idea to make the "E" a picture of a lemon and add the "+ Bake Sale". Joseph colored in the letters and he along with Morgan, Leah, Grace and Hannah (all the girls he has spent the summer with) made the lemonade with Jay while I got the cookies ready for our first time setting up the stand outside our house on Friday.  The customers were quite generous and the kids enjoyed getting their hair sprayed and faces painted after the picture.  It turned out to be quite the project and a pretty fun time!

End of Summer Activities

Joseph was promoted to Orange Belt in Karate this weekend, and he finished up gymnastics last week as well.  Hannah and Leah performed at their last dance class (which they loved) and are looking forward to hopefully doing gymnastics in the fall. And everyone is still in swim lessons and has had a ton of fun in the water this summer!