4th of July

 Everyone was at the cottage on the 4th.  We managed to get a picture of all the little ones.

 More tubing

 Carter was finding all sorts of bugs and wanted to know what they are.  Aunt Pat found a bug book for him to read.  He loved it and told Grandma Debbie he wants a bug book and container for Christmas.

 After the adults finished the Annual Schmidt Family triathlon, the kids competed in their first one.

 They had a blast with it!  Here they are zig zagging around American flags with a marshmallow on their spoon.

running with a noodle between their legs

slip n slide to the finish

Audrey always has so much fun with Ava and Natalie.  They are so cute and play so well together.  I had fun just watching them.

It was a great day until right before dinner when Audrey got pushed out of the hammock!  She landed on her mouth and got 3 front teeth knocked out.  We packed up and got her seen by a pediatric dentist in Appleton.  Thank you to our friends the Werners for the referral.  With it being the 4th we were striking out until we got in touch with them.  Luckily, they were baby teeth but it can be 6 months to a year before her permanent teeth come down.  There could be damage done to those but we won't find out until they come in.

The dentist and his staff were great!  They gave all three kiddos a coupon for Culvers.  Since Audrey didn't get to eat dinner we went and got her some frozen custard.  It was just a block from the dentist.  The soft cold custard felt good on her swollen, sore mouth.  This was the first smile we got out of her since it happened.  So there we were.  In Culvers on the 4th of July at 9:30pm.  During our drive to Milwaukee we saw some fireworks in the distance.  Thankfully, the kids fell asleep on the way.

Thank you to Great Grandma for letting us come crash at her house at 12:30am!  Audrey slept in late and got some much needed rest.  She was in too much pain to even eat oatmeal or applesauce.  Her mouth was bruised and swollen.  She did have some fun in the pool though.  It was about a week before Audrey could eat even soft foods without pain.

Madison came to play with the kids and they had so much fun with her.  Saturday night Chuck and I went out with Mike and Michelle while Madison and Grandma watched the kids.

knee boarding

 Zach helped Carter and Audrey knee board for the first time. As usual, Carter was hesitant to try it so Audrey went first.  She was excited to try it.

 She did great!

 She went all the way around the lake her first time out!  I think she would have gone longer but we forgot to communicate with her how to let us know she's tired/done.

 Carter does not hide his feelings.  I really think he only did it because Audrey did.  He couldn't let his little sister out do him.

 He did fine.  We only took him half way around since it didn't look like he was enjoying it.  He played tough and said he did.

 Zach met them out on the raft when they were done.

 Happy to be fast tubing.

 Family pic on the pontoon.

 Cousin pontoon ride

 Ang and I

 Carter fishing with Uncle Steve

He even caught a few

John's Lake

 We went up to Wautoma, WI to my Uncle John's cottage on John's Lake for the fourth of July weekend.  Chuck had PTO to use up so we ended up going Wednesday.  By the time we got unpacked it was no wake time.  So we took the kids out on the pontoon for a slow tube.

 Happy to be on the water.

 Evey waving at Carter and Audrey

 Goofing around and Carter almost ended up in the water.  He didn't do that again!

 A bug landed on Evey and she tried to pet it.

 Carter loves spending time with Zach!

Well they all love Zach!  He's so good with them too.

first swim meet

 Carter only spent a few weeks on pre-team and then got bummed up to team.  He was both excited and nervous for his first meet.  His buddy Brayden moved up with him so that helped make it fun.

 Group shot

 His age category group shot

 Ready for his first event

 His start dives need some cleaning up but he did well for only having a few days to practice them.

He swam breast stroke

Freestyle individual and freestyle relay.  He has started a collection of swim team ribbons :)

Back to reality

 When we got back from the beach the kid's activities had already begun.  The kids had swimming almost every day at the club.  Audrey is not a fan of the diving board yet but here she is jumping off.

 Thank goodness for the baby pool!  It was such a hot summer which made it miserable to sit on the deck during their lessons.  Evelyn was much happier playing in the baby pool.

 We got a few herbs and cherry tomato plants to keep on the deck.  The kids loved checking up on the plants and would munch on the herbs.

 More pool time

 If it was a really nice day we would eat lunch there and stay and swim some more.  This is a picture of Carter going off the high dive for the first time!  He was always so scared of it and now her loves it.

 With all the run around Audrey fell asleep on the way to Tae Kwon Do.  Evelyn was so confused by it.  She kept trying to wake her up and telling me uh oh.

 We celebrated our friend's 1 year post double lung transplant anniversary!  The balloon guy happened to be there that night and my kids always enjoy the creations he comes up with.

 My beautiful girls with her bear in a heart balloon

These are the shenanigans that happen around the house when I'm trying to get dinner made. :) Evelyn could not get enough of them carrying her around like that.

visit with the Grimms

 The Grimms were in Sandestin for a conference.  They were able to meet us on the beach one day to let the kids play and for us adults to catch up.  We have quite the crew!

 The next evening we met up for dinner.

 Standing on the bench waiting for the dads

 Chuck and Lee went back to the conference to hang out with some of their friends from Birmingham.  Meredith and I stayed back with the kiddos.

 Meredith's parents were sweet to take the kids on a golf cart ride to give us a moment of peace :)  Since the guys left right after dinner, I never got a picture of the four of us.

 This sign was hanging in our condo.  We had to have our diva pose with it.  It was fitting.

Our time at the beach always goes by too quickly.  Evelyn was a happy camper since she got to use the headphones for the first time.