Summer fun

Lily was not taking to her yellow tube..."no like it!"  But with a full month of pool time ahead of us I forced it, and she learned to accept it.  It was great for me to be hands free in the pool.

 We visited a couple of splash parks on especially hot days.

 Lily is really becoming a big kid these days.  She does everything her siblings do.

 Jake took the big kids to Six Flags one day.  Tommy earned a free ticket  through a reading program and Rachel joined the fun.

Kate was a little sad but we figured the height difference would make things tricky so I took the little ones to Chuck E Cheese, which made her just as happy and at a fraction of the price.

Pop and Grammie made a little pit stop on their way back overseas.  We took them kayaking along the canal

 Tommy was all business.  Determined to beat Rachel and Grammie.  He never stopped rowing.

 Rachel was a different story, but she loves kayaking

We had the pleasure of celebrating Pop's birthday with him.

 A couple random shots of my cute, fun toddler

 Peach picking

 Isn't it just so beautiful?

 One day Rachel wanted to learn how to tie a tie, so Jake taught them.

Summer streets in NYC.  On a few select weekends every summer they close down Park Avenue for walkers, joggers, bikers.  We did it when we lived here but just walked it back then.  We decided to drive in with our bikes this time.  It was a lot of fun.  To see so much of the city in just one day!

From lower Manhattan all the way up to Central park, up to 100th street and around the reservoir.  I forget how many miles total, maybe 10?  Rachel and Tommy were good troopers.  And we did stop at a playground to meet up with old friends for a while.  It was a great day.

 Our route!

We are definitely trying to make the most of our situation right now where we have two good riders and two that can still sit in the child seats in the back.  Family bike rides are the best.