We went as a family to explore Inniswoods, which is one of my very favorite metro parks here. It is so pretty and they have a couple of little hidden areas that are so fun for the kids to play in. One of those hidden areas has a water part that the girls love to play in. This time was extra fun because they found a cute little fat frog by the water and held him the entire time. We stayed there for SO long and Kaylee and McKenna were still sad when we moved on. I think they could have stayed with that frog the whole day.
It was a gorgeous day and all the flowers were in bloom so it was the perfect time to go.
As usual, we started off our summer going to a bunch of festivals. The older girls love getting all the free swag like their dad but Brooklyn won't stay in the stroller anymore and she gets bored walking around so we might not go to as many as usual. But that is one thing we love about Columbus- they have a ton of free, family-friendly festivals all summer long!
One place I never thought I would have a pass to was the Conservatory. But that has been one of my favorite places to take the girls. We went with some friends and saw the animal topiaries which were really fun. And we were there when they released a new bunch of butterflies and both of the girls were able to hold one.
For my birthday, Richard gave me a Groupon he bought for another escape room and we finally found a day to go. Unfortunately, this room was not nearly as good as the first one we went to and I actually left feeling very frustrated. It wasn't fun and you never felt like you were making progress because the room was full of clues and poems and evidence that didn't actually have anything to do with what you were trying to find. So you would spend 10 mins trying to solve something that was just a waste of time. It's a good thing we didn't start with this room or I might not have ever wanted to go to one again!
Richard finally talked me into trying camping with the girls this year. In the past, he's always just taken whoever is old enough while I stay home with the baby. We had purchased a campsite we could share with our friends, the Biggerstaff's and had everything packed and ready to go. It was pouring rain and we were debating whether or not we should still go when I noticed that Kenna was curled up on our rocking chair and almost falling asleep. I felt her forehead and she was burning up so I took her temperature and it was 101. Another missed camping trip for me! We were sad to miss out but it rained a lot that night and made it hard for them to cook dinner and they spent a lot of time in their tents so I was secretly glad that I didn't have to go.
Brooklyn started doing this weird thing where she had to fall asleep in the hallway instead of her bed. I think it comforted her to hear us downstairs and so even when we would try to move her into bed, she would come back out in the hallway and fall asleep. She was always very good and stayed right in the same spot and didn't get into anything but it was funny to walk up every night and see her sprawled out everywhere.
OSU approached Richard with an opportunity that sounded perfect for us. He didn't even apply for it, they approached him and said they thought he would be perfect for the new Assistant Language Program Director job they were creating. Especially because we had turned down the NY job and Emporia couldn't give us a for sure answer (they kept telling us they were waiting on the state budget and they couldn't promise anything). So we went ahead with the plan that we were going to stay in Ohio for 3 more years and we started looking for a house to rent in Hilliard or Upper Arlington. It was a very long, stressful process and we looked at SO many houses and nothing felt right for our family. I even was driving to apply for a house and got the impression that I should turn around and go home so I did. I kept thinking that there was something out there waiting for us. Then we heard about a job at UVU that Richard would be perfect for and I just KNEW that was the reason we hadn't found a house yet, because we would be moving to Utah instead. He had a really good phone interview and even though we kept saying we wouldn't get our hopes up too high, my hopes were WAY up. I even started looking at houses in Utah. So when we got the news that they decided not to fill the position after all, I was crushed. My family, as always, was super sweet and got together to send me a package to cheer me up. It had all things that were yellow or bright or had smiley faces and they all wrote a little note to help us. It was so sweet and I wore this smiley face bracelet every day for months to remember their kindness and love and to help me feel better about our situation.
McKenna seems to have lost all of her teeth really quickly! Now she is our cute little toothless girl. I love that smile! Put this girl in front of the camera and you will get a LOT of shots, all with different faces and poses. She knows how to work it!
One day for church, the girls all wanted their hair in pigtails so they would match. We had to snap some shots of these cuties by the temple with their matching do's.
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