Happy July 4th in Spring Lake!

Mom, Dad and Evie made the trip up to Spring Lake to spend July 4th with Popi, BeBe, cousins Julianna and Stan, and Aunt Casey. With the heat wave in full effect, the beach was definitely the place to be. While Evie enjoyed making sand castles and sitting near the water while the waves rushed over her legs, she seemed to have the most fun talking about Allah. We thought this was kind of strange as she said things like, "Come Allah," "High five Allah," and "No, Allah." After all, Evie is baptized in the Catholic Church and while Allah is probably as good of a god as any other, we just couldn't figure out why she kept on talking about Allah.

By the next day it finally hit us. It wasn't Allah who she was having fun with -- it was her cousin Julianna! She was trying to say "Anna"...

Evie showed Allah, er, Julianna, how to maneuver down the slide, in between bites of mac n' cheese.

First, you get your hands on the rails. Then say, "1 2 3 GO!"

You'll then slide down in no time! The next day the girls had graduated to sliding down and landing in the baby pool!

Julianna slides down like a professional!

The next day was very, very hot. It was so hot that Evie took a break from watering the garden to get a refreshing taste of water before she even put her swim suit on. While Evie's Mom was wondering about the quality of the water from the hose, Dad explained that 1) it is the same water coming out of the sink faucets and 2) he used to drink water out of the hose every day in the summer when he was a kid and he seemed to turn out fine. Huh. Mommy prefers the Brita.

Julianna sits in her throne. This one moment in time was the rare moment where the two kids were actually sharing the tennis ball, passing it back and forth. Maybe they realized it was Tootsie's ball and that's why neither of them wanted it.

Evie toots her own horn -- a whistle blowing Thomas the Train.

On Monday, while Mom was down for the count with a pretty bad stomach flu, Evie, Julianna, Dad and BeBe headed to Devine Park. Evie is a connoisseur of swings and she ranked the swings at this park among the best!

This was Julianna's first time on the swings and she was so happy that she didn't want to go.

But once they buckled into the double stroller with Bebe, they were all smiles.

What a day -- get us back to the A/C, Bebe! Please!