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Once we returned from vacation, July was spent soaking up as much summer fun as we could manage.

We spent it digging in the garden, going to playgrounds, swimming at Grandma and Grandpa’s, swimming at a local pond (here Quinn is playing with his friend Charlie)…

…going to outdoor concerts at the library park with friends (all the kids were running around like crazy – here are the boys with their friends Nicole and Matthew when they finally decided to take a breather!)…

…going on a hike with lots of moms club friends…

…going to zoo camp (Quinn went for a week of zoo day camp – here he is with his Southern Screamer puppet on the last day of camp)…

…and lots more fun stuff. We visited our friend Paul, Karen, and Zoe (more on that soon!), went to the Polar caves in NH with Aunt Becca, and generally did a lot of fun (and exhausting!) stuff.

Miles is still napping several afternoons a week, but doesn’t always want to give in to sleep, so sometimes I find him like this…

…yes, he’s really asleep under there!

Before I dive into our vacation photos I thought I’d post some of my favorites from June. Here goes!

Quinn and his friend Luke hiking at the Sheep Pasture (notice Quinn’s inside out shirt – mind you, I’m not complaining, I just find it amusing! The previous day Miles got himself dressed and put everything on backward. Fun times here, oh yeah.)

Testing out the slip’n’slide for the first time (we bought at the church fair last fall so it’s been a long wait!)

Testing out the new camera, too!

First dip in the pool for 2010! Don’t worry, the water is crystal clear now – we just couldn’t wait that long to take a dip. Think the boys like the water?

We celebrated Father’s Day and Becca’s birthday by going to a Brockton Rox game. It was SO HOT that the seats were difficult to sit down on! But before the game we got to go out on the field and toss tennis balls around. Check out Miles’s great catching form in the picture below – I guess his feet have to be off the ground to catch the ball! After we were done with our game of catch, Miles said to Becca, “that was a fun baseball game!” I think he thought we were leaving even though the game hadn’t even started yet. Oops! Luckily he still had a good time, despite the heat. We were all really happy to jump in the pool once we got back from the game!

Quinn also finished up kindergarten in June and is already looking forward to first grade in the fall. Yikes! Miles is starting preschool in the fall and is having fun playing school with Quinn this summer.

There are lots more photos in the June album! Go check them out!

Here’s some recent artwork from the boys. Miles drew his first people! Quinn wanted to know why their arms are coming out of their heads. Not too supportive, but at least he recognized them as people! (Sorry for the less than stellar scan quality.)

And here’s Quinn’s drawing of baby bear (the one on his blanket):

This is what a 14 oz. jar of Aquaphor lotion can do in the hands of a 3-year-old (for those of you unfamiliar with Aquaphor, think Vaseline):

This is the only evidence of the mess I have left – the timing of the incident didn’t allow me to take further photos (we had to get to the bus stop!) Not sure if you can see how gooped up the jar is, but trust me, it’s a mess! The rest of the mess included the sheet and most of the blankets (of which there were at least 5) on Miles’s bed, as well as all of his clothing including his sodden socks. Thankfully he avoided most of the stuffed animals! When asked what he was doing, he responded: “I’m putting on lotion, Mommy!” And yes he was – a half inch layer from his toes all the way up into his hair.

I spent the 10 minutes I had before we had to run to the bus stop peeling off his clothes and using paper towels to pull some of the goop off him. Then I tossed him into clean clothes and we sped off to the bus stop. Our next stop was the playground where he proceed to get lots of wood chips stuck in his hair since it was still goopy! When we got home he got tossed in the shower and then I threw everything in the laundry. While he was getting his pj’s on I discovered that the front of his bed was goopy and some of the floor was still goopy, but that baby wipes work very well on Aquaphor! Finally when I thought everything was all set, I tried to leave the room and realized that the doorknob had a half-inch coating of goop, too!

What can I say, I’ve got the most lubricated child on the block today!

In honor of the last day of April I thought I’d try to catch up a bit with my photos here! I added a bunch today, so please visit the gallery to see them. But here are a few highlights for you…

Viewing the flood waters from the end-of-March rains (this photo was taken two days after the rain had stopped):

Feeding the animals at the WWI Park:

And coloring and hunting for Easter eggs: