Mid-Summer Bliss

We were actually home for two weeks in July.  And we packed it in.  Cally decided that she really wanted to do soccer camp this summer, so we signed her up for a great camp right here in Jericho.  She took her uniform seriously!

 It just happened to be the hottest week of the year.... with daily temperatures hovering in the 90's, but she didn't seem to care.  She loved going everyday.

 

And she particularly loved hanging out in the river for a picnic after camp.

Our summer wouldn't be complete without a visit to Summervale-- a great festival in the Intervale of Burlington.  We get to eat great food, listen to fun music, and get faces painted by professionals:

  

 

John found time to give the kids haircuts:

 

I think the highlight of my July was hiking up Camels Hump with the kids.  After all our mini hiking adventures in Maine, Cally proclaimed that she was ready to hike a big mountain.  Camel's Hump is the second highest peak in Vermont.  From the Huntington side, it's a 2.4 mile hike with a 2200 ft vertical gain.  It took us 3 hours to get up, but there were no complaints and lots of sour jelly beans ingested.

We were encouraged on the way up by Addy, Tanner (on his 9th birthday), and Medora.  

And we had to spend some time lounging around the top of the mountain on such a gorgeous day:

I am so incredibly proud of Cally.  When she called her dad from the top, he asked her if it was harder or easier than she thought it would be and she said, "Well, it was easier, I think". 

And on the way home, she never once complained.  I was exhausted and Hazen was ready to get out of the darn Kelty Carrier, but she just smiled and chatted the whole 2.5 hours down.

We wrapped up our day with another trip to Summervale.  this time we had a red spiderman and pink kitty.