i must apologize for being so slack on our blog. as you will see we have been very busy enjoying a very long summer. everyone is well. the girls are making friends as are we with families in our neighborhood and at the church we have been attending. business is going unbelievably well for clay. i am enrolled in a master's program at a local university that will start in january. the girls are taking gymnastics lessons and we finally talked maddy into swim lessons. she has already learned to jump in, touch the bottom of the pool, and swim back up. those of you who remember that she wouldn't stick her big toe in the water last summer will know that this is a very big accomplishment for her.
we are a little more adventurous each day. we don't need the subway maps anymore when we want to go out. i didn't think that day was ever going to come. we have a few resteraunts we frequent that are quickly becoming family favorites. we've been enjoying some broadway shows and concerts in the park.
all in all, our family is growing closer together as we have learned to depend on one another in new ways. the girls are enjoying a new kind of friendship. i think that having the playing field leveled (we're all new at this) has helped.
we are looking forward to our visit home (where we will stock up on green chili) next week. love and miss you.

our subway stop

our girls were super excited (as were most girls around the world) to watch the hannah montana 3d video saturday night. we kept our 3d glasses from watching in the movie theater, but it turns out we needed different glasses to watch the tv version. i guess the only place to get the glasses was at walmart, and while we can get pizza 24/7 and there are 4 food markets on our block, there are no walmarts in brooklyn. the girls were good sports, but understandably bummed. clay quickly researched online how to make homemade 3d glasses and we saved the night. i hope our girls get how much their dad adores them. he has certainly set the bar high for their future husbands.

the girls weren't sick of the water yet, so we spent sunday at the nyc aquarium...

this past weekend we decided to get out of the city for a little daycation. we took the train to long island and spent the day playing at a water park called splish splash. we had a blast and the girls are already planning the next trip out there. we went on a ton of rides, but we left the camera behind in a dry spot for most of it.

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we had another heat wave a couple weekends ago. it was too hot to venture to the park so clay filled up some water balloons and soaked the girls so they could cool off. we spent the rest of the day watching movies in our air conditioned living room.

Jessica's Birthday

our sweet jessica turned 10 on july 17th. the last 10 years have passed so quickly. we're so proud of the young lady she is becoming.

to celebrate, she opted for a trail ride through prospect park and a shopping spree at the american girl store.







the last installment of jessica's doll collection from oma and bbob
maddy and hailey wanted to do something special for jessica's birthday, so they spent two weeks making 10 hats for her. they range from very, very big to very, very small.

we spent the 4th of july with our neighbor's for a bbq. later that weekend, the ny philharmonic hosted an outdoor concert at prospect park followed by a fireworks show.

the bronx zoo
we took the hour long subway ride to the bronx a few weekends ago. the place is like disneyland. we need at least 4 trips to see everything. we had a great time and the exhibits were definitely worth the trip.