July

 In July, Ella started up preschool again, after a long 16 month break caused by the pandemic.  She was excited about starting school, but also quite shy and nervous, and it took her a few weeks to get comfortable with spending full days tehre. 

We had many visits to the pool...and invited friends whenever we could. 

Some days, we would just go hiking in our neighborhood. The kids loved leading the way. 

One of our fun adventures was a trip to San Francisco from Richmond by ferry.  We first went to Pier 39, where we had a good sampling of all the tourist attractions (carousel, hot pretzels, fair rides, and clam chowder in a bread bowl) before coming back to the Ferry building for ice cream and the windy ferry home. 

Later, we had another pool party at Babcia and Dziadek's house, with almost too many kids to count!

Ella and Auggie also got to attend one of their first birthday parties in over a year. Ella was very nervous around all the strangers and was ready to go home as soon as the party started, but when the piñata popped open and a bunch of candy fell out, she realized birthday parties were absolutely worth it.  

Another memorably family trip was our visit to the Van Gogh Experience in San Francisco.  Everyone enjoyed this beautiful and immersive art exhibit. 

During a fun day with Kristen, the kids got to make tie dye shirts.  Ella loves it whenever she can convince everyone to wear theirs at the same time. 

Trip to Arkansas and Oklahoma!

 At the end of June, Auggie flew with Ciocia to Arkansas to join the rest of the Parkers there.  We followed with Ella a few days later.  Ella loved looking at the different planes, but she was happy when our flights ended. 

When we arrived in Cabot, we were welcomed by a golf cart driven by (and packed with) all the cousins, who met us at the gate. I don't have pictures, but the video is very cute.  Once we settled in, there was nothing else to do but enjoy the beautiful farm, warm nights and gorgeous weather, while the kids happily played together. 

Ella got to ride the excavator and even move some boulders with Harold!

Leaving was hard, but the kids were also very excited to go to see Giggy and Keggy. 

On our arrival in Tulsa, Auggie immediately started crafting:

And we didn't take long before we went to our favorite water parks. 

And there was lots of play and cuddling

Agnieszka and Daniel even got to run away to a countryside lodge one night. 

And of course, we managed to go to the Gathering Place...twice!

And to the Children's Discovery Lab...