Harper's loose tooth, Luke's a sophomore, Jillian and Bridget

 Ava had to check out Harper's first loose tooth this morning.

Today was Luke's first day of his Sophomore year at Union, he's growing up so fast.

Ava and Harper wanted to bake something this morning and decided to make a cake for him.  Then

Jillian and Bridget came up to play, so they teamed up in sister teams to each decorate one.  Then they had to try some of the cake, of course, so Ava and Harper ended up taking home part of a cake for Luke (they were sure he wouldn't mind) and Jillian and Bridget took some for Grannie and Papa.

They played Barbies, then dressed-up and played UNO, which was so funny to watch.  They really got into it, laughing and teasing each other.  Bridget was the winner.

Parker's first day

Parker started his junior year today, he stopped by to show us his letterman jacket.  He was pretty proud of it, and looking forward to his first football game on Friday. 

Rielee's first day

Rielee looked so grown-up for her first day of 6th grade.  She came over after school to play with Ava and Harper and said she had a good day at school and liked her Math teacher the best. 

We had a fire pit and then the girls had a spinning contest, Rielee won both times and managed to fall into one of my rhodies and break off some branches in the process.  It was hilarious.

Had some cousin fun in the sandbox, too. 

Bucket fishing

Rielee came over early this morning for breakfast with the girls, her last one this summer.  Then we all went to the river.  They each dug a "cave" in the shoreline, cheering whenever they had a cave-in.

Then they decided to connect them all and have one big cave.  Of course it was named "Gourde Girl Cave".

Ava fishing.

They did their best to catch a fish in their bucket by throwing cracker crumbs in first, then going after the little fish when they came to eat.  No luck, but not from lack of trying, they would have stayed there all day trying.  It was so funny to watch.

Last swimming lesson, river

The girls had their last swimming lesson today and did really well.  Both of them made it across the pool and back on their front and back.  Harper will move on to the next level while Ava still needs to work on swimming with her face in the water.  They had so much fun this session and were sad to leave.  They got a big hug from their instructor Abby when they gave her the thank-you cards they made for her.

They got to swim some more in the river this afternoon, but spent most of their time building a structure out of sand and rocks for the "mud monster". 

Flooding the sandbox

Rielee wanted to flood the sandbox today but Ava and Harper weren't interested.  Seems they had forgotten what it was like, it must have been a couple of years since they've done it.  Once it started filling up, Rielee was doing handstands and cartwheels in and through it.  By the time the twins started to have a little fun, it was time to go home.  Rielee got messy enough for the three of them, she had completely buried herself in sand when we drove by.

River, sleepover

Ava is kind of grimacing - chilly water!

 We took the girls to the Toutle this afternoon, found a little sandy beach upstream from Mickey Mouse bridge. 

It was very shallow, just a couple of feet deep.  It looks like Harper is swimming but she's dragging herself along on her hands.  The water was cold so she didn't stay in very long but they had a great time playing in the sand. 

Rielee got to sleep over tonight, her last time this summer since school starts next Monday.  They built forts to sleep in,

Harper's was a chair fort since she loves to sleep in the chair.  They had popcorn,  watched a movie and went to bed early since the girls have swimming lessons in the morning.

Disney babies, Auna's new kitty

 Ava with her Disney baby giraffe she found at a garage sale Saturday,

she had forgotten to take her home and was glad to see her this morning.

 

Harper got a baby Ariel.  Swimming lessons went pretty well today, but Ava didn't want to put her face in the water.  We talked about it when we got home and I told her she had to do what the teacher asked of her, so later in the bathtub she started going under without holding her nose.  They love Gaby, their teacher. 

Exciting news in the neighborhood tonight-Auna got a new kitty "Miko", he's really a cutie!

New fish, Papa Pete's, Lexi college

 Friday we took the girls to a few garage sales, to a playground in Longview, and then to Petco for some goldfish.  All but one of the fish in the pond have disappeared.  The girls picked out 2 special fish a piece, naming them on the way home. 

With Papa Steve at Papa Pete's on Saturday night. 

Ava had saved up a lot of quarters for this visit so they had lots of fun playing the games.  We went to garage sales again in the morning and they spent some of their birthday money.  They don't want toys anymore, except stuffed animals.  Mostly they look for jewelry, purses, stuff for their room (Harper bought a picture), books and clothes.  Ava bought a Disney princess jean jacket and Harper found a tutu dress with sparkly owls on it.  Oh, and both found slippers, too. 

Harper found a 1D bag she just knew Lexi would love and Ava wrapped some notebooks for her.

They're missing Lexi already.

Lexi (with 2 of her roommates) looks very happy at Boise State!

Water fun

Wednesday after lunch, Jillian and Bridget came up to play.  Rielee invited them all to come over and swim and they had a great time.

More of the same today,  Rielee had her friend Sophia at the pool and they invited the girls over to swim.  Rielee and Sophia were playing with water balloons when we got there so I took the girls home to fill some so they could have a "war".  Well, when we came back over, they were waiting on the deck for us-with the biggest water balloon ever.

 It made a huge splash when it hit the ground.

They had the water balloon fight across the pool,

then did some tossing.  Lots of cool fun on a very hot day.

 

Swimming lessons

Ava and Harper started swimming lessons today at the Y.  They did well, considering how freaked out they were about going in the first place.  They've been using the scuba mask type goggles in their pool all summer and the thought of not being able to use those was scary.  But they did everything the teacher asked, although Ava admitted she plugged her nose when the teacher asked her to jump in and swim back to the side.  In the picture they were playing Marco Polo during free-time at the end of the lesson.

 

Last day of camp

Harper was sitting at the counter this morning while I fixed breakfast and she looked so pathetic, missing Ava.  I took a picture of her and she wanted to doing the texting and send it to her.  Ava called and they chatted for a few minutes.

Today at gymnastics camp they worked on the rings,

the rope, and then the bars.

It was a workout and hard on their hands.

  Rielee broke open a callus on the bars and had to have her hand taped so she did the beam instead.   Harper had some good calluses, too, she was wishing she could go to the beam.  On the floor, Rielee worked on walk-overs and Harper her cartwheels and round-offs.  They got some free time on the trampoline, too. 

 

Backpacks

Ava didn't feel very well this morning so Papa took Harper and Rielee to camp and she stayed home with me.   

We went to Target to get Tylenol for her and while there she picked out a light up backpack, she found a Frozen one for Harper that lights up, too.  Harper really liked it.

To distract her from missing Harper and Rielee, we baked a cake.  She called it the "Gourde Girls" cake and put all their names on it.

Later in the day she still felt awful and decided to go home to Mommy.  Rielee asked Harper to spend the night, Harper was very excited for her first sleepover.   This is only the second night she and Harper have ever spent apart.

Gymnastics summer camp

 Harper and Rielee started a 3-day gymnastics camp today in Rainier.  Harper was so nervous, even saying she was "terrified".  Ava didn't want to do it, but Harper begged her to please come and watch, she had to have her there.  Harper did really well, so did Rielee.  They worked on somersaults,  (Harper struggled some with the backwards one), cartwheels, handstands, the balance beam (Rielee had to do hopping on it, which was difficult, she said),

 and the bars (really hard, both said). 

They had a long warm up at the start which included a lot of running and stretching.  It was a busy 2 hours.  When Harper got in the car she said "boy, I'm gonna sleep good tonight!"

Ava told me after the camp that she might want to try it, too, sometime.  So when Harper started practicing her handstands and somersaults when we got home, I suggested Ava might practice a little, too.  But she changed her mind and said she'd stay with soccer or maybe a dance class. 

She put on her dance outfit and some music and did some major dancing.

Cora

  Uncle Charb and Parker talking football today.

We had a nice visit with Jackie, Chris, and Cora this afternoon. 

Cora is a such happy little baby.

Alan and Vera had a get together for them later.  Rielee enjoyed holding Cora, she had just had a bottle and was worn out by then, having been passed around and held by everyone there

I got a kick out of the shirts that Alan and James were wearing.  Perfect for them.

Mermaids and loggers

 When Papa got home from taking Ava and Harper back to Kelly this morning, we took off with Rielee on a 4 hour garage sale adventure.  A lot of stops with very few treasures but Rielee did find a few toys for herself and the girls.  After that she went down to Cathy's to play with the kids and then Jillian and Bridget came up to swim. They had a good time playing a game where Jillian was a human and Bridget and Rielee were mermaids, then had contests to see who could do the longest handstand with Bridget as the judge.

Parker has been doing some cutting at the lot this week. He went by on the tractor tonight headed down there so Papa and I went to see what he had accomplished.

He's probably cut down 20+ trees, mostly small cedar and cut down half a dozen more tonight along with a big maple and was working on dragging them up by the road to de-limb and stack.  He was using Papa's old saw, one that he had tried to get fixed at the saw shop in CR twice with no luck.  Parker took it in to Cowlitz River Rigging, where he works part-time, and they fixed it for him for $5. 

More presents

 Laury and Auna brought the girls birthday presents Thursday, a purse and backpack they get to design themselves.  They worked on them, with a little help from Rielee, off and on all day. 

Sweet Ava with the picture of Grandma Barb that she brings up with her and keeps by the bed, she took it to the beach and Kah-Nee-Ta, too.  Just added the pink heart today.