One of our favorite days of the year is the Google summer party. Our first one was in 2015, and Google rented out a whole Dave and Buster's. We've had one every year since then at various locations, but that first one was always my favorite, so I was thrilled to hear that we were going back to Dave and Buster's this year! The kids and I drove up and had lunch with Andy at his office and then headed over to D&B.

This summer we had our church's 8th VBS and the 7th one I've led. My girls always love leading the songs.

Early last week Ellie and I were talking about her hair. Ellie said that she REALLY wanted to grow it out all the way down to her waist. I said that it might be fun to cut it short for a change, since she's only had her hair trimmed a little before. She thought about it for a second and then said, "Okay, let's cut it!" She was all of a sudden VERY excited about the idea of having her hair shoulder-length.

I told her I would have time later in the week to cut it. The next day I saw a Harry Potter robe and wand on the ground downstairs. I asked Joey who had been playing with the robe and he said that Ellie told him she wanted to dress up as Hermione while she still had long hair. For the record, I don't know that she's EVER dressed up as Hermione before. That cracked me up!

We had a fun and different Fourth of July this year. 

First of all, we went to the beach! We never go to the beach on the Fourth because it's SO crowded, but a group of our friends were all going so we joined in the fun. The funny thing about this group of friends is that there are five families and all of the families, except ours, has two boys all about the same ages. One of the families has an older girl going into high school so altogether we have nine boys (two boys weren't there in time for the picture) and three girls. So many boys!

Our little Elle-Bells turned 7 1/2 on Friday! 

The last day of school was last Wednesday. We were all super excited for summer to begin. We kicked it off like we normally do with a pool party and taco night with friends. From left to right: Isabella, Ellie, Chloe, Brooke, Hannah, Joey, Nate, Matias and Luke (Chloe's brother stopped by for the pool part).

Whew, this camera dump is way overdue! This picture is from the end of March. Andy had a quick business trip up to Google's headquarters in Mountain View. His dad happened to be in the same area for business at the same time so they met up for dinner at Westlake Joe's. Papa J grew up going to Westlake Joe's, and it's one of his favorite restaurants.