So our back yard was completely torn up for an entire year.  Summer came, and it was really, really hot.  We spent a few days at our neighborhood pool and had a blast.  Camden absolutely remembered how to swim underwater, and he jumped in and swam to the steps about one gazillion times. 

It made me appreciate having a pool at home, big time!  Packing drinks, towels, sunscreen, shoes...dealing with bathroom trips...ohmygoodness.

We were on a bike ride in the neighborhood and saw our gator guy. We stopped and watched the whole thing, which was kind of neat and creepy at the same time. He's been out to our house several times.

Thinking this little guy will make a nice pair of shoes :).

Can we trade in our dog?

These are our neighbors' dogs, Shelby & Roxie. Shelby is the best dog we've ever, ever met.  She's a Golden Retriever who was a rescue, and she is amazing.  Roxie is a Goldendoodle puppy--an adorable ball of fluff.

The kids (and Oddjob!) just love to play together.  And the kids often ask to trade Oddjob in for Shelby.

Travis, Amy, & Courtney decided to run the Historic Half in DC.  DC.  So the story is on the Copenhagen page, but basically, I was in the ER with a kidney stone on Friday, Tal had a Friday night campout (required for his Arrow of Light), Saturday morning Travis left, Saturday afternoon I came down with influenza (thanks, hospital germs), and Sunday morning Riley split his head open and we were back in the ER...and the runners ended up racing to the airport after the race. 

Here is Travis on the right, on his only training run.

We were down to the wire...Tal only did one year of Cub Scouts, and had to really push it to get the Arrow of Light.  The Arrow of Light is the highest award attainable in Cub Scouts, and the only patch that is taken on to the Boy Scout uniform.  I can't believe we did it!

Here are a couple photos from the last campout of the year (you know, the one where I was at home sick with the rest of the kids), and Tal and his friend are playing electronic games.  Seriously.

The rest are of the very cool Arrow of Light/Crossover ceremony!  The Scout ceremonies are lots of fun, with meaningful face paint, and more.  The boys moving on to the Boy Scouts are on the bottom left, and the entire pack is on the bottom right.