End of Summer randomness

Well, once Mo-Deb left, we only had about 4 weeks of summer left.  In traditional Chapman family style, we crammed as much as possible into those weeks.

First stop:  DJ's wedding.  Grace's guitar teacher invited our family to his wedding and reception.  My heart might have melted when they did the "dollar dance" and Grace got in line to pay for her dance with the groom.  Her first dance!   (Hattie paid to dance with DJ's pretty bride.  It was so cute.)

Next stop:  orthopedic office to get rid of that cast!  (I thought we would get rid of it, but it is now stowed away in Grace's closet.)  We took a bunch of pictures of all of her special signatures on it and then we went and had it zipped off.  ahhh.....

We weren't quite prepared for how long it would take for Grace's arm to recover though.  She did do a good job of trying to use it and it's all better now, but for a while there, it was almost worse than having the cast on.

Changing subjects; we do enjoy the big wide open desert mesa where we live.  David took the girls on a few bike rides and hikes.  

There is this cool bike path that just goes straight through the middle of the Petroglyph monument property.  

 Hiking the volcanoes one Sunday night:  I love that Harriet hiked in a skirt (and no, not the one she wore to church either.)  She's my girly girl for sure.  Neither of them would put their hair back, so the wind had its way with their tangly blond mops.

Finally!  Swimming without the cast... feels soooooo good.

Then, little Miss Muffet decided she's too big for her britches and wanted pierced ears.  I have always told my girls that they can pierce their ears whenever they want.  But, they have to want it and ask for it.  Grace still hasn't asked.  I don't know if she ever will.  But Hattie got a brave bug one day and decided to go for it.  She really was brave and let them do her ears one at a time.  She cried for a few minutes, but immediately enjoyed having the jewelry so much that she didn't worry very much after that.

Before:

 After:

Then, she went and got too big for her bike.  Little stinker - she's growing like a weed.  Good thing we had this hand-me-down pink version in the garage from cousin Janie.   Grace never wanted to ride it, but I think it has found it's new true owner now.   She does ride in dresses from time-to-time too.  Normally, I insist on good shoes and helmets when riding, but I couldn't resist this photo with the flip flops, dress, and flowing hair.

What else?  A night at the planetarium. A baseball game with Daddy.  

And way, way too many late nights staying up and watching the Olympics.  

It really was a great summer, but entirely too short.  As I write this, we are already on the 3rd week of school?!  (and, it's still August)  We did so much big traveling last summer, it was nice to mostly stay local and enjoy our New Mexico home.  We truly love living here and all that the weather and surroundings have to offer.  It was fun to get a true monsoon season too.  I just love desert rain.  Half the time, the sun is still shining when the rain is coming down and it smells so good when the rain stirs up the sage and desert plants and makes the dust settle and the air clean.  Even when we get cloud bursts or even if it rains all night (it did that a couple times,) the sun still shines in the morning, and everything dries out in a matter of minutes.  

Well, I'll catch up soon and hopefully post the back-to-school pictures before Halloween.