The Irving Family: Picture Catch-Up

I haven't posted nearly enough pictures lately, so here are some to make up for it.

When Emily and her family were visiting, we got to take the big girls to the barn to visit Nana's horse, Streaker.

Carolyn's sour expression in this picture has a lot more to do with the camera being out than the activity we were doing... she was truly excited to be there. :)

Bringing Streaker in.

Saying hello- both girls were very gentle and sweet to the horse.

They seemed so fascinated by him- and he was very good and nice to them as well. :)

Both girls got to take a ride.

Carolyn enjoyed her ride, but as soon as she saw this barn cat, she wanted off the horse so she could pet the cat. She loves cats so much; it's too bad we will never have one. :)

At the end, the girls got to give Streaker some carrots.

Everyone loved this part!

The girls were very careful to hold their hands open so Streaker could get the carrots easily.

Afterwards there were hot dogs and ice cream at the little red "caboose" restaurant on the way home. A fun day!

Last weekend we had some dear friends come stay with us for the weekend, and had a marvelous time catching up with them, and reveling in the joy that only old friends, with depth of relationship grown over many years of friendship, can bring.

I love taking pictures at the beach. Something about the light is so pretty. Wish I knew more about how to make pictures look good!

But these are two of my favorites of Nora. She actually went into the water a little way- next year no doubt she'll be swimming all around, but this year, she was pretty hesitant about getting in.

But isn't she cute?

Becca took this picture for me- love these girls!

Carolyn is looking so grownup now. She is starting school in a couple weeks- eek!

We were glad that we had a great beach to use- so thanks Nana and Papa for letting us borrow your piece of sand for the evening! Carolyn loved drawing pictures and letters in the wet sand.

The highlight of our friends' visit for Carolyn was the fact that Miss Becca let her brush her hair as much as she wanted to. :) Carolyn decided at one point during the visit that she was going to go home with Miss Becca and brush her hair every day. It was a sad moment for her when she realized that she really wasn't going to be allowed to do that... but our friends only live a few hours away now, so I am sure we will go to visit!

On Monday this week, we went to the Kent County Youth Fair, where all the 4H kids come to show their animals and stuff. It's a fun place to see lots of animals. Nora wasn't sure she wanted to see them at first. The sheep made a lot of unexpected loud sounds.

But the bunnies were nice.

Carolyn loved the whole thing. She was fascinated by all the different animals and wanted to touch EVERYTHING.

And everyone loves ice cream. :)

Happy farm day!

Monday night we had a "sleepover" at the cottage house. The kids had been begging for it... there wasn't a whole lot of sleep happening for kind of a long time, but we still got to wake up and have the morning at the cottage, which was really fun. a

The light was beautiful at the beach. My friend Ashely from http://ashleymadeonline.com is taking professional beach pictures for us in a couple weeks, so we're looking forward to that!

The weather has cooled off here so the water was cold. The girls still had fun in the sand, and Carolyn's dress got totally soaked anyway, from frequent trips to retrieve water. :)

Sister picture!! :) My mom always made us do that... and now I'm really glad. :) We take sister pictures whenever we are together now, by choice! :)

And here are the girls with Nana. We are so glad we got a chance to spend some quality time with them this summer. What a blessing! We will miss them when they're gone!