Two Weeks in July

Rich and I had a few days to regroup after getting home from Utah  before Jeremy and Shelly's family flew in from San Francisco. Audrey and Jocelyn came for a sleepover. We love having the girls for sleepovers and spoiling them!

We went to the flower store to buy flowers for the yard.  The girls were so cute buying flowers to take home to plant in their yard.  Then we came home and worked hard getting all of the flowers in pots and in the ground.  We were late with our planting having been gone most of June so we were Glad to have these darling helpers!

I'm losing track of days, but it seems like Shelly came with the kids on June 30 and Jeremy came on July 4th. And boy oh boy did we pack a ton of fun in to the two weeks they were in Virginia.
So let's just show all of the pictures. Did I mention that I have the cutest grand kids on the planet???

Our List of Activities from June 30 to July 13
Not in any particular order
1.  Slip and Slide
2.  Tire Swing
3.  Hot dog roast at Lenn Park
4.  Build a Bear
5.  Fourth of July Parade and Fireworks
6.  Sight Seeing in DC
7.  Last minute dinner with the Maryland Crowleys
8.  Lunch at Carlos O Kellys in Fredericksburg
9.  Making homemade cream soda
10.  Gabe and Shelly take the little kids to the lake
11.  Shopping
12.  Basketball tournament
13.  Sleepovers for the girls

And MORE...

Shelly was exhausted by the time she flew in from San Francisco with the four kids.  Plus she gets up every morning and runs about 6-10 miles.  She deserves to be tired.  She probably won't like this picture!  Okay, nevermind, I took the picture off.  (It was that picture of you asleep on the couch, Shelly.)
Emery's Birthday
Our first big event was getting Emery her birthday present.  She wanted to go to Build A Bear and was very excited.  Charlotte was also very excited and wanted to come along to find a new dress for her newest kitty - Precious!

Here's Emery with her new sparkly bear with the sparkly dress.  She was pretty tickled.

Charlotte with a new nightgown and slippers for Precious. 

Look at these two cute cousins walking hand in hand out the door!

 This is a busy bunch!

Charlotte, Emery, Audrey, Jocelyn

 Here's their sleepover.  They are all in that tangle of blanket somewhere.

Fourth of July 

 The Crowley Gang at the 4th of July Parade in Culpeper!  Andrew, Andrea and Harper in the back.

After the parade we came home to a cookout and wait for dark for the fireworks.   

Hot Dog Roast!

Cookout at Lenn Park!  Grandpa Crowley and Chase in front of the fire pit.

 Thanks, Shelly for looking at me while I  a take a picture.

 Jeremy and two of his boys, Carsen and Tanner.  Tanner is goofing off in almost every picture

Charlotte, Emery, Nathan and Chase w/ Grandpa Crowley 

 Then it was on to the playground.  Matthew gave them a pretty fast and furious  ride!

 Grandpa Rich and the Tire Swing

Rich decided to put up a tire swing for the grand kids. 

 So how many Crowley men does it take to put up a tire swing?  Well, four!

 You see the briar patch behind them.  Rich cleaned out a very large area and planted grass.  Everyone told him grass wouldn't grow there, but look how nice and healthy it is!  Good work Rich.

 Audrey and Emery waiting for another turn.  Cousin Shannon holding Nathan.

 Jeremy and Shelly took their two oldest boys to DC to sight see and on the way back they drove by our old home in Fairfax and Jeremy was very lonesome for Carlos.  SO...The next day we drove to Fredericksburg to, you gessed it!  CARLOS

 Jeremy was very happy to be having his favorite meal!  The rest of us too.  We love Carlos!

 Lest I forget I was there, Rich took my pic with Andrew!

 Darling picture of Jeremy and Shelly in the back yard.

 This is Chase down in Grandpa's studio!

 Harper very worried about events at the tire swing.

 Jeremy and Chase

   We had a last minute get together with Rich's brother's family.  They have a lake house at Lake Anna and were on there way home.  Kara, sitting down and very pregnant,  has since had another girl, Annie.  She is named for Annie Crowley, Rich's mother.

Kara, Ken, and Tricia

 Tanner said he was the King of the basketball tournament!

 Crowley Cousins

Shannon Crowley, Kara Crowley Hurley (missing Jordan Crowley)

Andrew, Matthew and Jeremy

 Rich had the boys and Ken had the girls!  Nice balance.

All of the Crowley Grand kids!

 And last but not least -- Carsen tending the homemade Cream Soda!  It was so good!

 We said goodbye to the Fresno Crowleys who flew home to San Francisco.  They stayed the night with Andrew and Melanie who live closer to the airport in Virginia.  They left early the next morning and were in San Fran by 10:30.  Then they drove home to Fresno.  Those two weeks flew by. Phew!Such a great family time with all of our kids.  Rich and I are so proud of all of them.  They are KEEPERS.  Love those Crowley Men and their families!

Two days after the Fresnos left, I headed back to Utah to a little Mother who was clinging to life.