July Recap...

We have had trouble with our internet, but got it fixed today.  So here is a quick recap of the activities from the end of July...

Lily did acting camp again this summer!  This is her third summer in a row and she just keeps getting better and better!  This was her fifth play!  This year's play was Mary Poppins!  Lily truly knocked our socks off this year!  Her state presence was fantastic, her voice and motions were larger than life, and her singing was out of this world!  Way to go Lily!  You sure do make us proud!!

 Two days after Lily's play, Chris and I loaded Ava Grace up and headed to Cincinnati for surgery #3.

 We got there just in time to see a Red's game!

 It was so much fun!  Ava Grace LOVED it!

 It was very hot, so Ava Grace had to cool off with some ice cream... of course!

 Overall, we had a great night in Cincinnati and went to bed extra early in preparation for our VERY early rise the next morning at 4:00 AM our time.

 Ava Grace didn't seem to mind the early hour as we drove through downtown to the hospital to her awaiting room and, more importantly, toy bag!

 As if her bag full of toys wasn't enough, the nurses let her play with all of the equipment too!  I'm telling you, this place is the best!

 They always come in and let us pick a hand made surgery cap and a scent for her anesthesia!  They have something crazy, like 37 - I think - "flavors" to choose from.  We went with strawberry, since those are Ava Grace's number one favorite food of all time. 

 There is A LOT of waiting involved when we arrive at 5:30 (that's 4:30 our time) and surgery isn't until 7:30!!

 We walked her back, gave kisses outside the operating room, and then killed a whopping 20 minutes before we were paged back to the post-surgery meeting room.  Everything went great.  She was slower to wake up this time and we beat her back to her room to be there when she arrived... very groggy and slightly drunk.

This is the nurse and student that took care of us this time!  Everyone there is so wonderful!!  It was a great experience again!!  We head back for #4 in October!

The weekend after surgery, we prepped for house guests!! My parents (Grandmommy and Papaw) and my niece Bentlee came up for a visit!!

 It was great fun to see them!  We shopped, had a birthday dinner for Aunt Jan with Chris' whole family, and did lost of visiting.  We went the Corvette museum in Bowling Green and then picked Lily up from her week at her mom's.  Lily didn't know Bentlee was coming - it was a huge surprise!  Bentlee was beside herself with excitement and plans to surprise Lily and Lily was just as excited to see her! 

 They had great fun playing American girl and also putting on a dance show and a fashion show!

 When we were kids, mom had a bunch of dresses she had saved from being in weddings and such and we had so much fun playing in them!  For that reason, I have saved all my past prom dresses, bridesmaid dresses, and dresses from other formal events.  All those dresses taking up space, finally paid off!  Lily and Bentlee did a four round fashion show complete with jewelry!  It was so cute!

 Saturday of that weekend was Ice Day at the zoo!  We, of course, had to get in on that!  We had so much fun!!!  My parents and Bentlee came along, but we also hooked Chris' parents and brother and sister-in-law into joining us!  It was fun to see all the animals with their icy treats!

Ava Grace had fun as always and looked extra cute in her new go-to-the-zoo outfit!

The last leg of our July recap journey happened this past week.  Our amazing neighbors and friends (the one's across the street that keep Ava Grace) told me about the Sumner County Fair and encouraged Lily to enter some things!  We had just made the hair bows that I blogged about in a prior post, so we decided to enter the one Lily made...

...and look who got FIRST PLACE!  Lily was SO EXCITED!  We also entered our "Peanut-butter-Brookies," but they didn't win.  We are already planning our entries for next year!

Missy's girls had several entries as well.  Among them were some photos of Ava Grace!  They got first place too!!

 We went to the Fair Wednesday for some good, but not-so-good-for-ya fair food and some rides!  We saw Missy and the girls and even got to ride a ride with Kassidy!  It was a lot of fun!  Now we are gearing up for the Wilson County Fair next weekend!