The Fourth of July was on Wednesday this week. We went to the movies to see Incredibles 2 as a family in the morning. Fun times! Ben even got his leg stuck in the folding chair during the final credits. Don't worry. We saved him. That evening we had a barbecue and had our friends, the Grosland's over. When it got dark, we went down to the Grosland's and enjoyed watching their fireworks. Nik helped Beth light a lot of them! Happy birthday, America!

Other than that, we had a pretty laid-back week. We did piano and karate and guitar, of course. Cali and Chey did tennis. I watched them play in their CUTA matches and they are looking really good! They want to try out for the high school team next month and the coach wants all team members to get in 100 hours of tennis practice during the summer months. It's been really pushing Cali and Chey to play a lot!

Cali and Chey and Mariah ran in cross country practices all week, too, but it's "dead week" when coaches aren't supposed to interact with athletes, so there were no open gyms for basketball and all the cross country practices were led by captains (of which Mariah is one). Still, they went to the rec to play basketball and shoot.

Mariah started her job as mother's helper for the two girls across the street. She worked just two days this week, driving them to different lessons and activities and then out for some ice cream and fun. Beth thinks its a great job and likes to come along. Mariah is also working on her online ACT prep class and going on dates every now and then, as well!

It was a new month, so I spent a lot of time doing accounting this week. It was also very hot! The kids played in the water a bit, but most of their other outdoor activities were abandoned. Ben learned how to fold boats and folded a whole bunch this week. We even got out the water table (now called the water tower) we won at Art City Days so he could float them. Cali and Chey and Beth all liked it, too!

On Saturday, I dropped Beth and Ben off at the rec to swim while Kevin and Mariah played basketball. When Kevin was done, he had a hard time finding his swimmers. He finally found Ben doing front flips off the diving board. Kevin hadn't expected to find him doing that! I blame (credit?) the trampoline. Ha ha! Though, being a Skinner isn't all about liking olives! I've seen those uncles do crazy things off a diving board. Maybe Ben's dad once did, too?