Dates, Runner's Camp, Haircuts, Birthdays

What else has the Porter Family been up to??

Well, Zane and I went on a much needed date night.  We had actually not been out alone without kids in over a year and a half.  So, our sweet babysitter, Molly, is home from college for summer break and offered to watch our kids for us.  Zane and I went to Raleighwood to eat dinner while we watched a movie.  We really enjoyed our chicken sandwich and nachos while watching Water For Elephants:

And how awesome that our babysitter accepts cake for payment!:

While we were at our movie, we had ingredients ready for the kids to make personal pizzas with Molly and then decorate cupcakes:

Thank you, Molly!  The kids loved their time with you!!!

Our family also participated/helped with our church's Runner's Camp.  It is similar to VBS but we spend time leading a Bible Study with our age group (Zane led 10 year old boys and I led 6 year old girls) and then we walked them to the different rotations that teach them track and field events.  And Bryson and Ashlyn were a part of the "Mini Camp" for kids who weren't quite old enough to attend Runner's Camp, but their parents were teaching:

Then on Saturday morning there is a big track meet where the kids get to compete in events that they enjoy.  Bryson waited patiently as I pinned participant numbers on some of my 6 year old girls:

And they enjoyed watching some of the events:

But Bryson's favorite was participating in the "Sibling" race for kids who were too young to attend Runner's Camp.  Ashlyn cried the whole way down even though Zane held her hand and ran with her.  Oh well, they both got ribbons at the end.  :)

We also spent one day on a Family date using some Groupon deals we had.  We started with mini golf which everyone loved:

And then we went to eat dinner with a Groupon deal we had for Chubby's Tacos.  We had never been there before, but this has quickly become one of my new favorite places to eat!  I LOVE guacamole (even though I'm allergic to it and it slightly closes my throat),  but I don't love paying extra for it at every mexican restaurant.  This place had some AMAZING guacatillo on their free salsa bar.  It was *obviously* a mix of guacamole and tomatillo salsa and Zane and I were both very impressed with it!  Their burritos are huge and their tacos are really good!

To keep cool this summer, Zane gave Bryson a matching haircut:

And took us girls to get ours cut (definitely not the best picture and our hair isn't styled, but you get the idea):

We have been watering our garden which was doing amazing!  I say "was" because one night I had at least 20 green tomatoes and one red one but the next morning when I went to pick my red tomato, this is what I found:

And that chewed up piece of tomato was ALL that was remaining of my tomatoes.  I guess the deer had themselves a nice feast!

We also got to celebrate Zane's birthday recently:

The kids enjoyed making him a birthday sign and I enjoyed making him the cherry cobbler he requested with fresh cherries and a flaky crust:

We loved celebrating him!

And the last bit of fun summer news I'll share in this post is a HUGE accomplishment for Bryson.  We got the kids bikes with training wheels over a year and a half ago.  Ashlyn had turned 2 and Bryson had turned 4.  Ashlyn picked up the concept of riding the bike immediately (which is very normal for her).  Bryson, on the other hand, had the hardest time figuring out how to pedal.  He is even in physical therapy right now working on balance issues and motor planning with his body (getting his brain and body to work together).  So, the other day when Zane had removed one of Bryson's training wheels to fix it, and then Bryson said he wanted to try his bike without training wheels, Zane thought he'd go ahead and let him try even though we knew it was basically impossible for Bryson to do.  Boy were we wrong!  Bryson picked it up sooo quick!  I honestly think it took about 3 attempts for Bryson to catch on.  He does a great job now and we have since had to get him and Ashlyn new helmets since we know we'll be riding near a bigger street soon!  Bryson's therapists were all completely shocked at his success and we are all so proud of him and the progress he's making in all areas!!!