Raising a Teeny Greenie Peacenik: 26 Favorite Photos from July 2011

July was a fun-filled month. For a look at the whole album, click here. We started out with our almost-annual trip up to the Finger Lakes in New York to visit our dear old friends from our Tucson days, Leta, Chris, and their son, Brogan at the Sharp Family Lake House. In the summers, they travel cross country and spend some much-deserved lake time with Chris's family. Thanks to Liz and Bill who generously host us each year! This year, Chris's sister, Rue was there with her family too. It was a full house and we were thrilled to be included!

We had great weather and lots of time on the water.

In addition to a beautiful brand new baby girl, Rue and family also brought their new puppy with them. The kids could not get enough of her. (The grown ups were not immune to her charms either.)

Family Portrait: The Pococks on the Water. (Thora is asleep on Sean's lap, with a hat over her face.)

Here, Thora takes in the beautiful sunset over the lake, while we wait for the fireworks to start.

Too loud! Auric was not a fan of the fireworks. (Look at that face!)

Here is Brogan, his dog Barley, Thora, and Tana the puppy walking in the farm field above the lake house. I love how this photo distills the idea of "Summer" for me down into a single frame.

The following weekend was the Fourth of July party at Zach's grandparents' house in CT. Here is Thora on the huge tree swing. The kids spend hours on this! And again, there is something so perfect about the creak of the tree branch and the long and fast swing out over the river on a hot afternoon that completely captures "Summer" for me.

On the Thursday, before Saturday's party, Hilary and I took the 5 kids down to the beach. I have a new camera that has a great new feature: super slow-motion. So play the video below to check out the inevitable homage video. Enjoy!

Here's Auric patrolling Oma and Harry's house.

Twirling in her blue sundress. (This is one my favorites of her dresses. I'll be sad when she outgrows it.)

I like this photo, because you kind of get a sense for how long the ropes are for this swing.

Swingin' in the Nude.

Auric showing his dance moves at the party. (Actually, I don't know what he's doing here.)

On the following weekend, we traveled back down to NYC, this time to celebrate the marriage of our friends, Paul and Tracy. They had their party in a beautiful state park in CT. We drove down to NYC on Friday and on Saturday, Sean and I drove to CT while BaBa and NuNu watched the kids for the day.

Paul and Tracy, who lived in West Hartford, CT for the last few years, were on their way to Detroit, where Tracy has a faculty position at Wayne State University. So this was a going-away party as well as a wedding celebration. We had a great afternoon with them.

BaBa, NuNu, Auric, and Qali pose for a picture.

Having traveled 5 out of the previous 6 weekends, it was nice to be home for awhile and try to re-establish our old routines. Here are Zach and Thora at the local pool. The water in this pool is a bit cold, and so we end up taking a lot of breaks to warm up in the sun.

Zach, Ally, and Thora refueling with some ice cream.

This summer, Auric really perfected his unique running form. He stabilizes with his right arm, while he uses his left arm to propel him forward. Given how hard this is to do (I've tried), he makes it look effortless. Play the video below to see what I mean.

This is why we drink fresh smoothies outside.

I love this photo of the three of them, all happy, after an afternoon at the Lexington Old Reservoir.

After one of these trips to a swimming hole, Thora surprised us with a new song she'd learned at school. Play the video below to watch.

Here is Auric, sitting IN the water table in the sand pit area of the Cambridge Common playground.

And while we're on the topic of Auric, here are a couple cute videos of him. This first one is called "Auric's Early Attempts at Counting." We were walking home after dropping Thora off at school and he walked up and down the stairs to a church. He began counting each step and was doing really well. That's when I got out the camera, but of course I couldn't capture it quite as it had been. But you will notice that, after losing count, he says "six" at the second-from-the-top stair, probably because he remembers that being the sixth step. This video also captures his joy of jumping off of things, in this case, the bottom steps.

The next video is an adorable minute and a half of Auric taking care of a baby, something he doesn't do all that often. But boy oh boy, when he does, it's ridiculously cute. Enjoy.

Here we are, walking to a summer bbq party at Thora's friend, Ally's house. When Thora hears that it's a party, and not merely a playdate, she picks out a party outfit. And she's not kidding. Yes, she's wearing pink high heels and a feathery tiara from her dress-up closet.