End of summer fun

When we weren't taking our family vacations, many of our summer afternoons looked like this... 

Sam had a great group of friends that he'd play volleyball with after work, while we watched and played in the sand. It was as close to the beach as we could get! Ivy just loved to sit and chill with her sand toys and her doggy friend, Diesel. And this summer wasn't terribly hot (probably only reaching high 80s every now and again) so there was usually a nice breeze. Loved it!   

The weekend before school started (back in July), we took a little day trip up to the Cumberland Falls with some good friends. We walked around the falls, ate lunch, got some ice cream and just enjoyed the afternoon. Afterwards, most of us drove back to Harrogate and went swimming at the pool near student housing.. It was a fun day!

 Graham was such a gentleman to share his ice cream with Ivy (right pic). It was hilarious to watch, lol:

And just a few pics from one of our afternoon swims on our back patio...

My pretty girl. This is one of my favorite pictures of Ivy. She is such a wiggly, bouncy thing that pictures like this are few and far between. Her smile is so genuine, it just melts my heart! Love her: