Our summer - in diptychs & triptychs

I've been feeling like we haven't been doing much this summer, but then when I look over my pics on my camera, I realize that we have been pretty busy.  I thought I'd share some of the fun things we've been doing lately.  All my pictures seemed destined for diptychs or triptychs - putting them together gave me some good practice.  Now I need to play around with storyboards and varied sizes.

We've been spending tons of time at the pool.  The Bachsters just finished swimming lessons, which they loved:

The Bachsters and I went to one of our favorite local parks recently, Blacklick Woods.  We were all excited to see the dragonflies at Ashton Pond.  The girls are starting to want to take pictures of their own, and they kept asking for my camera.  We might have a couple of budding photographers!

I call this picture the Blacklick Triptych:

The 4th of July was a very low-key holiday for us - the highlights of the day were my homemade cherry crisp and sparklers (the cherry crisp went too fast for any photo ops):

A few weeks ago, we had perfect weather for a bonfire in our backyard.  A little witch even showed up for the festivities:

 I realized the other day that it's close to mid-July already and I feel like I don't have any great shots to show for the summer.  So, I've been trying to get a good lightning bug shot the past few nights.  I want to get one in flight, with its light on.  This is going to be a tough shot to get because of the low light and motion.  But I'm going to keep trying because I think it would be a neat capture.  Here are my feeble attempts so far:

Despite all the activities we've been doing lately, I've still been finding the time to make big, yummy breakfasts.  Now, if only I could keep up with all the dishes!  Here is a pic of banana muffins, recipe from Martha Stewart - these are really easy to make and so yummy.  The other pic is one of our family's absolute favorites: waffles!  This recipe makes waffles that are sort of crunchy on the outside and have lots of flavor.  I highly recommend them!  The recipe is from CookWise: The Hows & Whys of Successful Cooking, The Secrets of Cooking Revealed:

On the agenda this weekend: more swimming, a softball end-of-season party and maybe a day-trip to one of my favorite hiking spots.   

What are your plans for this weekend?

-Cheryl