June 9

During VBS today, the little ones and I met Emily for an early brunch. She just happens to be taking summer classes at the college right across the street from VBS, so it worked out perfectly.

She had to leave for her class, so we headed across the street to Great Clips to get Lily's first haircut!

(Technically, I trimmed her overgrown mop of hair when she was about 6 months old. But other than that, I haven't touched her hair for fear of ruining it.)

Before:

Lily was so cooperative!

After: 

Really, I'm fairly confident I could have handled a cut like this myself. It is nothing fancy. But still, I wanted someone else to do the first one.

We still had time to spare, so we took a nice walk on the trails near the college. 

Eli briefly wore his sunglasses, which was hilarious.

We also ran into an old friend of mine and her four kids. I haven't seen her in years, so it was a fun surprise!

Then we went to pick the big kids up from VBS.

VBS pickup is really chaotic, and Lily got kind of stressed out after the first day. Since then, I have put her in the Ergo on my back and worn Eli in the ring sling on my front. It's a little bit awkward, but it is way easier and faster than wrangling a two-year-old through the crowds.

That evening, we had a special event: the circus!

Every year, Chris' employer offers employees tickets to the circus. This year, he was able to score tickets for our whole family. Unfortunately, Caleb and Daisy both had swim practice that ended at 6:30, and the circus started at 7:00. We chose to try to do both, and ended up being about five minutes late for the performance. 

Happily for us, the usher was very kind. Instead of showing us to our seats, he showed us to a box seat right in front of the action. It was pretty awesome.

Like I said, pretty awesome. We love how intimate and artistic this circus is, and the fact that it doesn't create sensory overload for our sensitive children. It is perfect for us.

Even Eli loved it! He quickly picked up on applause, and began clapping after every trick. It was so cute!

His favorite part was the animals, especially this horseback rider. What fun!