Summer days

Last week was straight out of August - 80 degree days, the beach, blue skies, Popsicles, ice cream, the little pool, the big pool, and snakes.

Our backyard is just plain embarrassing.  Between the grubs, the dog, the kids, and the toys, it looks as though we are a missile testing site.  The scattered debris usually means Henni can occupy herself with one thing while Oliver can keep busy with something else.  Or that they can both decide they want one specific item and then try and fight to the death for said item.  Perhaps it was the weather, but last week, on their own, these two crazy kids decided to build a see-saw for frogs.  I kept out of their way and watched as they worked together to gather the wood, the buoy, and frogs.  There was no fighting, no screaming, no violence, just collaboration.  It was beautiful - and the frogs (stuffed) had a fun time too.

We did meet some real frogs last week at a Curious Creatures event.  The kids each got to hold a tree frog, corn snake, skunk, alligator, tortoise, bunnies, chinchilla, hedgehog...and a Burmese python.  Neither kid had a fear, rather they welcomed each animal into their arms.  

We spent Monday at the beach, but the rest of the week in the yard.  Our little pool saw quite a bit of use.

 We consumed many Popsicles.  Oliver and Henni thought it was hysterical to cheers their pops and then to pass them back and forth.  The melty pops combined with the finger paints (see Henni's tummy) made for messy kids.  We have some new neighbors and I am not sure if they fully appreciated the chaos of cleaning the kids off at the end of the day...step 1: take off clothes (kids, not mine), step 2: hose down kids, step 3: Charlie eats water from hose, step 4: Charlie, Oliver and Henni race around the yard, get totally muddy, step 5: go to step 1.

Sunday's are our big pool day.  Oliver wore his suit to the pool and Henni wanted to do the same.  The diaper complicated things a bit (yes, I roll the dice more often than I should regarding the diaper, but a mile walk sans diaper - even that is a bit much for me).  So she made the trek with her bathing suit over her clothes.  Fashion forward.