yesterday's heat

Just for the record...  it hit an actual temperature of 100* yesterday and there was a recorded official heat index of 120*!

OK, this $24 pool has already been a super worthwhile purchase!!  These photos were taken late in the morning on Sunday July 1st when the heat index was only 109*

Isn't Gretchen's new bathing suit pretty?  It's a boy's suit - but have you seen some of the hootchie mama suits they sell for girls in the 6 year old age range these days?  I was more than happy to buy her that suit when she fell in love with it as we looked for a new suit for Carl.  (He just needs a second suit... the one he is wearing in these pictures is perfect for him... yellow flowers!  And, since posting this, I have ordered him a pretty bright green one with some white flowers and a little Nemo picture on it.  However, I'm still in the market for the flag one - for those of you who I have on the search.)

Happy Canada Day

It's hot here (and everywhere else) today.  Right now, it is 97* with a heat index of 115*.  The kids swam in the wading pool for about a half hour and then we came back inside.  They want to go back out.  Maybe after supper.  Yesterday was as hot.  We had a few errands we had to run, but then spent the rest of the day inside playing Webkinz and doing scrapbook pages for our Disney 2011 scrapbooks.  They got in the little pool at 8:15 at night!  We didn't even bother going to the pool yesterday because we did not want to be outside that long and have to deal with the crowds (Gretchen and I saw tons of people waiting to be let in at 11:57 when we drove home from downtown - although, they do limit the people.  They have to turn people away when it gets full.  We might not even have gotten in if we had gone.) or have to deal with the 15 minute mandatory break each hour.  Too hot to go swimming!  I'll bet the beaches were crazy crowded.  I can't imagine trying to walk on that hot sand. 

summer vacation

We are very busy.  Some days, I don't even turn on the computer.  My social network friends are living their lives without me most days.


School got out on 6/7.  Since then (20 days) we have:

1. gone to the beach twice
2. gone to the children's museum several times for water day, classes and playtime
3. picked berries
4. gone swimming almost every Saturday
5. gone to the outdoor movies by the lake at dusk
6. played lots of legos at home
7. met Daddy for lunch a few times
8. jumped in big puddles
9. gone on a bird hike
10. shopped at our favorite toy store... for legos and craft supplies, of course
11. had that Father's Day and mural photo shoot day... yes, that took most of a whole day
12. gone to bouncy houses at our Thursday night favorite restaurant
13. gone to the library big kid story hour twice
14. gotten haircuts
15. gone to a local blueberry festival (where we saw a beloved teacher form the kids' year in the pre-school 2's Room as well as their current music teacher)
16. played legos at home
17. bailed on going to our favorite restaurant's 30th anniversary party because of the insane crowd. boo.
18. bike rides
19. celebrated Father's Day - the kids made Daddy a gourmet breakfast - and we had a Hot Dog Party dinner
20. read tons of books
21. gone to the arboretum - with art supplies and plenty of quarters to buy food to feed the fish in the pond
22. gone to the $1 movies twice
23. I had a phlebotomy... (my feritin was only 7.4 before that phlebotomy... I am dragging now.  Not tired, but very fatigued.  My mind is awake, my body just can't quite keep up like I want to.  Hope that builds back up soon.)
24. that day, I was too run down to make lunch - we were forced to go to our favorite drive-in!
25. I won a ribbon in my camera club's final competition - they take the whole year's ribbon winners and have an outside judge award ribbons to the top 20% of those.  My photo of Gretchen... Tooth Fairy's Challenge will hang in an exhibit through the summer!  I printed a huge canvas of it!
26. went to a lame Lego event at Barnes and Noble
27. played more legos at home
28. made videos of the kids reading their favorite books right now (I'll upload them soon)
29. pulled out teeth - well, Carl did.  He's lost 2 since school let out.
30. went to a kids' book club discussion for the Magic Tree House - the series we are reading at bedtime.  Cool event.  Barnes and Noble redeemed themselves after the horrible Lego event.
31. ate breakfast at the Waffle House
32. spent 3 days/2 nights without Daddy here while he traveled to northern NY on business
33. went bowling
34. did I mention playing legos, legos and more legos?
35. took Carl to the eye doctor
36. went to the Farmer's Market / Kids' Day

That's all.  

And, our calendar is not freeing up any time soon.  Friday - we are going to the library for the kids to participate in a program with service dogs.  The children get to sit down and read stories to a dog.  It will be a one on one thing, I think.  It is popular, so my kids are sharing one time slot.  I don't know if they will go in together. Hopefully, they will enjoy it and we can get 2 slots from here on out.



How about a few gazillion photos?????

children's museum

bird hike - she is looking at a heron - can you see it?

the new legos and craft project

new haircuts!  and watering the flowers that same day.  That was June 15th.  You see Carl is wearing an I♥NY shirt and Gretchen is wearing her birthday cupcake jumper... in honor of Grammie's birthday, of course!

Blueberry festival berries with popcorn makes a perfect snack!  We bought a flat of berries and ate them in 48 hours.

Father's Day Hot Dog Party and the breakfast the kids made for Daddy (we each had a plate, actually)

Arboretum

 Carl after losing 2 more teeth!  8 each now.

 bowling!

 ... and here is our poster board of Things To Do This Summer!  We are checking off lots of cool stuff already!!

Father's Day tradition

Last Thursday, we actually pulled out the new grey paper before we did the birthday mural.  As soon as I got everything set up (the roll of paper is 9 feet long - it was pretty acrobatic getting it out of the garage and into the house and then into the kitchen and then onto the stand!)  the cats came out to investigate.  Molly checked it out and left.  She knows when she might have to pose and wants nothing to do with it.  She is so hard to get to look at the camera.  Not Angus... he plunked his little self down on that grey paper and we had a challenge on our hands to get him out of the way for some pictures.  So, he makes several appearances this year.

Happy Annual Father's Day Dress-Up pictures.....  you know the drill... definitely click on the first one and scroll through them that way because they are much crisper and look better.

Molly has had enough.

 Not Angus, though.

This one is so great because Carl is wiggling his tooth.  He finally pulled it out 2 days later, but at the time I was trying to take pictures - his hand was in his mouth 99% of the time!

Happy Birthday, Grammie!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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Happy Birthday, Mom!  The kids worked on this all afternoon.  Carl thought it was well worth skipping nap to do.