Summer Fun

A little biking

(in the driveway)

A little History Cruising in North St Paul.

Some swimming at the local wading pool.

Admiring flowers on the front step(with Merida from Brave)

Swinging in our friend Kitty's backyard.

Riding a real-life pony!

(at Canterbury Park on the 4th of July)

Petting a bunny

Hanging with Dad

Cuddling with Mom

:)

It only took me 4 and a half years to realize I should take a picture of pink polka dot.

Inspired by the last set of studio photos we had taken where they took a picture of the kids clothes and used the print as a background for a collage. This will be going in a book one day as a background.

As we speak we are awaiting the polka dot from the dryer...it's not that she's not gone to bed without it (although I can only think of one time, when she said it was dirty), but she'd rather have it than not.

And the tag!

Hello Kitty upgrade after the original fell off. Thanks to Dad.

Mommy doesn't even attempt to sew anything more than putting a button back on.

Feed the cat, Roman

Sometimes this is Roman's job. And sometimes he does it. With gusto.

Actually I think sometimes we forget we have a cat because she's not what you'd call a lap sitter. She's where we're not, unless she wants food or water.

And what does Roman like, with gusto?

Sketti!

Particularly at Olive Garden. We celebrated her birthday here with her last week.

Num, num.

Your dad is a criminal.

Or not.

Just the son of an officer of the law.

the law?

The law.

These are from our visit in May

(behind the times am i?)

With Barb, Ashley and Jake.

and Shannon (in the middle).

Finally

Turns out, I got rid of the two kiddie pools we had. The baby one was definitely too big and the other one...in a fit of "we're going to be moving, lets get rid of extra stuff" I put it out on the curb last year. Someone is enjoying it.

And someone else is enjoying the new one we got (that's way easier to empty by the way).

JUMP

Or simply float.

I had you guys signed up for swim lessons last fall, just after you turned 4. Probably too soon. But you're coming along. We found a neighborhood wading pool and went there a few weeks ago too. Summer is dwindling (impossible), so we will take full advantage of being outdoor.

Connections

You do continue to astound me.

It's gotten more time consuming and energy sucking to care for you guys, but that's just what happens. What happened to blogging (let's record EVERY moment)??!

Tonight we ate at Subway before going to Zoe's dance lesson.  Part of the meal was a little dolphin themed mobile and on it were some environmental tips.

Don't let helium balloons fly away (on purpose!) because animals might mistake them for food and eat them.  

Don't litter.

What's litter?

I explained. Ah. It's fun to teach vocabulary (until I can't explain a word...actually it's the conceptual/science stuff where I get to the end of my rope and resort to "ask your dad about that").

Your minds are like steel traps. You remember.

10 or 15 minutes later we stopped at a store (purple glittery nail polish anyone?) and on the walk to another nearby store I saw a paper coffee cup in the middle of the sidewalk and not much further ahead a trash can. I picked it up and put the litter in the right place. "Don't litter!" That's right kids. Good deed of the day.

We shop (dollar store dolphin shaped floatie anyone?). On the way back to the car Zoe turns to me and asks "do you know who should litter?" Huh. No, Zoe I don't.  "A cat! In a litter box!"

Connections.

Garbage and poop, actually not so far away.

Oui Oui!

The other night Dad went in to give you guys a good night kiss and Roman asked "Can I give you a french kiss?"

Stop.

Pause.

Ponder.

WHO taught you that? You're TOO young to know about that. You're my baby, you're supposed to be giving butterfly kisses (and they do still make you both giggle).

French Kiss.

Who can we blame? Another child? TV?

The next day, Grandma Candy asked "who taught you that?"

Mom.

Mom?

Then it dawned on me. At storytime the night before we were finishing up a Curious George book. Once and awhile we try to throw in some foreign words, the few I actually remember. There's a song by Michael Franti and Spearhead called "Hello Hello" that repeats the phrase in English, Spanish, French, and then Japanese. Very catchy tune. It comes bursting out of me at random intervals. So we were going thru good night in the languages I knew and it occurred to me that they would find the French manner of greeting interesting. Kiss Kiss. Each cheek. They did.

So when Roman asked dad later that night if he wanted a french kiss, his intentions remained in the realm of a 4, almost 5 (!!!) year old.

Innocence proven (in that moment at least).