Time has been flying this summer and I suppose it is due to the boatloads of fun we've been having. I mean, yesterday, we went to CLEVELAND! Let me tell you, it rocked.
Really, we have been having fun, unstructured, grab-it-while-you-can-because-Bill's-only-off-work-for-24-hours kind of fun. But fun. Bill has been working a lot, or at least his odd hours have gotten odder which makes it odd to not see him at the usual odd times. Odd.
The good news is that someone seems to be noticing and Bill's good job performance is being encouraged and rewarded by even more responsibility, and some extra Reds tickets (see above
more fun category). I am thankful for our blessings even though I grumble over hours.
And although our summer vacation trip to Kiawah with my parents, aunt and uncle isn't planned until September, we've already done a fair bit of traveling. Yes, including a round trip to Cleveland. In early June, Bill and I went to NYC over my birthday and had the most ridiculous seven course dinner in a floating restaurant underneath the Brooklyn Bridge with a view of the sunset and night sky of Manhattan. Then, for Bill's birthday, the kids and I kidnapped him for 2 nights at Hueston Woods Lodge, an Ohio State park not far from us. Pontooning and smores. Star Wars and pizza delivery. A great family battery charger.
Our garden has started to be fruitful, with zucchini lurking under every leaf and the promise of tomatoes (seedlings planted late) hinting they'll be here soon. No sign yet of our favorite ring-tailed varmints but I assure you once the corn is a day from picking those bandits will return. I wonder if they eat chickens...maybe that would convince Bill we don't need to add poultry to our household of kids, dogs and cats.
Reina has completed a week of zoo camp and the most important factoid she has retained is that manatee poop is fuzzy (?). She and Liam are continuing with their swimming lessons as well and are the core team members of our family racing unit. We are still training for the Disney Marathon in January and despite me taking 2 weeks off for an "overuse injury" we are still on track. Last weekend we ran 8.5 miles, the longest distance I've ever run in my life. With the help of only one dose of ibuprofen, I was functional the next day. The heat lately has made it difficult to get out to run without actually dying, but ample sunscreen on the kids plus
special running granola bars has kept them mostly happy in the stroller.
Liam is coming into his own this summer. A full fledged big boy, he uses a big boy voice to tell you "no tiny, I BIG!" He also taught himself how to pee standing up into his training potty. So proud. Though no where near ready mentally to potty train, he could do it if I pushed it. It would certainly boil down to a battle of wills at this point, however. For now he's content to use the potty only before bed/bath and wander off to hide while he poops in his pants. We'll see how nature takes its course on this one...
I took the kids to see Liam's first movie in a theater yesterday,
Cars 2, in 3D no less, and he was awesome. He certainly has fallen in love with the typical boy stuff, vehicles, mainly. He says they're "wow cool". He'll still play extensive pretend games with Reina, however, calling her Miss Reina, or staying in character as the daddy. He is far more physical than Reina and he loves to enter a room full throttle then jump to a stop at your feet. And he dances like Forest Gump does Elvis, a whole lot of shaking going on. Yet, my sweet boy will often be found in a quiet chair or on a pillow on the floor just reading a book, often sneaking a stolen hit of binky at the same time. Another battle I'm not gonna fight with my baby just yet.
I'll get pictures up here soon...promise.
