A Great Summer Day

I don't really have much to talk about; my heart is just full (a happy full!) after a really pleasant summer day. I feel like this summer is shaping up to be so much of a better summer for the kids than last year was. This time last year, we in the middle of Week 1 of about three straight weeks of temperatures over 100. It was weather that would make even Satan say, "Okay, that's a bit much." We slept in the living room at night because the sweltering heat was too oppressive in the bedrooms; by day, it was too hot to even go swimming. Widfires were raging in the area all around us, I was exhausted with newborn Cici, Adam was juggling a full-time job with marathon training, and we were broke after dealing with Cici's hopitalization and then traveling to New York for a family wedding. It just wasn't a very exciting summer for the kids, I'm afraid.

But this year has been so nice! The weather has been much more temperate, so the boys have been spending hours outside every single day, digging in the dirt, climbing trees, and watching the birds and bugs. They have a weekly standing playdate with my cousin's kids. They have a schoolroom with interesting activities. And Cici is actually cognizant of what's going on! So she's getting to explore mud and grass and all that good stuff. Today, all three of them were playing in the sprinkler all afternoon and into the evening. Nobody, not even fourteen-month-old Cici, looked for me for over an hour, which is unusual-- they were all three just having too much fun!

Not to say that it's all roses. I have been struggling all summer long with the laundry hydra. Wash one load, two more spring up in its place! It still feels like Adam is a bit scarce. But otherwise, we are having a good summer.

Daddy's home!