Dog Days

It's hot. When it's still 100 at 10:00 pm, there's not much relief. During this newscast they had a "news" story about two men who like to sit outside because they don't like air conditioning. Why they didn't put these men in a cold, padded room, I don't know, but clearly they are insane.

We did take a little road trip last week. My kids are still young enough and sheltered enough that a trip to a different library is considered a vacation. Jack did notice Frontier City on the way into town, though, so I may need to change my route. After the library, we went over to the splash pad and playground for a bit, and when it got too hot there, we headed to McDonald's, where we spent a great deal of time since it was cool and relatively uncrowded.

We also spent some time at the science museum, where it was much more crowded and the air conditioners didn't seem quite able to keep up. I noticed that the zoo looked like a ghost town.

Remember the bed of nails?

All in all, it was a nice day, but I think we would have felt a little less run down if the temperature had dropped some--oh, say, below 110?

This week we've stayed close to home. Alice and I were sick last weekend and I still didn't feel too great at the beginning of this week. Alice was grumpy and cried because she couldn't knock down the castle Jack built.

Shrinky dinks!

Jay put blinds up in the kitchen and it is like a completely different room. The view is lovely in the morning, but once the sun comes over the house, the temperature goes up and you have to squint. Now we can eat dinner and actually look at each other. I think Jay may be a little tired of me telling him how much I love them, but really, it's true. I love them.

During all of this crazy heat (which the meteorologists are saying will last for the foreseeable future), we realized that the air conditioner for the living room, school room, and entry way was actually blowing hot air. Seriously. After a few visits from the repairman (who Alice referred to as Guy), we have refreshing cool air blowing again and it feels so good.

Alice seems to be of the opinion that if you act like it's cold, you will feel like it's cold. I don't think she's on to something.

I hope you're staying cool--but please don't tell me about it because it will just make me sad!

Family Reunion

At the beginning of July we had a family reunion for my grandma's family. In just her immediate family there were 12 children, so this is a fairly large gathering. This is a horrible picture of me, but most of the others look pretty good and it's my only one. I had a nice time, so I'm not sure why I'm making a face like I'm a character on SpongeBob.

A fairly decent (and accurate) picture of the kids

Alice is not really into meeting new people, especially in crowds, but she had a ball helping me cook for the dinner!

As part of the weekend, we got to tour the house where my grandma was born and grew up. A young family bought it and is fixing it up and they were nice enough to let everyone come see it. I have realized that I am in no way a fixer-upper kind of girl. I am not sure what these people were thinking. They may be wondering the same thing. It was neat to see, though!

Here is my grandma telling a story about hearing rats on the stairs at night. Good times! Maybe someday Jack and Alice will tell their grandchildren about the crazy ants we have each spring!

The Fourth of July

Our Fourth of July was hot. Alice needed a nap before we even started the festivities!

We went over to Jay's sister's house for swimming. Alice loves the water.

She does not love it when Jay swims to the deep end and leaves her on the steps. It took about two seconds for the tears to start rolling.

Jack has been doing really well with his swimming lessons and paddled along all afternoon without any help. He loves doing cannonballs!

Shannon gave Alice her lemonade in this cup and Alice thought she was Big Stuff.

Later we went over to the neighbors' house for dinner and Kevin loaded up the fireworks. Yes, we really had a wheelbarrow full of fireworks. It was nuts.

At first, the kids were satisfied with poppers. (By the way, my niece, Alex, who is pictured here, was Alice's age when Jay and I started dating. Oh. My.)

They had a good time watching others light things.

We forgot to bring earplugs for Alice and we were worried about how she would do, but she had a great time!

Jack got gutsy and started lighting things himself.

It went well until he burned his face with a punk. He says he thinks he will be safer next year and use a lighter. I'm not so sure about that one!

Alice liked the sparklers and only tried to grab the flame once. My kids scare me a bit.

Watching the big ones!

The grand finale!

The Kitchen

When Jack was little, I really wanted to get him a play kitchen. Really, I wanted to get me a play kitchen, but I knew he would enjoy it. We didn't really have the room, though, so I made him a little kitchen area inside our pantry. He played with it quite a bit, especially since he liked to go into the pantry when he had to go to the bathroom.

When we moved here, the pantry shelves were not at a good height for a kitchen and we had this sad little corner where our random kitchen toys sat.

So for Alice's birthday, we got a kitchen! She did not know what to think when we came downstairs and insisted on going to wake up Jack and show him.

She got some new play food for her birthday, too.

She plays here every day--picnic is one of her favorite things!

The highchair she got has also been popular. I am pretty sure this was money very well spent!

Gymnastics

This blurry picture pretty much sums it up. Both kids have had a blast in gymnastics this year! A couple of weeks ago was their last day and it was also the day when parents visited the class to see what the kids had learned.

Alice has been in the Mommy and Me class since last spring. Now that she's 2, if she wants to continue, she would have to go into a class without me. I told the teacher we'd see her in a couple of years.

She really enjoys climbing and jumping and can do a pretty good forward roll with no help.

Grandma and Grandpa came to her class!

And of course, the sticks are still her favorite.

Jack has learned a lot in his class, too.

They're starting to prep them for some advanced moves!

He loves the rope!

Jack and his teacher, Miss Amanda!

We have really enjoyed the classes here, but we're going to try a regular PE class next year. Jack loves the organized games and it will free up an evening so he can try basketball and soccer if he would like. After two years of going to town twice each Thursday, I am ready for a break, too!

Summer Excitement

We went somewhere today that was surprisingly thrilling!

The car wash! Both kids thought it was amazing. They squealed every time the sprayer came to their windows and were absurdly excited to see it come around each time. Perhaps that's a sign I need to take the car by a little more frequently.

We really have been doing more exciting things, at least in my opinion, but that has left little time for blogging--or cleaning or cooking. Hopefully you will see some updates in the next few days!