We were able to have a few fun playdates with different people last week. Though we haven't seen nearly as much of our church friends this summer as we do during the school year, we've made some other good friends close by and have had the chance to spend more time with them.
The weather last week here was HOT, HOT, HOT! Heat index in the 110s hot. This whole summer has been very unlike Wisconsin summers (and not the best for our garden and other plants), but has been GREAT for having a pool in our backyard :) I think I can count on one hand the number of days that we haven't been in the pool since we got it set up. We're usually out there for an hour or more in the afternoons, although last week is was SO hot that it wasn't really safe for us to be out there during that time of the day. No problem ... we just played out there in the morning and then again in the evening :)
I think our pool has already paid for itself in terms of the money we would have spent on visits to a public pool and swimming lessons. One of our hopes for the summer was for the girls to increase their comfort level with the water. I think we've achieved that goal :) Both girls willingly put their heads all the way under the water and actually ask for more of the games in which they are dunked, a huge difference from just a few weeks ago.
Another "up" from the week was that Anna started a "preschool players" acting class at a local library. The kids have three rehearsals and then a performance in the evening. Neither Anna nor I knew any of the other kids signed up, but that didn't stop her from jumping right in and playing Duck, Duck, Goose with the kids and the teacher within a minute or so of us arriving. Anna is certainly a confident kid. (On a side note, a neighbor was watching Kate and while Anna was rehearsing, I had 45 minutes in the library by myself ... I don't remember the last time that has happened!)
This past weekend was really nice for us, too. Saturday morning we did a bunch of garden maintenance while the girls played in the sand. Then while Kate was napping, Anna helped Matt out in the workshop while he was fixing one of the mowing tractors. (I think they both had a great time :)
We played in the pool in the afternoon, had a tasty dinner filled with food picked from the garden, and put the girls to bed early. I love how tired they are at the end of the day in the summer :)
Now for the "downs" ... Kate's potty training regression is complete. She'd been sliding downhill for awhile so I tried to pump up the potty usage by bribing her with M and M's again, but it didn't work. She's officially back in diapers. I guess it was nice while it lasted.
Here's another downer ... Remember that tree that got hit by lightning? Saturday morning we noticed that the upper branches were losing their leaves. Since then it's dying off more and more :( Poor tree. We'll all certainly miss it. (and it's shade!) We don't have any details of how or when it will come down, but we're pretty sure at this point that the massive lightning strike killed it.
Another downer is that our potato crop caught an early blight and are pretty much all done for the season. I dug up most of the plants a week ago or so and we didn't get nearly as many as we usually do :(
Finally a garden update ... these are mostly good things :) The beans, beets, peas, onions, and potatoes are all done. The broccoli may still give us a little bit and the raspberries are making enough for us to eat as dessert a few times a week. We've had our first cherry tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, and cucumbers this past week ... yum! The corn is tasseling and the pumpkin patch is taking over the yard, literally. We actually expanded the garden this year to make sure there was enough room to grow our pumpkins (since we learned this past winter how much our family enjoys pumpkin). Well, at the beginning of the summer, there was a good ten feet or so between the garden and the farmer's field. That is no longer the case, as you may be able to see here. I hope we still like pumpkins!
No comments:
Post a Comment