Summer Send-Off

Here's a hodge-podge of "our summer was great" photos and videos.

Coppertone baby.

Addison finally let everyone sign his cast the night before he got it off.

 Bryn's masterpiece just before she got it off. Addison just wanted to sign with an A.

Our kids like each other.

We grew and preserved a ton of food this summer. For the record, 20 tomato plants is an overwhelming amount. We canned salsa, tomato sauce, raspberry jam, strawberry jam (neither of which set, but we're using them anyway), green beans and peaches. And we froze peaches and a ton of shredded zucchini. Still to come: apples.

This was just a great afternoon. I tossed the kids in the pool and let them go nuts with too-big squash. It was a hit.

Leah definitely did her part to ensure that our abundant peach crop did not go to waste. We'd pick a peach off the tree and wash it off in the hose and she'd eat it, in its entirety, at least once a day. She even became very skilled in the art of pit removal. Nothing like a baby with peach juice pouring off her elbows to make it feel like summertime. She also really appreciated that our cherry tomato plant was on the very end of the row in the garden, so she could plunder at will.

Bryn's personal version of heaven.

Homemade pizza with fresh garden tomatoes. Delish.

On Tuesdays Leah and I get to spend a little bit of time together while Bryn is at preschool and Addison is at school. It is really nice to have one-on-one time with her, because it happens so rarely. Last week we biked over and dropped Bryn off at preschool and then continued on to the duck pond near our house. We were the only ones there and all the ducks were sleeping in the grass! We're talking, like a billion of them. We approached the fence and they all stood up and started quacking at us, which is a major highlight of Leah's life to this point. Then they went back to sleep. We slid on the slides for a minute and then headed onto the little dock and ALL the ducks got up and waddled/swam over to us. I think there were maybe two total in the water before we walked out there. Pretty sure they thought we had bread for them. Again, Leah was thrilled. What fun. It was a magical morning.

 We had a campout and roasted marshmallows in the backyard. Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Lindsey came to the marshmallow/storytelling portion of the evening. Dad and Bryn were the only ones who ended up in the tent for the night, but it was a lot of fun.

We went to the county fair for the first time and saw a parrot show, lots of veggies and livestock (Leah was in literal hog heaven), shared a funnel cake, and Addison and Bryn tried out their first roller coaster. They loved it!

Nate hit the big 3-1

One afternoon it was super windy, so we got out Bryn's Cinderella birthday kite. It was a blast. This picture was taken out the skylight at the top of our house. We completely let out the string several times.

Bryn loves to water the flowers in our front planter while we wait for Addison to get off the bus. We found this little guy hiding in one of our lavender bushes. The girlies were so excited! Bryn chased it around and dug through the underbrush to find it whenever it went out of sight. Leah did lots of high-pitched squeals and said "ssssss" excitedly and still is loving snakes to this day.

Planting some mums to welcome the fall.

One day Addison the instigator got it in his head that he wanted to spread out the tarp outside and make an ocean. So they did. They were so cute. They found leaves and sticks for fish and coral and fishing poles, and used the lid of the sandbox as an island. They each needed a piece of fruit, which they ate on their island once they got it all set up. Leah had fun joining them after she woke up from her nap. They even swam in the water.