At Long Last...

I certainly hope it's worth the wait.

We'll Come Back for the Trombone.

As people, several people, have been asking why I haven't updated the blog in over a month, I've been floundering for excuses. The one that seems most valid is that I'm trying to do it in chronological order and there's a video of some trombone playing in Duxbury that I need to get from mom's machine into mine. Flimsy, as excuses go, I know. We've all heard that one about the trombone. 

And now sadly, I don't even remember what comes next. It was a marvelous summer, full of adventures and vacations and ice cream and sunshine. I vaguely remember it being really hot when we got home. Especially since there are pictures of my children in the sprinkler.

And then there was this.  Naked bubble painting. This went great until both girls tried to drink the painty bubble solution. Now we know: Poke a few tiny holes in the top of the straw before they begin. The more you know....

 We spent a few wonderful days with Aunt Diana and the cousins.  We went to the lake and puttered on the beach. It was lovely.  The girls idolized their older cousins and let the take them out into the water and wanted to show off their toys.  They are generally enthralled with older children and want to be included in the games and playtime, even if they don't quite know what to do with Barbies, as was the case with the seven year old girls down the street. Here is Lillian, soaking up time with Matthew and a portable game system. 

After this, we left on another adventure, so I'll make that a new entry.

The Fourth in Duxbury

Nana and I drove the girls out to Massachusetts for the 4th of July festivities. On the way, we overnighted in Rochester, New York, home to The National Museum of Play. Also known as paradise for children. We were there for about four hours and hardly scratched the surface of it. We played with the detective house, romped through Reading Adventureland, prepared a plastic lunch in the Berenstain Bears restaurant and spent a good long while in this 1890's house. Lillian played some lovely music while Naomi prepared some fairy muffins in the cast iron oven.  

Duxbury awaited us with a bounce house, bubbles, a beach, a parade and a dozen adoring family members. Paradise revisited. 

We visited the New England Aquarium in Boston and loved it. The girls were thrilled by the touch tank full of bull-nosed rays and the penguins. Lillian was also obsessed with the computer touch pads by the big central tank that fills the whole three stories of the building. We had to cover them up in order to get her to look at the giant sea turtle swimming right in front of us.  

 Here we are modeling the superhero capes that Pat whipped up while we were petting sea creatures. 

Where did I leave off?

There is no excuse, just a summer full of adventurous days and sunshine and travel. I think, rather than try and rewind and sort memories, I'll just post random photos for the next few days and pretend it's one of those montages from an eighties movie where the whole house gets renovated in the length of one peppy pop song.  Okay? Let's go!

Even the playground is a superhero adventure! (Photo credit to Nat. )

  

William left for Canadian Boundary Waters way back in June so the girls and I packed our schedule to keep busy enough to not miss him too badly. This picture is from the Reading Riot on the Medina Square. Lots of folks came out to celebrate and read books together.  We were even quoted in the local paper! Afterwards, we visited Miss Molly's Teahouse again where the girls poured their own milk this time and Naomi reminded me to use the handle on my teacup and not grab it like a barbarian. Not in those exact words, but close enough. 

 

We took in another lovely evening at Wade Oval Wednesday and tried to create volume three of Little Girls on Striped Blanket. They are generally more squirmy than they were three years ago.

But also cute.

Next comes Duxbury so I'll make that its own entry. 

All Summer In a Day

We smashed all of summer's wonderful things into one beautiful day yesterday. A quiet early morning followed by lunch picnic at the pool. The girlsn dove right back into the water this year with little hesitation. Naomi was pretty insistent about being able to doggie paddle the whole length of the pool by herself, just using one of the barbell floats Lillian wanted a little more hands on support but happily lapped at the water as she trundled around. After lunch , we spent an hour at the kiddie pool where the girls were on their own, lounging and splashing and approaching other kids to ask to share toys.  Here is Naomi the supermodel, lounging on daddy. 

Lillian the water baby

We took a quick nap at home and then left for Memphis kiddie Park, The most magical parking lot in the universe.  The magic hasn't worn off since last year and both girls dashed into the park cackling with excitement. They rode the roller coaster by themselves this year and had fun with Jack and Ivy. They rode each ride in the park happily handing their tickets to the attendant even buckling themselves in.

Lillian and Ivy.  They kind of like each other. 

Our brave little daredevils, all with their hands In the air. 

And, as if there hadn't been enough excitement ,we stopped on the way home for ice cream. 

 

On the ride home Naomi said "We haven't even been to the zoo yet!"

Summer's Here!

I'm going to blame all my troubles on technology.  The ipad turns out to be an inferior device for blogging and this laptop should be donated to the History Museum after I complete this entry.  Where is my IT department?

In other, unplugged news, we are off to a lovely start to summer.

Perennial favorite Parade the Circle was this Saturday.  The girls enjoyed the actual parade part more than last year but the balloons were still the highlight of the day.  Until Lillian's orange one flew off into the cloudy sky.  That was almost the unraveling of the whole day, but we managed to avert disaster with a dose of kettle corn. We particularly liked anything on stilts. 

Yesterday, we met up with baby (not baby!) Anderson again.  When I get my camera charged, I'll load some blurry pictures of fast moving children. 

We tackled the bear at the History Museum today.  And were very happy about it!

Recital!

In which girls slide and prance and twirl and I lose my composure when Naomi flicks off Mr. Lukas for a while. 

The dance class experience was purely delightful. We will definitely sign up again.  The observation class/recital was the ultimate in adorableness and confusion. Little leotard-clad girls bumping around the room and stopping to see their parents and grandparents for a kiss or help with a hair bow or, in our case, to run downstairs and come back to announce to the room, "I just had to pee! I'm back!"