I'm So Far Behind I Thought I Was First

 All my friends are posting their kids' first day of school pics. My own kids start preschool next week so before I take their back to school pics, I need to upload my summer pics and lo and behold, you've seen about 3 photos from this summer!  So here are a few more...from July.  Yes, like 6 weeks ago.  But since it's hot and muggy and very summer-like feeling today, and these are summer pics, they're not SOOO long ago.  Okay, I'm in denial.  I'm so far behind I thought I was first.

 We drove into Bay City to see the Tall Ships sail into town for the Tall Ships Festival.  They are just beautiful.

 We sat by the side of the road for the Auburn Corn Fest Parade.  The boys wore their clop clops because of the fire engines and I explained how the girls with the flags are called Color Guard and mommy did that when she was in high school.  They were underwhelmed.

 We have had next to no ice cream this summer due to the dairy intolerance N seems to have.  So this pic of the N and M eating sherbet (and guess what, there is dairy in that, too!) once this summer is a keeper.  Aren't they cute?

 A few times we filled the dragon pool and I sang rub  a dub dub 3 men in a tub.  Then C pooped in it so the fun was over.

This is so comfy...I have an idea...

We spent a day up North with some MN friends visiting their family's cabin and even had a pontoon ride!

My mother's day Hibiscus has been blooming like crazy this summer!

 And once I even put all 3 in the actual tub! 

I know that doesn't quite tell the whole story of our summer, but it will hold you over till we get some back to school pics and I get some quiet time to think and therefore write something intelligent! 

Family Vacation, Tawas Edition

1. Cabins on the beach!
2. Hubs' family next to ours.
3. Sand on our feet, in our hair, in our beds.
4. Showering little boys because the cabin is so small there is no tub.  Bathe the baby in the sink.
5. S'mores on the beach bonfire
6. Blueberry picking with three four year olds.
7. VACATIONING with three four year olds.
8. Swimming in cool, clear shallow, beautiful Lake Huron water.
9. Packing enough food to feed an army.
10. 11 people eating enough food to feed an army.
11. Watching the meteor showers light up the sky.
12. Identifying constellations and the Milky Way.
13. Spraying Listerine on our feet for bug spray (who knew?)
14. Sharing a double with a sandy four year old and a wiggly one year old.
15. Thunderstorm at kiddie bedtime.
16. Trying to remember how to play Euchre. Going to bed because I'm too old for that!
17. Sandcastles
18. We have the whole place (almost) to ourselves: 300' of perfect sugar sand!

Jumping Waves

Beach Bum

Kitchen sink bath

Beach Bonfire

Lookin' Good!  And I don't mean just the marshmallows!

Gimmee S'more!

Mama, Papa and Baby Bear

Brother Bears

Kiss, kiss!

Cheese!

Catchin' some rays

19. Nikon dies halfway through trip.
20. Get a little teary because this awesome place we just found closes to the public next year :(
21. Blog about it and relive the memories!

Science Alive

I narrowly avoided the waiting list for the most anticipated kids summer library event. I didn't really know what I signed them up for, just that it was the DON'T MISS event of the season. And seeing as how we'd already missed the alleged second-best event due to a waiting list, I was glad we got a spot. This morning, I prayed the boys would behave and that it was worth it. 

It was! For an hour, my kids sat (relatively) still, enraptured by a herpetologist teaching kids about animals. He got down on the floor and let each kid who wanted touch the animals. 

 Chi the Chinchilla was everyone's favorite because he was so soft. 

This is Sheldon the tortoise (N remembered his name-I could not!) who is 34 years old. The kids loved that Mr. Science could push his beak like a button to make him go inside his shell. 

This is a 3 banded armadillo, the only type that can roll itself into a ball, we learned. Also, it is the only one Ive ever seen alive; I've seen many road kill armadillos in TX, all of which were 3 times its size. 

Frogzilla, a Giant African Pixie Frog (no joke) is 14 years old and can grow twice its current size. Thought this would be N's favorite (he's a frog, he says) but Chi won out in the end. 

Here we are being hugged by a baby Burmese Python named Sunny. The kids jumped into my lap when he opened her container and refused to touch her. When I reached out to show them it was ok, Mr. Science offered a hug, so here we are. N was a wee bit uncomfortable, though...

It lived up to its hype, and I'm glad we went. Totally in love with our local library. 

He's Walking!

Just a few days shy of 15 months, C finally let go and started walking! I'm so proud of him!

He's really becoming his own little person, the quintessential baby brother. To let the boys practice "going fast" on their bikes, we took them to the church nearby this evening and brought C's walker along so he had some wheels.  The twins were racing up the handicap access ramps and back down to gain speed. c watched for a minute, then did the same.  He walked up the ramps, turned around, then ran down the ramp and picked his feet up at the bottom to glide! Oh, my, he is funny!

M and N are also fulfilling the big brother stereotype. One of them rammed C's walker- with him inside- at full speed in the parking lot tonight. I suppose he thought it was funny? C wasn't hurt, but big bro sat in time out, pouting, for several minutes.

This summer has been very busy with swimming lessons and hanging out with our families. Hubs' travel schedule has been reasonable, so we've had some good family time just hanging out together. The boys wrap up lessons this week, but I'll be signing them up again in the fall.  They love it! Next week we have a mini vacation planned for Tawas, so we are looking forward to some fun in the sun. Here's hoping the weather warms up enough for the beach!

School starts Sept. 4, so once we are back into the swing of a routine schedule, I hope to have more blogging time. See you soon!