The End of Summer

Well, I'm sorry that I didn't do a better job of posting this summer.  I will try to post a slideshow of photos as a summer-in-review later this week.  Or next weekend-- let's not kid ourselves-- I go back to work in a matter of hours...

This weekend we crammed as much of the activities we didn't fit into the summer as we could into a four-day period.  On Friday, Dan was working, but James and I tried to get as much done as we could.  We ran several errands in the morning then headed to the pool for the afternoon. 

On Saturday, Daddy and Grandpa started painting the dining room.  Yea!  Hooray for color!  Meanwhile, James and I did as much work as we could to prepare for Sunday when we hosted our first cook-out at the new house. 

James was a wonderful host!  Two families joined us, so there were six adults and six children (ages 1-6) altogether.  The kids played together beautifully; James's souped-up Jeep was a huge hit.  There was also sprinkler time, ball play, scooter riding, bike & trike riding (James LOVED Ava's bike and rode it for what seemed like hours), a kickball game,. . .  The mommies and daddies had a great time visiting and catching up as well (and the daddies were all-stars in the kickball game).

When our guests left and we'd finished cleaning up, we headed over to the pool for a quick dip.  It was the best idea, and we regretted not going to the pool in the evenings all summer!  We had the pool to ourselves, truly, and it was so refreshing after a humid day outside.  To cap off the evening, we watched "Beauty and the Beast" with James.  He's been singing "Be Our Guest" ever since.  I am Belle (aka "Beauty") and he is Lumiere.  It's as cute as you'd imagine.

Today Daddy and Grandpa finished the dining room (pictures to come, I promise!), and James and I headed out to get his feet measured.  Dan and I were pretty sure that James had been growing this summer, but I was pretty surprised to find that he'd gone up a size and a half!  His new (boat-like) sneakers are size ten and a half!  Crazy!  After showing off his great new sneaks to Grandpa and Daddy (when the shoe-salesclerk brought them out to James he said, "Oooh.  I think those will make me run fast!"), James and I headed to the pool.  As I've mentioned before, we didn't get much pool time in during August, so James hadn't made much progress in his water skills.  Today when we got there, I swung James around in the water to get him used to the cold, then he dunked himself several times in a row.  Then, all of a sudden, he swam to me!  Underwater! Arms crawling, legs kicking, eyes open.  It was so cool!  Then he said, "Mommy, you stay right there," and he backed himself up and did it again.  And again, and again.  We both smiled and laughed.  He called me Mommy Fish and himself Brother Fish.

When we went home for lunch, he was thrilled to tell Daddy and Grandpa.  After rest time, during which he did nap well and the dining room was completed, we headed back to the pool for one last hurrah with Daddy.  James said, "I want to show you my underwater swimming!" and he did.  We had a great time, and Daddy was just as impressed and proud as I was.  Too bad today was the last day of the pool being open!