Summer 2012, An iPhone Pictorial

Most of my summer has consisted of

 

Cooking

Cleaning

Feeding

Chasing

Chauffering

Schlepping

Cajoling

Disciplining

Referreeing

Packing

Unpacking

Laundry

Exhaustion!!!

 

Notice that "blogging" was not on the list. 

And with the exception of our time in Massachusetts "photography" was also not on the list.

 

But thank goodness for my trusty iPhone! 

 

All along I've been thinking that it would hold the story of our summer safe and sound until I could find time to blog it all.  That time needs to be now, because tomorrow, unbelievably, is the very LAST day of summer vacation.

 

So here we go!

 

The Last Day of School!!

(courtesy of my iPhone)

 

 

 

 

Little brothers at the ready with silly string!

 

 

Gotcha!!!

 

 

First day of summer and where did they want to go??

Back to the school playground - go figure?!!

 

 

June was full of activity - too much if you ask me

(but whose fault was that?  MINE!!)

 

Ben went to "Sports Camp" and got to try out a new sport each aftenoon

(he's the one in the red hat)

 

 

Sporting agreed with him...

 

 

There was A LOT of driving around to all of those activities...

 

 

See the tennis racket on Molly's lap?

She complained incessantly from the second lesson onward.

By the last lesson, we just gave up.

It was the bees.  She is terrified.

It was a match made very FAR from heaven.

(You live and you learn.  Note to self: NO MORE TENNIS!!)

 

 

He may have gone to Sports Camp, but he certainly earned the "good sport" award for trucking all over creation for his siblings.

 

 

Jack went to 3 weeks of local parks district camp and one week of

Ballistics Camp at the SciTech Museum one town over.  No biggie right?

Turned out it was a 40 minute drive.  Each way.

It was a TON of fun.

(but a ton of driving!)

 

I would do it again if we could find someone to carpool with.

He was in heaven, blowing up new things every day!

Rockets and blasters and cannons, oh my!

 

 

To celebrate the end of the week, we went to the GOLDEN CORRAL.

It's a buffet.

They likey.

 

 

They likey A LOT

 

 

 

 

They likey ALOT ALOT ALOT!

 

 

 

Did I mention it was hot?

 

IT WAS HOT!

 

 

 

Just about then it was GARAGE SALE time!

It was a

herculean,

gargantuan,

MONUMENTAL

effort.

 

But we managed to turn  THIS...

 

 

(Yes, this was my basement.  DON'T JUDGE!!!)

 

 

INTO THIS....

 

 

 

 

 

 AND THEN INTO THIS...

 

 

What are you more jealous of?

My pudgy belly?

My fanny pack???

Or my MOOLAH!!!

 

 

Operation Purge and Sell

(or risk Marc setting fire to everything in the font yard)

netted us nearly $500.

 

$500!

 

But almost better, it gave us back our basement and cleaned us of some soul-crushing clutter.

 

I thought and thought about what we should buy with our windfall.

A new rug for the family room?

A built in griddle for the stovetop?

A weekend away?

 

In the end, the money used itself to buy TIME.

While it sat in the laundry room drawer waiting for me to choose a big ticket item...

I used it to pay my Tuesday/Thursday morning babysitter all summer long.

 

While she was here, I got to do

THIS....

 

 

and go for walks and bike rides through THIS....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Which led to maintaining THIS...

 

 

 

Which is 20 pounds LESS than I weighed in January!!!

 

I actually got the scale down to 130.5,

 but I was greedy and was waiting for it to read 129.5 before I snapped a picture.

(Note to self: DON'T BE GREEDY, SNAP THE PICTURE!!!)

 

And then we went to Vegas.

 And came home with a few extra  pounds, and THIS...

 

 

Hi Baby!!

 

 

So the 135 is here to stay for a bit.

Happily so!

 

Because NEXT January, we will have something really precious and adorable to cuddle,

instead of my love handles.

 

But forget about January for now!  Back to SUMMER!!

 

Did I mention it was HOT???!!!

 

 

We did our best to stay wet as much as possible.

We don't discriminate.

 

POOL.

 

SINK

 

 

 

CENTENNIAL BEACH

 

 

 

Look who got brave and went on the water slide this year!

 

 

 

HOSE

 

 

 

SQUISHY BAFF

 

CAR WASH

 

 

 

 

 

LAKE MICHIGAN

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you have time for a "Ben Story"?

(who am I kidding, there's always time for a Ben Story!)

 

I had walked about 20 feet away from our 'spot' on the beach to take pictures of Molly and Abby collecting shells.  Emily was going to keep an eye on Ben, who was happily playing in the sand.

 I warn people all the time that he's an escape artist, but they just can't fathom the depth and breadth of this statement until they experience it for themselves.

 

Five minutes later, I came back to find Emily walking baby Madeleine around our spot in circles trying to get her to sleep.  I notice Ben is not there.

 

Right off the bat I know that

 

a. He is not drowning because I purposely made him wear floaties

 

b. I purposely brought the orange floaties so he would be easier to spot when he ran

 

c. Emily is going to need therapy over this, even though the child could elude Scotland Yard.

 

So I did what I always do.  I started walking in the direction I imagine Ben would.

The farther I went without seeing him, the quicker my pace became.

When I rounded the corner of the beach, I finally spotted him.

 

FAR away.

 

And still running.

 

It took me at least two or three minutes to catch up with him.

Take a look at the picture again.

 

 

If you look as far as the jetty behind him,

Our "spot" was on the other side of that.

By at least 100 yards.

 

FIVE MINUTES.  That's the time I wasn't looking.

 

F-I-V-E

 

At least this time he was a smidgen alarmed that he didn't know where I was.  He was looking for our 'rainbow' umbrella, but someone down the beach had one too.  So he just kept on going.

 

Like I said...until you see him in action, you wouldnt believe it.

 (don't even ask about the time he got lost at Nannie's house and we found him on her ROOF!)

 

Okay, back to SUMMER!!

 

So it was HOT, right?

 

 

And the next coolest thing to water is

ICE CREAM!

 

We at a LOT of ice cream...

 

 

And frozen custard

 

 

And snow cones

(even learned how to make them in the Vitamix at home!)

 

 

And more ice cream

(this was our annual pilgrimage to Sweets in Lake Forest - YUM!) 

 

 

 

And when we just couldn't take the heat for ONE MORE SECOND,

we hibernated inside.

 

There was lots of  TV watching

Transformers, Avatar and Star Wars (the animated shows) were favorites

 

 

Lots of baking...

 

 

 

 

 

 (these were the brownie pops we made for the Vacation Bible School Potluck Dinner)

 

 

 There was some organizing...

 

 

 

 

 Some housekeeping...

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a whole LOT of foolishness and fun...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the mess? 

It knew NO BOUNDS.

 

In the midst of the fun we took care of some important business.

 

Like dentist appointments for everyone

(including a crown and filling for Mommy who may be toothless by the end of this pregnancy!)

 

Saw Dr. Leazzo for our physicals.

We took bets on who would weigh more, Molly or Ben.

It's been neck and neck for four years running.

Molly has edged out Ben by a hair until now.

 

Because this time.....

 

 

It was a TIE!!!

They weighed EXACTLY the same - 40.8lbs. 

 

 

He was pretty pleased.

 

Jack on the other hand was NOT so pleased

with the five teeth he had extracted...

 

 

 

Do you have time for a funny Jack Story?

 

 

When we got home from the pediatric endodontist he was LOOPY from the meds they gave him.

He could barely walk, but I caught him crawling across the kitchen floor.

I asked him what he needed but he just waved me off,

reached into a drawer, grabbed something and crawled back to his perch on the couch.

 

I asked him what he had, and after some prodding, he finally showed me.

It was a pair of nail clippers.

 

 

 

He told me...

 "I've got a string stuck in my mouth and I just can't pull it out."

 

 And I told him...

JACK, THOSE ARE YOUR STITCHES!!!!!

 

Interestingly enough, the oral surgery recovery was ROUGH

because the referred swelling gave Jack an ear infection that knocked him out of commission for a week.  We couldn't figure out where his high fever was coming from and were worried that he would end up in the hospital with an infection, but luckily, Nana diagnosed him over the phone.

 

Too bad she can't write prescriptions too!

 

But I digress. BACK TO SUMMER!

 

We really weren't terribly adventurous with any field trips this summer.

Mostly because I was in my first trimester and motivation was hard to come by.

But also because in all honesty, the kids just wanted TO PLAY.

And how can you say no to that?!

 

We did get to the Library...

 

 

The Colonial Restaurant

 

 

The playground

 

 

 

 

On bikes, no less!

 

Steak 'n Shake

 

Another playground

 

 

 

Oh, and Massachusetts, of course.

 

We've spent the last few weeks just enjoying summer,

swimming at the pool,

hanging out with friends,

taking it easy.

 

And now...

it's T minus 48 hours until we are back in school!!

 

 

The backpacks are hung in the mudroom with care,

New sneakers are shiny with wiggle room to spare.

The teachers are prepped, just yesterday met.

We've sussed out our classmates

and homerooms, and yet...

 

I'll be happy to have my routine back, I know.

But I'm sure sad to see summer 2012 go.