Summering Part II

My kids have been living up the lazy days of summer this week.  Unfortunately, I no longer remember what happened at the beginning of the week.

Wednesday, Andrew, Evelyn and I went swimming at the city aquatic center again (Oliver got to bond with Grandma). I traumatized my daughter by trying to convince her to go down one of the small kiddy covered slides. She refused. Half in jest, I suggested she try one of the *big* slides. She said okay, but wanted me to go first. After climbing all the stairs, I rethought this idea. I was pretty sure she would chicken out, and I had a horrifying vision of me at the bottom of the slide and Evelyn wailing at the top. So we sent Andrew down first. Andrew went down the slide and still had time to climb back up to us while I talked to Evelyn (who, as predicted, chickened out). She said she'd do the little slide instead. Only, when we got down there, she wouldn't go on that one either. I was tempted by the bad parent demon: I nearly pushed her down the slide just so she could see that it wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it was. But I resisted.

So, aside from making my daughter cry, everyone had fun. I think.

Thursday, we went up to the zoo with Sarah and her kids. We didn't make it to all the exhibits, but I imagine we'll be back again. I was really impressed with the new exhibits, especially the sea lions and polar bears, which are light years beyond the tired, old exhibit they'd had before.

Friday morning I met some old friends from high school at a local splash pad/park. It was so delightful to see them and catch up (amid the crazy chaos of our combined 13 children). Sometimes I still feel like a newly minted adult myself: it's hard to believe we've been out of high school for half our lifetime.

And Saturday, we spent most of the day up north again: first hanging out at Sarah's, and then at Jared's house at a birthday party for Brielle. The kids had a blast sliding down the inflatable slide and splashing in the pool; Oliver wasn't as big a fan of the water (it was too cold for him), but he was fascinated by Jared's puppy.

I apologize for the daily log summary style of this post--my brain is a little scattered tonight. Pictures will be forthcoming as soon as I can connect to a computer that can read my camera. :)

Next week: Oliver turns one! He might even crawl by then.