Honorary Aunt

I finally got to meet Louisa!! There's something magical about holding the child of a friend you've known since you were five.

Stuck at whole foods

A thunderstorm has hit while we're in whole foods. The kids love writing comments for the board and sitting on the tall stools. In the last photo they are gazing at our van. So close, and yet, so far away...

Shaving

It was suspiciously quiet in the house. I found both kids in the bathroom. "we shaving, Mama!"

Just checking out mobile blogging...trying to post from my phone.

Just Everyday Summer

I took several photos off of my phone so that I could share some of the more every-day aspects of our summer. We have spent several days at the library, participating in the summer reading program. It was especially nice to spend some time there when the weather was so stinkin' hot. Here's Clara putting on a puppet show, and Henry reading a Garfield book on the big hippo pillow.

 Mom came in over the weekend to spend some time with us and to allow Pete and I to go to the Gillian Welch concert Friday night. Yesterday the weather was lovely, so we took a picnic over to Sunset Park.

Our usual pool time is after naps. Yesterday Pete came to join us when he got home from work. I thought I had some pool photos on my phone, but they must be on Pete's phone. Henry has been really beginning to swim this summer, which is really great to see. It's incredible how far he's come since the beginning of last summer when he still didn't want to put his face in the water.
After swimming we went out for Mexican. It was a little hot out, but it would have been a crime to sit inside in the air conditioning. I had a talk with Clara about how we had to start storing up our sunshine for the winter. Come February I'll need some photos like this to remind me that there is such a thing as Spring and Summer.

Summer Catch-Up

 Since the power can't be an excuse anymore, and the heat is keeping us inside, I thought I'd play some catch-up. Here are a few things we've been doing this summer. Not necessarily in order....

I took the kids to the Botanic Garden and let them loose with a camera and sketchbooks.  Now we have to get around to letting them do a blog entry with their photos.

 At the beginning of July we were in Iowa City for Jazz Fest. It was extra special this year because so many people were in town to enjoy it.

 There was also a new food booth with these hand-dipped ice cream bars. Amazing.

 We all gathered together for an awesome and loud display of fireworks.

 We had breakfast in Amana.

 Before leaving Iowa we spent a little bit of time with Adelaide, before she became a big sister.

 (Amber has since had her baby...another beautiful girl.)

 From Iowa City we drove up to Minneapolis for one night with Will and Sandy and then from there we went on to Hayward where we were welcomed by this little snake.

 We did lots of fishing.

 Clara spent lots of time communing with worms.

 Henry was trying to figure out what Franklin heard in the water.

 On the way back home we made our usual stop in Osseo at the Norske Nook. Clara and I shared this amazing piece of "moose pie".

 Oops....out of order. Henry caught a huge walleye off the dock. He's still telling people about it.

 

Before the heat got so crazy hot we spent some time playing in the pool in the backyard. We might need to graduate to a larger pool soon.

 

And, finally, we've had a couple of nights at Ravinia this summer. This picture was taken last weekend when the CSO was playing Brahms. Put Henry OUT on the blanket, and then they both fell asleep in the car on the way home.

 

That about brings us up to this week. Mostly we've just been trying to handle the heat this week...going to the pool early in the morning or late at night, grilling instead of turning on the stove, spending time at the library....

Right now we're waiting for Pete to get home so we can go to the pool!

Why I may seem quiet...

I think if you're a reader of this blog you probably already know that we're without power. Today is day 3, and they're saying it may be another couple days at least until our power is back. We had a "derecho" storm Monday morning. It didn't seem too bad from our perspective, and it was quick, but I guess the wind got very powerful for a bit there. Chicagoland had over 800,000 without power. So, we have a long extension cord going across the street to our friend's house and that's powering our fridge. We had also brought some things over to Sharon's house to put in the freezer, just in case. I say "brought" because the kids and I are at Sharon's right now. She's out of town for a while and said that we could move in if we wanted to. We haven't gone that far, but I have spent the morning here, powering my phone, doing laundry, roasting a chicken...
I'm also trying to catch up on email a little bit and take care of other general online things. But I think I'll take the easy way out and just direct you to Dad's blog for pictures from our trip to Wisconsin. There's a link to his blog on the right, if you aren't already familiar with that.
In the meantime, we are remembering to be thankful for all of the things we have. This is just a very, very minor inconvenience in the grander scope of life.

Just a few fishing pics

Pete caught a big bass.
Henry caught a bigger Walleye.
It's our last night in Wisconsin...