Splishy-Splashy

On hot days, my mom keeps alittle pool set up for grand-kid drop-ins. 

It really draws you in when the only thing in your own yard is a slip-n-slide on it's way to the trash pile (full of irreparable holes) and a concrete mixing basin fit for only one 5 year old at a time.

Chloe can actually practice "swimming" in it :-)

Meanwhile Evan finds ways to fashion ordinary pool/yard toys into projectiles.

After a few hours they peter out and the pool has worked it's magic.

Drying off.....

Chloe was too tired for me to take her picture.

"Whatever you do, just don't smile. AT ALL. okay??"

Works every time.  Just like the pool.

Sunset at the Beach

This set of photos is from a couple weeks ago, but I'm still a bit behind.  

We recently joined up with lots of friends for a night at the beach to watch the sunset at 9pm -- a first for my early-to-bed kids.

We had three lovely hours of beach time. Chloe spent nearly the entire time bobbing like a cork in the waves chasing after the tall kids everywhere they went.  She was smiling non-stop.  I checked in on her several times to see if she wanted me to play in the sand or jump waves on the shore with her, but she denied all intrusions and kept bobbing along.

Some of the tween and teen girls frequently took breaks and checked in on her to give her love.  Liv is her favorite :-)  That's all Chloe needed to go bobbing around after them again....

Evan and his friend Jed paired off early in the night to start digging a giant sand hole.  They worked for over an hour and were very sore!

They hit water right around when it was time to leave, but they were super proud of the mark they left on the earth that night.

A beautiful late night.

Water Play

Evan loves the wild splashy fun of the slip-and-slide.  He does it at super high speed, crashes onto the tiny raft and plows right off the end.

And then gets up and runs back to do it again.

***********************

Chloe is not such a fan of the wild wetness.  Maybe it's because her meager 35 pounds doesn't have a high cruising speed.  She sort of putters out midway and topples over. 

So, she waits till Evan is done (or rather exhausted and wrapped in a towel) and then floats around in her pond on the raft.  That's more her style when it comes to water.

Bits & Pieces :: Early July

Because I feel like I'm behind on blogging (with that weird week of no access to my pictures combined with not wanting to be online a whole lot combined with the insanely hot days melting my brain....) I'm doing a random filler post.

This girl LOVES flowers -- 

watering, collecting petals, and picking bundles every day

At the creek with Ajay (being eggs). 

She desperately wants to be tall... 

"With this flag I can touch the ceiling!!!"

My view from the passenger seat of my car

Legs have sprouted like weeds on this girl

Dancing in the "sprinkler"

Studying the Hidden Pictures books from Gramma

Chloe loves the calculator... maybe that's how she learned her numbers....

Jammies never make it to the laundry -- poor Ruby

Flying his new Black Hawk!!

Pretty rainbow horse dreaming of having brown spots

Very busy artist working on packages for Liv

Love the summer hair -- high ponytail plus headband

Putting on binders while being Flynn and Rapunzel

This is how I usually find them.... all locked up as prisoners

 

Sharing a fuzzy caterpillar

Bitty Frogs

Cutest. Frogs. Ever.

These little munchkins are hopping all over my dad's yard. 

The kids are so adorable to watch as they catch them, try to peek at them and inevitably have to chase them down again.

After the frogs are sufficiently tired out, it seems they will pose for inspection and close up photos.  I listened to Chloe describing his clear sticky toes and Evan telling about looking deep into it's golden speckly eyes. 

And on a different day....  again with the tiny one:

There was also a bigger frog that Evan captured.  (It's in front of his hands.)

Of course we released them all back to where we found them.

I have videos of all this cuteness, but my camera still takes HUGE size files for them so until I figure that out....