August Heat

This month has been hot! The Community Picnic at the beginning of the month was sweltering; my cousin's bridal shower was steamy. At least the corn and hummingbirds have enjoyed it. Don't get me wrong - I love a good 85° day. 95 and humid? Not so much.

We got together with Nick's Dad's side for a cookout mid-month. Everybody but his sister in DC made an appearance. Quite impressive! The kids had fun playing in a sprinkler and the endless grazing from the buffet. We enjoyed chatting and playing bags.

We had a quiet weekend to regroup, then BAM! It was time for Nick's and my first actual trip in over 5 years. We drove up to Green Bay on Wednesday afternoon, left the kids with his parents, and flew out on Thursday morning. We spent about 2 and a half days visiting his sister in Washington, DC. Nick had never been there before and I had been there several times, so I let him pick what we saw. We walked the Mall (also sweltering at ~95°) from the Smithsonians to Lincoln and back, and spent a couple hours in the Air and Space Museum. The next day, Nick and I went to the International Spy Museum, which was fun. We ate and drank a lot - sushi, seafood assortments, raw bar, bottomless tapas-style brunch... all so good! We flew back home early on Sunday morning. Had a 3 hour layover in Chicago, but  made it back to GB and then to Rapids in good time.

Summary:
- 11 different types of seafood, over 20 different preparations all told
- Ate at Legal Sea Foods (twice!), Elephant & Castle, Zengo (bottomless brunch)
- Drank at Lou's City Bar, Meridian Pint, Penn Social, E&C, Old Ebbitt Grill
- 35 different state license plates, plus 6 bonus plates (Canadian, government)
- 48,500 steps (20.3 miles)

Iris turned 4! With the recent visits with family, we decided not to throw a party for her this year. We will have fun as a family instead. It's a busy day, with school open houses for both kids, as Felix starts 2nd grade and Iris starts 4K on Thursday. Iris got a My Little Pony sweatshirt, pony plush, jewelry box, indoor/outdoor pogo jumper, kid binoculars, and a board game from us this year.

The 31st is my mom's last day of work. Happy Retirement, Mom! Enjoy this time with Dad!

Felix: 7 yrs & Iris: 4 yrs

July Highlights

Short and sweet highlights of our summer so far!

Felix turned 7 and had his first sleepover! He invited a few friends over. They had a silly string fight, had pizza, watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Half of the party fell asleep around 10. The other half had to be told GO TO SLEEP around 11:30. Naturally, they were all up and raring to go around 6:30...

We were invited over for an afternoon get-together with one of Nick's coworkers. The boys went fishing on the river, and caught a couple catfish and carp. Iris ran shrieking from the flopping fish a couple of times. But now they have new friends with whom they played in the kiddie pool.

We went to a family cookout on my side, and introduced the kids to the joys and pains of tubing down the river. A few beers had to be rescued while one or two were sacrificed to the river gods. We took our inflatable kayaks, while the rest of my folks did the traditional tubing. Complete with traditional slowly-deflating tube.

Iris got a black eye! From the slides at daycare! Again! Quite the shiner this time, all from "being silly on the slide". As it heals, it's turned many glorious colors, making half her face look like she's had gaudy makeup applied.

We got to be super social with friends at the end of July, with two nights of babysitters in a row! We had classy cocktails, fondue and dominoes one night, and 1 1/2 innings of a Rafters game in between thunderstorms. Yeah, not wise to be on a big metal structure with cloud-to-ground lightning.

Stay tuned for next time... More fun with extended families! A trip to DC! Iris's birthday! Hooray!

Felix: 7 yrs & Iris: 3.5 yrs