Summertime

Summertime around here is fun-filled, a little bit lazy, and very hot.  We started out this summer very excited and eager to visit the splash parks and pools Ethan enjoyed so much last year.  However, the heat eventually caught up with us, and the past few weeks, we haven't been out as much as Ethan would like.  I'm sure we still have several weeks of heat left, so I'll have to get us back out there again soon.

Since I've slacked about posting all the fun things we've been up to, I thought I'd share a few pictures to sum it all up.

First up, we have splash pads.  There are several around town, and I think we've visited about three so far this summer.  I found one that is my favorite so far because it's close, shady, and never crowded.  Ethan loves to run around filling up buckets of water.

Having fun at our first splash pad adventure of the season.

 We've also been visiting my mom's pool often.  Sometimes we'll head over on a weeknight just to get out of the house.  Ethan has a new love of fearlessly jumping in the pool.  Also, his swim jacket makes him very independent in the pool so we can be close to him, but not have him hang all over us constantly.  We also visit one of the city pools nearby every once in a while, and it's always a nice way to stay cool.

Lounging at Nana's

 Lastly, there's the backyard.  I decided at the beginning of the summer that we needed some sort of pool back there and that it had to be big enough to fit me too (why should he be the only one who gets to have fun?).  So we found a nice one with a cover and it has been a staple in our backyard fun all season.  It's the perfect depth for E to sit, splash, and play in, and it's been quite lovely for me as well.

Swimming in the backyard

Handsome man

Splashing fun

Also in the backyard, a water table, which Ethan makes use of in ways it's not quite intended for, but oh well.

All this has made me want to take him out to all these fun things again before summer's over.  I'm going to have to get on that.

well, hello there...

Dear blog, you have yet again been neglected.  I was on top of things, I promise.  I have made an effort to bring out the camera whenever we do something, and I have been pretty successful.  I was actually really proud of my efforts, and a few weeks ago I excitedly plugged in the camera to upload my pictures to my computer.  And then there was an error message:  Your computer is full.  I am not a hardware person, so the thought of getting out the old external hard drive was not appealing.  I procrastinated and put it off for a long time, but now there is room, and I once again be sharing with you.  Hopefully.

We begin with another rainy day a few weeks back.  I am nostalgic for rain, can you tell?  So, E woke up from his nap right as it started to pour outside.  I rushed up to grab him and told him it was raining and would he like to go outside and see.  He has obviously picked up on how exciting and rare rain is, because he smiled and did his excited hands and said, "Yeah!" (remind me to get a video of the excited hands, it's awesome)

Anyway, to sum up, we put on his rain boots and played happily in the rain for a good half an hour.  We listened to the thunder, got ourselves soaked, and enjoyed every second of the summer storm.

looking to see where it was all coming from

running in the rain

He stopped and told me he needed his hat at one point, maybe to keep the rain out of his eyes

and then he was off again

Ah, rain.  Is it fall yet?