Summertime, And The Livin' Is Easy...

It's the middle of June, and summertime is in full swing around here. The temperatures are starting to creep up past the 60's and low 70's (my ideal temps) and we're finally getting to take advantage of our apartment's swimming pool. We've had a few BBQ's, lots of outdoor walks, many trips to the park, games on our big grassy hill, and we're finding more fun kid things to do in the area. Yay! Above is a picture of the "stew" Ethan and Anna made from a walk in the woods they went on. Yum, yum!

Last weekend we went to the Crossroads Village - old fashioned town - and Huckleberry Railroad as part of the S.K.I.P. program. (So it was all free, which was great since that place is normally pretty price-y.)

The fact that the town was old fashioned was pretty much lost on Anna, but she had fun looking in some of the shops. She LOVED helping this "farmer girl" go to the pump to get water and carry it back to water her garden. Anna has been obsessed with gardening lately...convenient timing now that we're living in an apartment. So she was in heaven with this activity, and was so sad when we had to go.

While at Crossroads Village, we also spent quite a lot of time at the rides. There were some old fashioned favorites like the carousel, venetian swings, mini train, and a cart and pony ride Anna was proud to go on all by herself. The three pictures above are from the four of us going on the Ferris wheel together. I don't know what my problem was, but I was SCARED! I'm never scared on that kind of stuff; I normally like it. The picture above captures my true emotion during that ride - holding Anna tight, laughing and screaming simultaneously, breathing quickly. I have decided that I must have been scared because it was the first time I was on a ride like that with my own kiddies. I was nervous on their behalf. Despite that, the kids loved it and Ethan did his best to calm me down. :)

At Crossroads Village, they had a few clowns doing face painting. The line was ridiculously long, so I told Anna I'd paint her face when we got home. I'll be honest, I was hoping she would forget. Of course she didn't. Anna wanted her face painted like the clowns were doing it...huge bugs taking up the whole face. I thought the butterfly would be the easiest to replicate. Anna chose the colors...an interesting combination. So yes, it somewhat resembles the butterflies the clowns were doing. Anna was very pleased with it. Ethan and I thought it looked more like some kind of Aboriginal war paint.

Above: Anna getting used to the cold water. Lake Superior has prepared her well for this. It took Anna about 15 minutes to get used to floating in her life jacket, and now she swims all around the pool. We're never more than a few feet away from her, but she does NOT want us to touch her. Anna's so independent. She loves the water!

Benjamin is okay with the water, but doesn't like to stay in too long. Besides when I'm taking pictures, Ethan and I each take a kid to be in charge of. The one who has Ben usually spends a lot of time walking around the outside of the pool with him. (There is a nice, grassy picnic area for him to explore.) Ben-Ben does like Anna's floaty she so graciously shares with him, so he's been spending a little more time in the pool. I love the two pictures above with Benjamin intently looking down at the floaty, clearly realizing that it is something he needs to taste. The next picture shows him doing just that. Yum. Hope you're all having a great summer too!