Summer Loving: Week 2

This week the heat did not relent, so we spent much of the week indoors. This week looks eerily familiar to last week, because the first week went well so we do not change what is not broken around here. And with that, our week.

We colored. Lindsey is our little artist, and we know her artistic genes must have come from some place far away in the gene pool. Benton has turned into a regular Picasso himself this summer--and I chose Picasso because his drawings are definitely abstract.

Lindsey said she drew the beach because that is where B and Popsey were.

Benton said he drew Miss Lynn. I said, oh, how nice, a picture for Miss Lynn. He said no, it is a picture OF Miss Lynn, not for her.

We played Go Fish and Don't Break the Ice (which Benton insists is called Don't Make the Bear Fall Down). Lindsey is fiercely competitive at Go Fish (unlike the artistic abilities, we know exactly where she got that gene), and she keeps up with how many games she has won. She also does a song and dance each time she wins. Don't Break the Ice is a new favorite for the kids, but it takes more time for me to set it up than it takes the kids to play a round. Each round consists of Benton inevitably breaking the ice, then doing a fist pump and yelling, "I win!" He also tries to play Go Fish, but whenever he goes fish, he says, "Oh my goodness! I got a ______" and announces his card.


We went to Uncle Ben and Aunt Ashley's new restaurant, Ferdinand's. Ben and Ashley have worked hard to make this casual dining experience a reality, and they did a fabulous job. The ultimate compliment came from Lindsey, who proclaimed after eating her chicken tenders, "Uncle Ben cooks better than Zaxby's." I do apologize to the other diners who had to listen to Benton playing angry birds on the iPad.





We went to the zoo. I have already mentioned the heat, but we got there when it opened and got out before it got too hot, and we all enjoyed the zoo. Last time we went to the zoo, we saw a squirrell in the parking lot and Benton thought that was part of the attraction. This time he knew better and loved the animals. Kate rode in her pouch and slept through most of the zoo.

Kung Fu Panda 2 is at the theater so there are pandas advertised on all the kids' shows, so the kids were excited to see a real panda. Every time we have been to the zoo, the panda is doing exactly this--sleeping. They are not much for interacting with the crowd.

Kate's ride at the zoo. At this point I had the pouch on, but we switched at the polar bear exhibit because the little kangaroo gets heavy.

We went swimming. I mentioned in last week's post that the kids love to go to the day care at the gym, but one of the girls in the day care mentioned to Lindsey that the DAC has a pool. So Lindsey has begged all week to go to the pool. I try to sway her to Nani's house where there is a grandmother to hold Kate and an Uncle Jon to play with the kids, but she wanted to go to the DAC with all the other kids. So we went swimming at the DAC. The next day we were back at Nani's pool.

Jumping in the deep end--she is making so much progress.

Kate's first time in the swimming pool. She did have on a cute swimsuit that matched Lindsey's, but it kept riding up. She looks unhappy, but that's because the sun was in her eyes. She actually did like the water.

Benton wanted to play basketball with the boys the whole time.

As for Kate, she spent another week hard at work cutting a tooth and learning how to eat baby cereal. I hesitate to write this because I do not want to jinx it, but she has been sleeping through the night this week. We feel like if we do not make a big deal about it, she might just keep doing it.

I spent a good deal of time working on the Ole Miss website on my two online classes. Now, if you are scratching your head and saying, "but didn't you just finish your master's degree?", the answer is yes. However, as soon as I finished that degree and proclaimed that I was looking forward to a school-free summer, I found out I get to teach gifted English next year. Which means I have two classes this summer. So after the kids are in bed I research gifted females and plan curriculum units.