New Pals

More of the same summery goodness lately, made even better because we have made friends with the neighbors across the street.  They have a little boy six mo. younger than Ingrid and one just a couple months younger than Otis.  It's been instant BFFs around here! 

Today after nap time we had them over to play.  I'd made this paint I saw on Pinterest, which did not really turn out like paint so much.  It's simply flour, water, and food coloring, but all I had on hand was whole wheat flour, next time I'd try regular flour and hope for a better consistency.  But all in all it was a nice messy project for the kids on a hot day.

We had a pool of cold water ready to wash them up, and of course, popsicles.

The other day we stayed inside for the hot weather, and the AC must have been cool enough because we baked cookies.  I'd gotten some cookie cutters from Ikea that Ingrid desperately wanted to use, so we made moose sugar cookies.  They were delish.

4th of July

Too hot to be clever.  My brain is melting.

Yesterday we went to the cottage.  We melted there, too.  Went swimming.  Went boating.  Drank beer from a keg.  Ate ice cream sandwiches.  Played with cousins.  Sweat. 

Then we came home to sleep in air conditioning.  Ha!  Jokes on me, the A/C was broken.  I opened up the windows, turned on all the fans and tried to stay comfortable.  All night was horrible, just laying in bed made me sweat.  Otis woke up and was drenched.  He spent the night in my room and then proceeded to wake up all cheerful and ready to go at 4:30am.  Again. So we went outside and spent a lovely morning with our new neighbor friends while waiting for the repairman to come. 

Then I found a magical light switch that manually turns on and off the air conditioning.  It's about two feet off the floor, perfect for a little man to turn on and off.  Mainly, off.  Air conditioning not broken, just turned off!  Relief that I didn't have to shell out hundreds of dollars to get ours fixed, pissed that it was a simple fix I could've done LAST NIGHT.  Lesson learned!

The house was up to 96 degrees, it's taken a few hours but it's finally down to 80, which seems like the Arctic compared to what it had been!  Screw this heat, I'm done with it!

Father's Day

This year we got together with my side of the family for Father's Day.  My sister took the ferry across Lake Michigan and we drove down to the cottage to meet up with my brothers and their families.  It was super fun, because as always, Ingrid loves her cousins!  I love it, because as always, someone else is always watching my kids so I finally get to sit with a margarita and relax!

not very sure of aunt coco yet

oh man, those eyes!

balancing!

naked grape eating with grampa carl

sink bath

You'll notice I have no pictures of my kids with their dad on this father's day weekend.  That is because he spent lots of time with them without me, where I couldn't nose my way in with my stupid camera and say "wait, do that again!  Now look over here!  Ingrid, smile, what are you making that face for?"  No, instead they got to go on a father/daughter kayak ride, go the park, go swimming in the lake, and not have mom bothering them with documenting life.

So let me just say that I am proud of the dad Brendan is.  He loves to play with the kids, even after a long day at work he is happy to come home and wrestle, play ball, or watch the Simpsons with his kids.  Otis' eyes just light up when he sees his Dada walk through the door.  I am lucky to have such a good husband and baby daddy.

Girl's Road Trip

My grandma turned 80 this past weekend so there was a big shindig for her.  Grandpa turned 80 two years ago, so it was a weekend full of remarking how much everyone had grown since then!  Ingrid and I left Saturday morning, drove for three and a half hours, and finally made it to my mom's.  My cousin was having a bridal shower so right away we got to see all the ladies of the family.

Ingrid sang to great-grandma.

And she splashed with grandma in a bucket of water.  (oh to be so easily entertained!)

The next day was the birthday party.  Holy cow, our family is enormous!  Six kids all had 2-4 kids.  These kids have all had 2-3 kids.  It's astonishing how a family grows over the years!  Ingrid got to play with cousins, go swimming in the pool, and eat birthday cake. 

Yesterday we hung out at mom's again.  My cousin has a two year old as well, so Sophia and Ingrid played together splashing in the pool and then rolling in the sandbox.  It was an exhausting trip but so well worth it.  We don't see family often so when we do it's always a good memory making experience!