looking up

We love summer.  We play, eat, and garden outside all that we can.  

 We set up the small pool for some splashing and foot cooling.
Clara is convinced that she can turn herself 3 years old so that she can go to school.

Janny is just so cute right now.  She can say all done, night-night, mama, and dada.

I heard what sounded like a hot air balloon recently while hanging out in the backyard.  And then there was a balloon directly over our house.

 Clara is quite the tricyclist now, and Janny is getting interested.  She still can't reach the pedals.

Somehow, I still can't make the time to update the blog enough.  Clearly, we're playing most of the time.

Some bigger events of the last week:
Our softball team is undefeated after 6 games.  On Monday, I botched a short liner that eventually allowed 3 runs in the first inning.  I was sprinting towards the ball when I got vertigo and tried to catch it with my shin.  Things improved from there.  I hit 2 home runs and threw out a runner trying to score from 2nd on a base hit.    We won 8-3.

Erik, friend and some-time co-worker at Syserco, is driving across the country with his dog (very Steinbeckian-- though I read recently that most of Travels with Charley is fiction.  I say, that was Steinbeck's loss more than ours.  Bunches of cyclists are riding across the country and meeting all manner of people, including us, sometimes).  I convinced him to take a short detour to stay with us on Monday.  We had a great time catching up (though I wish we could meet the rest of his family) and trying to talk Fereshteh into getting a job instead of getting a masters degree.

We were in town all weekend, and yet I didn't ride my bike out to the farmland.  Life is different now.  Going to the safety fair on Sat and our church picnic on Sunday was just about enough to wear me out.  That and the girls either not napping or not napping at the same time.