We haven't spent much time in the water but we have spent a lot of time at the park. Martin has taken to climbing all the way to the top of the latter and proclaiming, "Martin like bird!"
Grandma got a new dog, Fred, which the boys have met but who scares them slightly with his exuberance. Now they know how many people feel about them.
Elliott is the proud daddy of twin babies which he often carries around with him and sometimes takes to school.
Martin wasn't interested in either baby and, instead, picked out this baby with Mummy which they ordered and arrived while she was away at work. Mummy did, however, get to witness the unboxing on FaceTime.
The daily walk home from school involves lot of slices of watermelon and sometimes even an additional wagon ride to the park.
On the way back we pass our neighbors' yard where the boys are always excited to view the black owl sitting on the yellow slide. We also pass a part of the street where a firetruck once drove by and they are still convinced, every day, that that firetruck will make a triumphant return. I try to convince them that it's probably good new that a firetruck is not going by.
They remain unmoved by my argument.
We haven't had many beach days this summer but we did get a chance to dip in the cold water with cousin Evelyn a couple of weeks ago.
This ended up with a failed attempt at a nap where we tried to get their hair cut, failed, and eventually ended up just taking them out for ice cream. This is, of course, the best way to enjoy good napping habits with your children. They don't nap? Take them out for ice cream as punishment.
We also got time to race Daddy's childhood Tonka trucks outside.
Then we even wore them out at the park across the street from Grandma and Grandad's before dinner.
This lead to complete insanity by the end of dinner.
The next morning we took the boys for a much-appreciated well visit for their two year checkup! There's something refreshing about going to the doctor when both children are well. It doesn't happen all that often.
On our later trips to the park Elliott met a girl older than him that could jump. This inspired him to tirelessly practice his own jumping.
He also can quite easily climb the ladders on his own. All this jumping practice and ladder climbing makes for a great night's sleep.
The boys helped Mummy make muffins and even helped do the dishes afterward.
Last week when we picked up the farm share we were allowed to pick our own cherry tomatoes and I took the boys with me. They probably ate twice as many as we were allowed to take but no one seemed to mind. At least they didn't yell at us so I consider that a win.
Elliott is usually pretty grumpy in the mornings. However, when allowed to sleep in, he is a completely different guy who enjoys nothing more than reading the works of A. A. Milne during breakfast.
Before bed the normal routine as of late has been a lot of wrestling. Strangely it has been Martin who has been the instigator.
Elliott generally lets him be the aggressor for a while until he gets bored or annoyed then he simply tosses Martin aside and goes about his merry way.
This past week I got to babysit Evelyn and I took her to the same park and gave her a little nature lesson which mostly involved telling her about acorns.
All that talk about acorns made her sleep for about 50% of the time I was baby sitting.
The next day was the end of year luau at daycare where we had to say goodbye to our toddler teachers as the boys got ready to transition to their next level. It's not really goodbye in that we'll still see them every day but still a goodbye of sorts.
They also, for some reason, found feeding Evelyn pudding to be the most enjoyable thing at the entire party.
And, again breaking with tradition, Martin was the more adventurous of the two and the only one who dared to try the bouncy slide a few times. He was a bit slow getting up the slide but some of the nice big kids kept the other youngsters at bay and even helped him slide down.
After the luau we went out for dinner with Lauren and Doug and then came back to celebrate Doug's birthday with this custom made heavey metal cherry pie.
Martin got a haircut.
Elliott got a haircut.
Evelyn began standing on her own. As we prepare to leave for vacation I'm pretty sure she'll be walking around by the time we return.
We had more cake on Sunday night and Elliott was not shy about displaying his new unorthodox technique for eating it.
He was also not shy to do a victory dance after downing an entire slice.
On Monday was their first day of Beginners level at day care. It was a bit of a rock dropoff but not so much because of the new classroom as much as the lack of sleep the night before.
They may have left Toddlers behind but they will always have their post-school playground romp on slides that are probably too big for kids their size. They are fearless when it comes to items on the playground. They seem to think of it as some sort of injury-free zone where they have invulnerability to any sort of bodily harm.
Given their current level of rambunctiousness I give it about six months before we're making our first non-sickness trip to the ER.
