Summer So Far

Well we have had a busy, laid back summer so far.  Can those things both exist at the same time?  I think so - we've kept ourselves occupied, even making two trips to Michigan over the last several weekend, but have also gotten in some good chill time.  Funny enough I have taken no pictures with our real camera, only phone pictures, and most of these came from Mark because I've been trying to leave my phone at home more when I do things with the kids.  I'm not great at it but Sawyer has been telling me that I'm always working and not spending enough time with her (read: she is not quite grasping that one of us has to work, and she is our most dramatic child), so I'm making an effort.   However, Sawyer's nature is also "it's never enough"...our girl always wants more...doesn't matter what it is...so at no point will she ever have enough attention (insert: anything) and as a result part of me is wondering why i'm letting her comment bother me.  But this explains my lack of pictures and posting.

So yes, let's use some pics to talk about what we've been doing.  It's been a little bit of a weird summer weather-wise, but there have been lots of trips to the pool.  Sawyer and Isla are just about finished with their second session of swim lessons.  Sawyer moved up and should pass Level 5 this week.  She can swim two lengths of the pool without stopping and touching, both freestyle and backstroke.  She's super proud of herself, as she should be.  She's also learning the dolphin kick as a precursor to butterfly, can do elementary backstroke, and treads water in the deep end.

Isla has not progressed too much - she prefers to stay in the Level 1 class - but is now putting her face under, tries to float on her back and stomach, and can doggie paddle about 10 ft.  She's also quite proud of herself, as are we...we are also just cautious to watch her as she slowly starts to sink the longer she tries to swim and so you need to be on the lookout for her.

Margot follows her sister's lead and loves the water.  She has no problem going underwater, and likes to float on her back kicking while you hold her hand (holding her afloat).  I swear if we could just get her to let go of our hand and do some arms she'd be swimming backstroke.  This girl might be our youngest swimmer yet.

Each June the carnival also comes to our little town.  We always make a day of it, and this year was no exception.  The girls loved the rides, with Mark capturing this picture and comparing it with one year ago to show how our girls have grown.  I don't know if Isla looks all that different but Margot has certainly grown.  Either way, everyone was happy they picked up a stuffed animal from playing games, and got to go on some bigger rides this year.  Alas, our day ended a little earlier than planned as we had one seriously tired 2 year old on our hands.

 She's really trying to give up her afternoon nap these days, but she's not quite there so when she settles in to rest and watch a show in the afternoon this is often the result.  We have also found her cuddled up on the couch asleep next to her sisters, etc.  Sometimes she gets carried up to bed, and sometimes she just stays here.

Earlier this week I took a bit of a longer lunch and we walked into town for some eats, and then followed it up with sno-cones....here's my crew showing off their tongues dyed from the sno-cones. We had a bit of a cold snap hence the pants and long-sleeves...come on Chicago - get your act together..we want warm weather again.

I mentioned we went to Michigan two of the last few weekends.  We made one trip to celebrate Charlie's birthday and had a great time bowling, laser-tagging, and video gaming.  Sawyer is already talking about going back to that place when we go for another visit to Hamilton.  We stayed the night and hung out at Ann & Ted's so the kids and adults could play and as always had a great time.  We then went back to Michigan two weeks later for a bigger Harris family picnic.  Saw some of Mark's aunts, uncles, cousins, and kids which is always fun.  The girls were pretty psyched to have another weekend to play with Charlie and Ben so soon after the last.  We went and stayed in Lansing the night before which was fun.  Did some shopping, swimming, and tried our hardest to make five people fall asleep in a hotel room at the same time...I'll let you guess how that went.  And had some fun on the ride home too - stopped in New Buffalo for dinner and saw a different beach town.  Mark and I often talk about someday having a lake house of sorts, so I like to check out all these little towns within a couple hours of Chicago.  All in all, great trips...but each one ends with the kids like this in the car:

Notice the drool coming out of Margot's mouth in the next picture...about ten minutes before this picture we had left the nursing home where Mark's Grandpa is living.  It has been a while since our last visit with him and I'm so glad we stopped as a family.  Sawyer and Isla were quiet and just sort of stood and watched with their cousins, and Margot proved a hit by showing off what a loving child she is.  Her and I spoke with a woman out in the hall who seemed to take a liking to our girl.  For whatever reason this woman was crying as she watched us all with Grandpa Harris, so Margot gave her a hug when we left and told her she loved her.  Best of all though was Margot also told Grandpa Harris she loved him and kissed his cheek, and he said "love you" back, which was pretty amazing for a man who doesn't hear or communicate all that well anymore.  I think there were a few of us that teared up a little, myself included.  Margot has a special way with people, and it's something I hope she never loses.

As for the rest of our time this summer - think pool, tennis, bikes, ice cream, friends, relaxing.  I'll just caption the rest of the photos because they really just show what we've been doing...

Margot has started to use "special pillow" which is what Sawyer initially called it, and which has carried from kid to kid.  Here she is giving blankie a rest on it.

 Having ring pops at the pool

 Taking a selfie of herself

Sitting in town while a train is going past.

 Getting ready for the pool

 Ice Cream in the back yard...

 Ice Cream in town...

 And more selfies together...

I was reading something the other day that stuck with me.  It was about parenting, and this one mother said something to the effect of of course she wants her kids to grow up to be good, respectful people, but really she wants them to be able to look back at their childhood and have more happy memories than sad memories.  It seems so simple but I really liked it.  I hope that the blog eventually gives our kids a good view of how life is now - good and bad...but also shows them that our happy memories are often made by the simplest things.