Project Harris: Taking Advantage of the Last Bits of Summer

Since we've been back from vacation we've been trying to enjoy ourselves. We had friends over the weekend we got home which was nice seeing people we haven't seen in awhile. The girls were loving staying up late, catching fireflies with friends, and thankfully slept in for us the next day. We were super smart and cleaned the house well before going to bed, so we woke up to a spotless house and had all day Sunday to just play and relax. Sawyer wasn't feeling like hitting the pool so we divided and conquered with Mark taking Isla and Margot to the pool and Sawyer and I spending some time together. She had a list of things for us to do - we played Wii, we played Uno, we did a puzzle, we made and ate lunch together, she had an ice cream sundae outside, and just generally hung out for several hours. At the end of the day when Mark and the girls got home she got frustrated she had to share attention, and told me we never get to spend time together...ha. no matter how hard i try it's never enough for this girl...

We also went to the race track a few weekends ago. Arlington Race Track is about a half hour from our house and we had some tickets from work so we figured why not. While our kids weren't on their best behavior it was a fun day and the grounds were really pretty. And it turns out our girl Isla has some skills at picking the ponies. We watched probably five races and she picked the #2 winner in each of those races. I would read the names out to her and Sawyer and they would each pick the horse they wanted to cheer for. We never placed any bets - corralling our kids was priority #1 and getting to the betting stations would have been one more challenge.

Margot liked to study the book, but she didn't get into the cheering as much as her sisters. She did like just watching the ponies as they came out for each race.

And then this weekend, Mark and I decided to ditch the kids altogether. He and I went kayaking along the Fox River which is not too far west of where we live. Thought it'd be something different for us to do rather than just a typical date night, and it was really fun, but also quite hard. We opted for the longest trail - a 6 mile trip down river - and there was not much of a current to propel us forward so we were both pretty sore the next day.

Here's some pictures I took of Mark - beginning of the trip and looking fresh. See these great pictures - close up, clear...

And now do you see the far away yellow kayak? Yes, that's me...hubs apparently doesn't understand the zoom feature.

We saw lots of great stuff along the river. Some of the homes were absolutely beautiful. We also saw some great wildlife - cranes, turtles, and lots of large jumping fish. We also came upon a family of deer which was pretty random for where they were. But these three just stood there and stared at us as we stared at them...

We ended up out to dinner and walking around the town, which quickly became one of my favorites in the area because it was so cute, with tons of stores and restaurants, and just a really great place to walk. Beyond that, our weeks have been rather uneventful. Mark has been taking the girls to the pool, they went to the movies, and also got some back-to-school hair cuts. Here is Isla modeling hers. It's a really cute little bob, and here she has braids in.

Margie got bangs. We initially were going to keep growing her bangs out, but she would not do barrettes and we needed to see her eyes. This picture just makes me laugh so much. She looks like quite the little girl with this hair cut.

Perhaps a slightly better picture - here's a view of the whole head.

We also went to Isla's school orientation this week. I think it made both her and Sawyer excited to go back to school. One week from today and it all begins...and we couldn't be more excited. Isla has one more year of preschool due to the cutoffs in Illinois being Sept 1st, and Sawyer is finally going full day now that she's in 1st grade. It's going to be crazy!

As for the rest of these pics, they are just randoms from our time over the last three weeks. A favorite is this one of Margot sitting in the living room with Mark and I telling us how mad she is at Isla and Sawyer.

Sawyer and I did some shopping together, but before we went we had to paint fingers and toes, and also do up her hair in some braids. I'm not as good as her Aunt Alicia but it looked cute and she loved it.