In case you were wondering...

If you check the blog frequently, you've already noticed that I've been doing a lousy job of updating it over the past couple of weeks. I'd like to make some long-winded excuse about how many posts I wrote when we got back from Chicago. I thought it was going to be a pretty mellow summer. And in some ways it is, but it's been pretty busy too. At least we've been having fun. I'm sure there were lovely little vignettes I could have written up about some choice moments in there, but the problem with not writing is that I've forgotten them already. I can tell you that an hour ago, Mam was listing every animal name stored in her iddy biddy brain and telling me whether it was born alive or came from an egg. Geez.

Anyway, since I've failed to blog each of our fun little events separately, here's a fun little peek at what we've been up to lately.

We went berry picking...and enjoyed an awesome berry pie later...Mam started going to a local preschool for "summer school" with her buddy, Riley. Not entirely coincidentally, I'm also an alumna of this school. She loves it. Chickens roam around the campus, there are rabbits, finches, doves, guinea pigs, tadpoles, frogs, turtles. It's really pretty awesome. I'm sorry its mostly ending this week!The kids started semi-private swimming lessons at a local swim and tennis club. Their teacher for the first three weeks has been fantastic and they've both made a ton of progress. We had to switch instructors for the next three weeks. I only hope they have as much fun. We're visiting the pool 3-4 times a week right now.Aunt Karen and the kids' cousin, Spencer, arrived from San Diego, prompting another fun trip to Happy Hollow...along with a lot of running, jumping and very loud screechig from all three of them.We caught a Celtic concert in the park.And we celebrated the 4th with a block party on our street and fireworks at the park.We also took time out on the 4th to get some photos taken of the kids all together. I still love last year's photos, but these were pretty good too.Spencer and Aunt Karen will be leaving tomorrow, but it won't be long before we're off to visit them at their home. I'm sure the kids are already stockpiling their squealing power!