Snapshots of Summer

This summer has flown by.  I'm still scratching my head how it is the end of July already and I'm still a month behind on the blog!  Quickest way to catch up is just to share snapshots from our month:

(This has been the wettest summer I can ever remember.  Our backyard has turned into a swamp multiple times.  There have been roads shut down and several cars stuck in water multiple times -- not ours, of course!)

(So how's our basement held up?! Surprisingly well!  We had one night where our basement flooded in the middle of the night, but receeded by morning.  We only knew it had flood by the water line and items being wet -- all the way into the laundry room this time!  We lost nothing, and are thankful that we now only have issues when the city's system is inundated with water.)

(That "pond" between the trees is our neighbors yard.  We are high enough that we only had issues in our backyard. This has been the first straight week of no rain and their yard is still a little on the squishy side!)

(The rain finally stopped and we were able to join Sara & James at the pool!)

( Bean was hesitant to get in at first.  I finally just had to force her to go in.  I put her on my lap and did a bouncy game until she was fully in the water.  She then realized she could just walk around on her own and had fun the rest of the afternoon.  She slipped and went under a couple times, but I was right there to pull her up whenever that happened.)

(Just checking out a magazine while eating a banana.)

(Mmmmm, more icing??  More coookie??)

(Selfie with Momma!)

(Our neighbor's granddaughters come over to play with Bean (and now James) and oftentimes bring their old toys over for Bean.  Her new favorite hand-me-down is a Dora doll.)

(Teaching James how to properly play the Kazoo.)

(For my birthday/father's day, we did a join gift and got an ice cream maker attachment for my stand mixer!  I've only made 1 batch of ice cream -- strawberry.  The ice cream was delicious, but I learned that next time, I'd blend the strawberries into more of a puree than just being chunks.  It made the texture weird and was hard to scoop.  I just got ingredients to make a snickerdoodle concoction from an ice cream book from Sara.)

(Steve got some virtual reality Conan phone viewer online for free.  He got to tour Versailles from the comforts from our own home.  I was skeptical about it until I used it.  It's actually very cool technology.  You can "look" all around the room and see all around.  It messes with my eyes, but is still neat!)

(Bean is now discovering the importance of sunglasses... Or maybe she just likes the fashion??)

(Exploring outside)

(Confession: We go to BWW's A LOT. I'm ashamed to admit the amount.  In reality, it's not that much, but for us who never eat out, it's a lot. Anyway, we love that Bean can be completely crazy and it doesn't interrupt anyone's dinner because it's already noisy and full of tv distractions.  We've recently made the decision to take Bean to Disney this fall.  Only issue is that she is afraid to ride things like animals on a carousel or the little mechanical horse at the store.  She kept asking to ride this machine in the corner, so her and Steve hopped on it.  We'll call that a small win!)

(A couple of weeks ago, I noticed some bumps on Bean's legs.  I thought maybe they were mosquito bites, but there were a lot of bumps all over - even in diaper area -- and some where small like a pimple while others were big like a hive.  Then I realized she had a fever 101.9.  I called the doctor and there happened to be a cancellation within the hour.  So I took her.  She wasn't diagnosed with anything official -- maybe a UTI that is revealed as a rash or maybe some reaction to something?  She was put on a heavy duty antibiotic.  The bumps went away in a few days, but the fever stuck around for almost a week.  She's done with the antibiotics now, bumps are gone, and fever is gone.  She's been really sleepy and having some tummy issues now, but I'm thinking it is just from the medicine wearing out of her system.  Sheesh kids!)

Summer time!

We LOVE summer.  Maybe it's the warmer weather or the longer days?  All I know, is that in the summer, our schedule somehow gets overloaded and summer flies by.  I can't believe it is already mid July! We've been pretty busy this summer with all our outside work, but we've managed to squeeze in some fun time too!

For Bean's first 4th of July, we headed over to our friends' cookout.  They live close to our local park that has a huge 4th of July event complete with a fireworks show.  We got to visit with lots of friends from church and our small group while feasting on delicious food.  We chose not to head down to the park this year, but instead go great seats on our friends' front lawn to see the fireworks.  We had a great time!  Bean did amazing.  Didn't even flinch at the load fireworks that were shot off next door!  She loved watching all the bright flashes in the sky.  She stayed awake until we got home (which was surprising to me!).  Maybe it was from all the sugar that was fed to her from some friends ;-)

This past weekend, we got to mark another summer first for Bean -- a county fair!  We headed back home to good old Indiana to visit the county fair with my family.  In Ohio, county fairs cost admission per person.  Back home, you only pay for parking.  By hitting that fair instead of our local one, we were able to splurge on the food - corn dogs, elephant ear, and homemade strawberry cheesecake ice cream.  Yum-o!  Bean played her cards right and ended up being hungry at the fair without me having food for her.  So she and I split that delicious elephant ear.  That's right, I fed my 9 month old elephant ear goodness, and she loved it.

While we were at my parents' house for the weekend, my dad put Steve to work on a big project he has been working on. He has been rebuilding the engine/transmission on his van for the past few weeks.  Steve was there along with my brother-in-law at just the right time - putting the engine back in the car.  While the guys were out working, all the girls enjoyed time with Bean!

I had been hoping to get in some pool time while at my parents, but it didn't work out.  That's okay, because just the day before heading to Indiana, Bean and I snuck in some local pool time with my good friend Sara!  Sara has a membership to a pool and we were able to bum off of it.  This was Bean's first pool experience.  At first, Bean thought the water was too cold in the kiddie pool and didn't want to go in.  Eventually she warmed up to the water and didn't want to get out! What a fish :)

(Looking all cute at the 4th of July cookout.  She was sporting a cute blue bird shirt from Sara, but I couldn't get Bean to cooperate and show it off.  It was pretty chilly so we had to keep sweaters on, too!)

(The best view of the bird shirt I could muster up from her.)

(I forgot to throw this photo in with our yard work post.  On our work weekend, Bean called most of the shots and demanded a popsicle to cool her down while she watched mommy & daddy work.  How can I resist that cute face?)

(At the fair, there is this crazy old puppet called Grandpa Cratchet that does a puppet show.  Notice how Steve and Chris - and no nieces - are the only ones sitting and watching the puppets?!  The show was over, but you could pay $$ to get your picture with Grandpa Cratchet.)

(Bean soaking up Ahm & Abo time with Bean!)

(Waiting for the piggy races.  This was a first for us at the fair.  At certain times, they'd race little pigs and apparently give the winning pig an oreo.  I didn't get to see the races.  Too many people crowded around and I couldn't see through them all.)

(Working on the engine.  There were parts all over the garage, haha.  My dad had taken pictures as he took it all apart so that he'd know how to put it all back together.)

(So apparently, my dad took the engine all apart and bought a simple maintenance kit to revamp the engine.  The kit just had new washers, seals, etc.  Chris spent a good amount of time taking off old seals, cleaning parts with kerosene, and putting on the new parts.)

(It's hard to tell but the engine is hanging over the van, waiting to be lowered down into place.)

(Check out all those parts.  I especially loved the fact that there are parts sticking up out of that Dr. Pepper box. Haha.  Steve had a good time getting to work with the guys and learning more about cars.  However, he did not approve of the workplace environment.  He said safety from the plant was too ingrained into his head - my dad even called Steve OSHA.)

(Just hanging out at the pool with mom!  Bean did really well hanging out with us at the pool!  After spending a long time in the water, I made her sit on the pool chair with me.  She got a little stir crazy, but overall did well!)

(Too cute!  Thanks Sara for letting us crash your pool day!)

(We went to the pool around nap time.  I wasn't sure how she'd do, and she of course was a superstar! She did eventually get tired and crashed.  I had the stroller with us, so she just napped in it while we lounged around!)

(Now if only it would warm back up!  We are wearing sweatshirts, pants, and socks and still cold! We hope to get in some more pool time in, but for now, we will enjoy our fall like weather!)