ten little monkeys swimming in a pool

Two families with three small kids, and four families with one kid each... I do believe at its peak there might have been fully ten little ones in this splash pool.  A treacherous ordeal, when you consider that I'm stretching the definition of "little" to include up to 6 years.

No real injuries, though-- just fun times.

(Weeeellll, the first time water was splashed in Josephine's eyes she screamed as though the pool had been filled with caustic acid.  See above.  Other than that, fun times.)

 Eventually the swimmers petered out until it was just Josephine and Elora left.  Like usual, I loved watching them play together.

Josephine's such a social little bird.  It really warms my heart to see her back with her friends here in Austin-- equally as much as I enjoy getting to reconnect with their parents.  I love our small group and all these kiddos!

her fourth Fourth

I'm a little shocked to realize that this is our fifth summer here in Austin!  Time has gone quickly.  This means Josephine has been through four neighborhood Independence Day parades.  It's fun to go back and see how much she's changed every year, so I'm linking to the different posts:

2009

2010

2011

and now here we go for 2012:

Her tricycle has plastic wheels, which makes it not-so-road-worthy.  But we gave it a shot anyway.  I didn't feel like dragging her in the wagon this year, but I knew she'd want some kind of vehicle once we got there and saw all the other little kids on bikes.

A fire truck came this year!  She got to sit inside of it, too.

There was a decent breeze if you were somewhere open enough to feel it, but regardless, it was HOT.  We did get to see a couple friends, so that was nice-- but I tucked tail and steered us home before long.  Josephine was a little disappointed, as this year she spotted snacks, face painting, and balloon creatures being formed, but even she wasn't too hard to persuade once I showed her the lines.

Most of the way home is downhill, so she rode that, giving me a break from carrying her tricycle, but she opted to push it the last little ways.

On whole, another successful parade in the name of a day very worthy of commemorating!  So grateful for the freedom and liberties we have and for the people who sacrifice so much to protect them.

a couple of renegades

Obviously we didn't plant a garden this year, since we weren't going to be around.  But shortly before Josephine and I went to join Sean, I noticed a tomato plant growing way over by the firewood stack.  It's sort of the catch-all part of the yard, so no doubt a seed took root after falling off drip line hosing or some other kind of gear.

Popped a cage around it, and we came back to find it growing happily.

Josephine was especially excited about it; she has always loved Sean's tomato plants in particular.  Despite my attempts to teach her about germs and washing things before eating them, she tends to view them as all-you-can-eat-buffets.  

Knowing this, we went ahead and had a little harvesting session, and I'll have to keep a close eye on the situation as the green ones ripen.  It's really not a good part of the yard for her to be lured over into without supervision, especially considering the proximity to the snarling dogs.

But I'm glad, especially for her sake, that we have this little renegade plant.  It's been fun incorporating her into the vegetable gardening, and I was a little sad she wouldn't be having that kind of wholesome influence this year.  In the end, she's still getting a small taste of it.  Or rather, dozens of bite-size, ideally escorted, and hopefully pre-washed tastes.  :-)

the royal family

(I actually haven't finished posting pictures from New York, but since Sean isn't around, I figure he's more interested in seeing what he's been missing than what he was with us to experience.  Hence the Texan interlude in my posts.)

Royalty, Part One

Janell, at camp at couple weeks ago, was crowned "Mr. Camp Summit" in their annual, cross-dressing, performance-based competition.   There she is, second from the right, having won everyone's hearts with a surprising serenade.  Apparently she floored them all by kicking her stage fright and singing her heart out into the microphone, until they finally had to take it away from her!  Boy, would I have loved to seen that!  So proud of her.  

And of course, her little photo album of camp pictures is her new pride and joy.  She showed everyone so many times that on the last night there, Josephine woke me up by talking in her sleep, saying very earnestly, "You know what that is?  That's Aunt Janell's camp!"

Royalty, Part Two

My mom, whose brother brought her a balloon dubbing her the Birthday Princess, turned 29 again on Saturday.

We went to church that afternoon and then out to eat at Bellisimo's.

This was followed by cake and presents back home.  I didn't get the greatest pictures, but these are somewhat representative.  In addition to it just being fun to celebrate my mom, it was a great excuse to get everyone together.  Happy birthday, Mom!

And now the race is on to see whether Janell or Junior has the next birthday!

Um, it's hot here, folks.

The night before Josephine and I boarded the plane to come back to Texas, we slept with the windows open, under a cover, with cool 50 degree temperatures keeping us comfortable.  Didn't even break a sweat hauling all our parts and pieces 3/4 a mile to the bus stop the next morning.   

So you should have heard the passengers on my flight as we started descending and the pilot came over the PA system announcing, "It's a sunny and beautiful 104 degrees in Dallas..."  

Quite the disgruntled bunch!!!

Now, of course, it's back up with highs in the 80's and 90's in NYC, and we'd definitely already had some hot days before I left, but on whole, my view of Astoria's preeeeetttty rosy, seeing as how the majority of my time there consisted of gorgeous spring weather.  Seeing as how they actually HAVE spring weather. 

And despite a lifetime of practice enduring Texas summers, I can't say I've handled the transition back especially gracefully.  I used to take some amount of pride in being able to weather the heat, or at least, in not fussing about it endlessly.  

But frankly, I feel fussy.  Endlessly fussy.  This is pretty brutal, people.  

And there's just something so dismal about knowing it won't go away for many, many weeks.  Once it's here, it's here.  No storms to magically cool it down to 60-70 degrees, the way they get up north.  

I'm excusing my rather indulgent approach to our air conditioner because of the whole very pregnant thing.  But I'll admit, it's just an excuse.  In reality, my skin just got used to feeling comfortable, and I'm having a hard time letting it go.  If I thought I could have a pool installed before Sean got home or noticed the credit card bill, I'm pretty sure I would do it.

I did enjoy a pool vicariously through Josephine at my parents' house.  Pictures of little kids swimming are so cute.  I hate that I have so many of her in the $6 swimsuit I found at a variety store next to our apartment in Queens... it was literally my only choice for her.  She has a cute one in Austin, but I hadn't packed it for NY.

Of course, the $6 candy cane one I found that would stretch over my tummy (again, my only choice) is even worse.  Hence the vicarious enjoyment.
Though, I'll be honest: at this rate, hideousness isn't holding much sway any more.  It's starting to fade in light of things like lower body temperature and less gravitational drag.  So Austin, be forewarned... you might find a whale-sized Christmas decoration in your neighborhood pool.  Please don't stare.  Divert your eyes to my cute kid who will no longer be sporting this rastafarian gucci handbag.  Thanks.

(In case you're wondering why my mom is sitting in the pool fully clothed-- she slipped and fell in, much to Josephine's delight.)