Summer

Summer's officially here so that means:

Lots of park days!  Patrick looooves his cousins.  Every time I overhear his conversations with other kids, he's always mentioning his cousins or Aiden.  I love that he thinks family members are his best friends.

Also, triathlon training has started.  Yep, we're doing it again.  We just can't stop torturing ourselves.

I'm the shadow in the bottom of the picture...taking pictures while biking is no joke

 Lots of time playing in our driveway.  We have a driveway...and a yard.  A large lawn.  I still love that idea.

 Summer also means swim lessons started for Patrick.  I was too shy to really continue in swim lessons when I was little and didn't learn how until I was 27 and I knew I wanted my kids to be able to swim.  Patrick thought the lessons were the greatest thing ever.  I tried explaining to him that lessons wouldn't last forever but he's in denial about the fact that he's not going tomorrow...

And of course, there are also fun outings when the weather is nice.

 I cannot say it enough, but I love seeing my kids excitement at discovering new things.  Patrick fell asleep in the car and was pretty grumpy when we tried to wake him up but the moment he first saw a hot pool, he was the most excited 3 year old I've ever seen.  Aiden loved it as well but he's much more like Jon and I.  He shows a little excitement on the outside but keeps it pretty well contained.  Patrick, on the other hand, has enough energy and exuberance to outlast Jon, Aiden, and I combined.  Side note: every day the boys race around our downstairs.  Every single time, Aiden will run out of energy first, lay down on our stairs and then Patrick will say, "come race Aiden!  Come race!"  Aiden's response is always, "I tired Tatrick.  I tired."  Oh, it's the cutest thing.  And then inside I say, "who's child is he?  And where in the heck did he get so much energy!"  

 And lastly, Jon and I have started our diy list.  Another side note: when we built our house, we knew we didn't want the microwave above the stove.  However, whenever we'd start to talk about where to put the microwave, we always dismissed it and thought we would decide later.  Well...we never did decide.  And there was no place for the microwave.  So Jon built a little stand to sit next to our cupboards.  Maybe not ideal but it works. :)

 We've started trying to decorate our living room and the first thing we did was build the bookcase next to our t.v.  And when I say we, I mean Jon.  I painted it.   Considering Jon took up the hobby of building furniture when we moved into this house, I'd say he's off to a great start.  The list just keeps growing and I'm glad that he's still excited to have this new hobby.  An entertainment center is also on that list, but that might take a little longer...

Also, Tuesday marked 3 years since losing my dad.  I actually started a post by itself talking about it, but sometimes grief is exhausting.  And sometimes finishing an emotional post takes more energy and emotions than I'm willing to put out so I'm not sure if that post will ever get posted.  Three years ago I would have had no idea that grief could be such a long process because I'd never lost someone so close to me.  Sometimes I fall into self-pity and think, "why couldn't we have had at least 10 more years?"  I'm not ashamed to say that I'm not one of those people that never asked, "why us?" or "why me?"  Along with grief comes depression and a whole slew of emotions that I deeply wish could just go away and be replaced with my dad.  But now I'm starting to get lengthy again and I'll just end by saying, I can't wait until I can give that man a hug again.  The only man I've known without guile and complete unconditional love.  I'm lucky to have married a man who is really similar in a lot of ways.  

Anyway, here's to a summer that will hopefully be filled with swimming in the lake, road trips, races, and eating lots of watermelon.