June wrap-up

I'm waaayy late on getting all the stuff out about what happened in June, which is too bad because it was a fun, busy month. But I know that it will bug me if I never get anything written at all. So, just for my own satisfaction, here's June in a nutshell: the fireflies are out at night, the pool is open, the cat spends more time out of the house than in, the garden is planted, etc...

And, another season of soccer is over. Phew!

We had both Olivia and Max signed up on teams, which added up to be a whole heck of a lot of practices. Yikes. But this year Adam signed up to be Max's team's coach, so I got off easy and he drove to all of those practices instead.

Olivia may have been her team's most enthusiastic player, even if not the most skillful. She really, really loved it...and what more can you ask.

Next, we spent most days doing what we do best in the summer: hanging out at the pool. It wasn't so easy with the many days of rain that we had this month, but we really did our best. It gives me an excuse to not have cleaned any of my house, fixed any decent food, or kept the yard weeded if we had to spend most of the day at the pool.

And Max finished another season of swim team again. Luckily he's still in it just for the fun, but it helped that he did get a couple of first places in his individual events, including his 25yd butterfly.

While Max's weekends were taken up with swim team, Adam decided to take the girls up to NYC to see Sha-sha for a weekend.

They went to an art festival on Governor's Island where one of the art exhibits was a huge pile of rose petals to play in. Apparently they were there for a very, very long time. Adam had been meaning to write his own post on this trip, so I'm sorry if I just stole your thunder, but I'm just thought something was better than nothing, and because I know that somtimes ye olde blogging can really get away from you.

Then my sister Jessica came to spend a week with us.

She's an ideal summer visitor--she's great company for conversation and shopping, she will have a splash fight in the water with your son, will french braid your daughter's hair when you don't know how, and will laugh at all your husband's jokes no matter how corny.

We looove having Aunt Jessie around, especially because it just seems like she's part of the family after the summer she spent with us a couple of years ago. But I admit, she spoiled me most of all by being an extra (and willing) pair of hands for putting sunscreen on kids, making sandwiches for lunch, changing a stinky baby. Maybe she didn't get much of a restful vacation, but we all loved having her around. Thank you, thank you.

At the end of that week Jessie's husband Ryan (aka, "Uncle Ry-nan" by Isabel) came in to spend the weekend with us. This was about the first real chance we've had to get to know him since they got married. We tried to show him a good time, Delaware-style, (at least during the small breaks we had between thunderstorms) with some Italian subs from Cassapulla's and some Pennsylvania Dutch birch beer, a trip to Longwood Gardens (in the pouring rain), and a stop at Woodside Farms creamery. We found out that he's a pretty awesome uncle and bro-in-law, especially after his putting up with a really long game night.

And my friend Hope, who now lives in the Czech Republic so I never get to see her, sent Saul this amazing sweater that she knitted herself. I'm pretty in love with it, but also because it was Hope who originally taught me how to knit several years ago and gave me some fabulous yarn that I used to make Olivia the first (and probably) only sweater I've ever made. I've not done any serious knitting for a while, but this sweater is inspiring me to pull it back out and try again. Many, many thanks Hope! Speaking of this cute baby, he is only getting bigger and bigger...which I now have serious reservations about. Even though I've spent so much of the past few months working on getting him to grow, I'm pretty sure that I want him to stay my tiny baby forever. I couldn't have custom ordered a sweeter, happier, more social and smiley baby. (And it doesn't hurt a lick that he's already sleeping a good 10 hours at night--wahoo!)

These photos are thanks to my friend Emilie and her magical photo skills. I keep asking her to be my family's private photographer, but she keeps not doing it.

Finally, Adam's Grandma Fitzpatrick passed away. She was in her 90s and was ill, so it wasn't entirely unexpected. But still, Adam said that the funeral was more emotional than he had anticipated. He was very glad to go to Florida with his mom and sister, to spend time with them, and to learn all those things that you learn and appreciate about a person after they've died that somehow you don't learn in the same way while they're alive. It definitely won't be the same without Grandma Fitzpatrick alive anymore.

Well, I think that's it for now.