I was backing out of the sprinkler park parking spot upon saying our goodbyes to dear friends. With hugs allotted and all children in their proper carseats after a few hours of good hard play a sweet, small and exhausted voice came from the backseat… “bye bye water.”

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We’re back in the swing of things, Lexi has returned to our clan once again. And thus we find our afternoons and our weeks filled once again with 5 y/o laughter and playing. Three can be a challenge sometimes during the day, but juggling may have some disastrous near-misses turned into brilliant thrill rides. Abi and Rachael are on a predictable enough schedule that we can do wonderful things like… leave the house and try on some new scenery. While we have one window frame per day that allows us to get out before we need to either be at lock-down at someone’s home or return for nap time, it is fun to feel the life of summer again.

And Matt has been amazingly helpful in catering Abi’s nursing needs with my modesty needs and my desire not to share too much human anatomy with five year old curiosity. Lexi has been wonderful in permitting me some space to feed Abi and yet not be utterly secluded from my very active and needing supervision and guidance toddler.

The addition of a swing set and piano (thanks again Jenney) helps to bring some “at home” entertainment to the array of familiar toys on scalding hot days. It’s nice to have a playground in the backyard on days that leaving the house feels like way too much work. And with a few playgrounds in walking distance and the library nearby we are back into the swing of enjoying the free’s of the neighborhood.

One diamond in the ruff is the free sprinkler park a community over. In one of my more ambitious moments, we wrangled up bathing suits, slapped on the sunblock and fond ourselves enjoying the heat together. With a five year old scream of excitement upon view of the water zone after pulling into the parking lot the park is destined not to disappoint. Add a few friends to the mix and some cousins and you get two kids knocked out cold for afternoon rest time. It was wonderful.

But don’t ever underestimate the adventure found in normalcy – like giving Abi a bath, AKA watering Rachael and the bathroom floor while dumping butter tubs of water on “Abi’s belly.” Everyone helps and we all have a jolly good time. Even Abi appeared not to mind getting a plastic spoon thrown into her tub (thank you, Rachael).

Needless to say, we are enjoying summer here and hoping all is well with you all.

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“Go Get Daddy”