Middle of Summer

It's the middle of summer and we're just hanging out. The kids are at day camp this week and though it's been nice to have some time to myself, I'm reminded that there's one month left until Luke goes to kindergarden.

Quite frankly, I keep asking myself if am enjoying Luke enough during what's left of the time that he's still my sweet preschooler. I think so because we are having a great summer.

Lots of swimming, two or three sunburns, playing with friends, board games, ice cream, very little clothing and a lot of goofing around. That pretty much sums everything up.

Here are a few of the latest pics. As you can see, it's go big or go home with these guys. They're either naked down to their skivvies or they're dressed head to toe in costume.



I'll never understand them but I sure do love them.

Double Longs

For the life of me I can't figure this out.

It's summertime in Texas and my oldest son refuses to sleep in anything but long sleeved pajamas. There's no room for compromise here. He flat out will not wear the short ones. Even if I put them on him, he will sneak into his room and put long ones on again. It's a battle I've decided not to fight.

So here's to the tall, skinny (and apparently cold) kids out there who love their long p.j.s.



I threw this in just for fun. Wrestling is a daily occurrence around here.

Bedhead

And I thought my hair was a mess in the morning. Max wins hands down.

Dragon Breath

Max is doing great after his surgery. As you can see, he enjoyed his weekend on a pure sugar diet.


The only issue now is his breath. I never knew a sweet child could smell so foul. It's funny how it snuck up on us. Yesterday I went into his room to get him up from a nap and thought he had an accident in his pull-up. No, no accident, just dragon breath.


At least his sleeping habits are back to normal.

The Beach

How do you boil down an entire vacation into one post. It's long, but I think this will cover all the basics. After all, what more is there to a beach vacation than some sun, sand and the ocean?

Luke and Max's first look at the ocean.



The first time to experience sand.





First dip.



Max decided he preferred writing in the sand to swimming in the ocean.



Crab hunting.



One of the crabs.



Brave Luke.



Merk and Max dug a hole.



It was huge. Merk even put in stairs and seating so Max could have friends over.



This is pretty much what we did every day.



Max got more adventurous as the week went on.



See, I really was there.



More beach fun.



A great time was had by all. Now we're ready to go back.

What?

Poor Max. He can't hear. Over the past 6 months, he's lost 30% of his hearing in both ears. It's not really funny, but it has led to some interesting moments around here.

Last Saturday, Merk was getting the bacon out of the freezer. The kind we buy comes in a huge package that I fold to get into the freezer. As Merk was getting it out, he commented on how I folded it calling it a "book of bacon." Poor Max, he misunderstood and said, with all seriousness, "I don't want bugger bacon."

Tonight, as we were cleaning up, our dog Scout was being a pest and trying to lick the dishes in the dishwasher. I know it's gross, but at least they were dirty dishes. Anyway, Merk was tired of it and told Scout to move her nose. A minute later, we look up to see Max with a tissue literally wiping Scout's nose. He thought Merk asked Scout to wipe her nose and he was helping her out.

On Friday, Max is having tube and adenoid surgery to help with his hearing. They think he will get most of it back, which is a relief for all of us. But I will miss some of his little misunderstandings.


Blue teeth courtesy of a 4th of July bomb-pop.