Summertime

June started with a visit from one of my long time friends, Kristin and her adorable son. We were so glad they could make the trip. The kids played well together despite the fact that B is over a year younger than Tessa. In this picture B has just discovered an interesting bug.

How 'bout ... is one of Tessa's new favorite phrases. Can't you just see her saying "How 'bout a ride?"

We did all kinds of fun things with our visitors including a trip to the strawberry farm. Both munchkins had a blast picking and eating strawberries.

We played in the patio pool and ventured up to the neighborhood pool.

We visited the downtown farmer's market and Touch a Truck. The kids drove the trolley and an electric police car. The fire engine honked at us, the ambulance had lots of cool things to investigate and B even got to sit on a huge tractor. Then, to cool off, we headed to the splash park across the river. They loved the disappearing fountains.

Tessa was so cute, if I do say so myself, that a local artist requested my permission to allow her to be a part of his portfolio.

With summer in full swing, we spend most of our days at the pool. We love having friends join us. Tessa is a little fish and loves to jump off the side into my arms. She floats in her Ariel ring all by herself and is learning how to swim. Since I don't use floaties and Tessa has no fear, we have had a couple of underwater experiences. She does great, holds her breath and floats.

Ryan has been hard at work on our deck. Since it's fifteen feet in the air this has been no small project. He ripped up all the boards and then, thanks to days and days of rain, I had a nice pergola for a while. It was kind of strange to watch our kitties tiptoe across the boards to their food. I was so worried Tessa or Anabelle would go charging out the back door that we actually child locked it. Ryan is now almost done and it looks terrific. He was working on it one night in the rain and Tessa begged to join him.