Outside

Lately, we've been spending what feels like all day outside.  Even if it's raining, we are out with our rain boots taking a walk, gardening (playing in dirt) or coloring with chalk on our covered patio.

Here are a few pictures of us enjoying nice weather outside.  It's actually been a pretty cool (60s and 70s) summer with more rainy days than we'd like.  Hopefully the rain doesn't become a regular thing for the next couple months.

Here we are at our dear Swiss friend's house.  They have a great backyard.  They live just 10 minutes away.  Maddie is in Waldspielgruppe with her friend and here's Carter with his little girl friend.  We see them a couple times a week usually.

They even have bunnies! The kids love to play in there with them.

Here we are just a week or so ago in our "yard" area outside our back door.

"Mommy, it's an ant party!"

Showing off her new trick that Daddy sweetly taught her...crossing her eyes or "looking at her nose"

There's a 99% guarantee that bubbles will be spilled when she holds them, but there's also a 99% chance she'll ask to do it herself or say "I do it on my own"

One really hot day, we went to 3 gardening home stores in our town looking for an economic hard shell baby pool.  I saw one last summer and really regret not buying it.  All I could find were inflatable pools that cost $60++++.  Bummer.  I'll keep looking. For now, they each get their own "pool" and it seems to satisfy.

I love this picture because he is so fascinated with her.

Those pictures of her on her scooter crack me up for some reason.  That's so her...trying to go "weely weely fast" or "weely weely high" or physically challenging herself or getting another booboo trying.

And these pictures so perfectly show Carter...curious but not crazy, always staying relatively close to me, and always watching Maddie.  This was the first time he played with bubbles.  He was so interested.  He just wasn't fast enough to pop any because the wind was blowing.

So on a sunny, hot summer day, you can find us here, doing any one of these things.  And gardening in our little planter patio garden, which they are both loving right now because Carter gets to throw dirt and Maddie just transfers dirt from one pot to another, pouring and spraying water with her spray bottle and pink mini gardening gloves.  Even though frustration and melt downs are a very regular, unfortunate occurrence around here, nothing beats spending my days with these two.  They are my little turkeys, sweethearts, adventurers, knuckleheads, and crazy people (well, in her case, for sure, the jury is still out on him) that sometimes drive me crazy, and cuties all at the same time.