Mid-July

Back in NY for over a week and no post?  Sorry... Suddenly the third trimester hit and it was like a lightbulb went on : we're having a baby.  Soon.  Like 12 weeks soon.  EEEEK!!!!

Not that I'm not extremely excited about it, but 12 weeks seems suddenly like a very, very short time.  And I have lots and lots of things I want to get done before she arrives.  

This week also starts our two weeks of company, which is fantastic because we love company, but also meant a little more work around the house and last minute things to get done last week.

So here's the past week or so in photos:

sandbox is back!!

the big pool came out!

MiniM.E. slept through half a polo match

woke up in time to stomp the divots, but didn't want to 

and almost got her photo in the paper because of some adorable leopard sunglasses

we baby-sat for a friend 

played in the sandbox (a lot) more

played out in the rain

took Dolly to the playground

had a pool day with friends 

took a nap

went to the beach

met up with Baby O. at the carousel

saw the fireworks in Lake George (complete with ear muffs!)

went back to the beach

went to family day at Bob's work 

played at the playground

and found out we have baby birds that hatched in our bird house

It was a pretty exciting, busy week.  Now onto our weeks of visitors!!

My Little Fish

Yesterday we spent our last full day in NH just hanging around and relaxing in the pool.  MiniM.E. had a great time just swimming... and swimming, and swimming and swimming!

With her "seal floaty" she can "swim" all by herself and loves just paddling around the pool.  She had a great time on the slide and even learned to jump in all by herself!

July in NH

Last time we visited NH the pool was chilly and the weather was cooler, cloudier and rainier.

Fortunately, we are having gorgeous weather this visit.  Hot and sunny.  The pool is warm and we have been spending as much time as possible in the water.

In the morning before it is TOO hot, there's lots of jumping on the trampoline:

And sometimes Dolly needs help jumping:

When it warms up, lots of playing in the pool:

Swinging on the swing set is a nice break:

I'm really happy MiniM.E. likes the water.  I'm pretty sure she could spend nearly all day in a pool.  Which is fortunate for me because being pregnant this time around I will require being immersed in water anytime it is over 80 degrees outside!

The highlight of this trip is the new inflatable water slide Gram and Grumpy bought for their pool.  MiniM.E. LOVES it-- not that I can blame her- I wish I could go on too!! (Actually, the first time she went down we weren't really sure how to use it and she kind of went sideways and insisted she was done and I was a bit worried she meant done for the whole week- but we figured it out!).

Sunday my aunt and uncle visited from CT for a BBQ and Monday we had C & H over to play, but both times I was in and out of the water with MiniM.E. and it's really hard to get photos of your kid in the water when you have to be there making sure she isn't drowning.  

Yesterday we went up to Maine to go to York's Wild Kingdom and the beach.

MiniM.E. remembered riding the camel from last time, and that was our first stop:

We fed the baby goats:

And did the trek around the zoo to see all the other animals.  But even though the forecast said it was only going to be 77 in York it ended up being 86 and humid and we all had enough of being out in the sun around the toasty animals after a couple hours.

Driving home in the AC and relaxing in the pool sounded much more tempting than trucking all our stuff out to the beach and sitting in the hot sun near water too cold to swim in, but MiniM.E. was insistent-- "PLEASE can we go to ocean??" over and over... so we drove to Fort Foster where there was supposed to be a small, less crowded beach.

And there was.  And there was a breeze, and a light haze that kept us from the glaring sun and the water was WARM (for ocean water).  I'm really glad she was so insistent- it would have been a shame to drive all the way up to Maine and not see the ocean.

One more relaxing day in the pool before we head back to NY...

Happy 4th of July!

We welcomed the first week in July with a still-under-the-weather MiniM.E.  While we had days that seemed like she was getting better, the fever hung on all week and she just wasn't herself.  Not to mention the weather was iffy and while we made plans for outdoor activities, we ended up canceling the outside activities Monday and Tuesday (even though the weather ended up being beautiful!!) and Wednesday we had another inside day while MiniM.E. recovered.  

Thursday we finally made it out to the Peerless Pool, but MiniM.E. still wasn't herself and after only 20 minutes of playing in the pool and seeming to have a great time, she proceeded to cuddle on my lap in the shallow water and fall asleep for an hour while her friends enjoyed the water.  

Fortunately, she seemed to be on the mend on the 4th-- good thing, since we had a day full of two barbecues!

At the first there was a pool and we had a great time swimming:

At the second, there were a 3 and 5 year old kids (and a baby) and MiniM.E. had a great time following the older kids around, picking vegetables from the garden, running with them, playing in the sandbox and riding bikes.  In fact, MiniM.E. was so into playing with the older kids, that Bob and I had a nice break where we could just sit back and relax for a few hours and talk with our friends (who also used to live in Dresden when we lived there).  I was so into relaxing that I forgot to take photos... next time.

Saturday we spent the morning as a family at the Peerless Pool.  Surprisingly it wasn't busy, even though it was a holiday weekend.  Even though we would have liked to spend the day, we only made it until noon.  An improvement over the previous Peerless Pool visit with the nap though! Maybe next time we'll make it to 1!!

Saturday evening we left for NH, and here we are!  We'll be here enjoying the pool (complete with new toddler slide!), hot tub, kiddie pool and trampoline until Thursday.