Mid-summer week's dream

 We love summer evenings! Soccer on the front lawn, bikes, water-gun fights and lots of pool time with Daddy make summer great.

 On Monday afternoon, we went to the library with Sophia, big brother Paul and their mom Sue. I'm so grateful for our new friendship over the past few months, especially with Genia moving away. Sue introduced us to the library's summer reading program, and Cora was happy to sign up when she saw Sophia walk away with a free ice-skating session as one of the weekly prizes.

 On Tuesday after VBS, we made our first trip the Aquatic Center this summer. As you can see, Cora still has a little ways to go before she can ride the big twisty water slide.

 But, both girls still had a great time in the water play area.

Fun with Friends

This trip, we met up with Stacey's friend Dan, or Grinder, who came across for our wedding in 2003.

But we haven't seen him since our wedding party in England in early 2004. He's now married with two children the same ages as our girls.

We met at Jungle Jungle, an indoor play place. Dean and Euan came too, on a day marked by drenching downpours.

This is Dan's 5-year-old son Charlie, a keen footballer who had fun deflecting Stace's shots with the plastic ball-pool balls.

We also visited with Dunc and Lindsey and their girls. Cora had a lot of fun with Chelsea, as always, and Charlie did a great job sharing her new Christmas presents with Cora and Violet.

For my birthday, Jim and JT took us out to lunch at a nice pub in Mudford, near Yeovil. (For anyone looking for GOOD pub food with great olde worldy pub atmosphere, go to the Half Moon Inn. You know, if you're in the Yeovil area.)

It was fabulous, as always, to see our dear friends, who are in the process of emigrating back to California. It's odd to think that this is the last time we're spending time together in England! JT and I have been England buddies for our entire England experience, from our first trip together to visit Jim and Stace in July 2001.

I also enjoyed spending time with our English family on the evening of my birthday, with a cake and presents to boot. Thanks!


On Saturday, we caught up with Andy and Jen, and their daughter Marisa, husband Paul and daughter Lola Belle. They picked a superb location - Barleymow's Farm Shop and Restaurant was very kid-friendly, with an indoor play area and play structure outside for those not afraid to get a little muddy. Like Cora and Violet! Here, Cora shows our friends her monkey-bar abilities.

More Fun with Friends...

...and with Dad!

Top photo shows the results of Cora's first big purchase. We went to a consignment sale today, and beforehand we counted out Cora's spending money. She had $8 and some change, and this Melissa and Doug "Happy Birthday" cake was $8. I checked and re-checked with Cora to be sure she wanted to spend nearly all her money on this one toy, and she was certain. It goes with all her other M&D wooden play food, and she's enjoyed it all afternoon.


It's been super hot this week, our hottest spell of the summer. We had pool playdates Monday and Wednesday, and today (Friday), we went to the Aquatic Center after Stace got off work. Cora did much better with her swimming!

Perhaps before long she can take off the vest in our neighborhood pool.

Our Monday pool fun was with Jaimie and her kids, Mackenzie and Luke.

It was a great time, and all the little ones got along so well. Cora even was happy to let Jaimie French braid her hair - maybe I can learn to do it too, it looked so pretty!

On Tuesday, Juliana, Maya and Natalia came over to play, and Juliana had all four while I went to an annual physical appointment. She reported that all went very well, and I appreciated her help!

And the photos - Juliana sent me the ones from our time together, and Jaimie shared her photos of the water babies. Our little camera has died, so I'm not doing too well with documenting our life at the moment!

A Coraism from the week that is very appropriate for "Cora at 4":

She said hello to our neighbor, and told Stace, "I said 'Hello' to Chris."

"Oh, good. But that's John," Stace said.

"Well, I call him 'Chris.' "

Cora is very right these days. It's fitting - she has two firstborn parents who also are always right. (Please hear the sarcasm... I remember my mom joking that she didn't know what she did before she had me to "help" her out.)

In line with that, we're hearing "I knew that," "I know that," "I knew you were going to say that," etc. quite a bit. Really Cora? You know Dad's preferred gate-painting technique before he even shows you?

But in general, Cora has been really well-behaved lately. We have a lot of easy, fun days together, and she seems to be growing up so quickly. She is pretty emotional, and we deal with crying outbursts and attitude sometimes. But overall, she's in a good phase and a is fun to be around.

Aquatic Center

On Thursday afternoon, we made a family trip the Aquatic Center, with both sets of grandparents and me and Stace.

It was a lot of fun, of course! Here's the photographic evidence...