Simply Summer

All right, so I lied a little.  S. ended up posting on Facebook instead of on the blog, so you'll have to go there to find out more about Arizona.  Let me just say, though, the other most memorable part of the AZ trip, besides the Jeeping, was all the crawdads we caught and ate at the instigation of my Filipino brother-in-law.  Awesome.

So, here are some photos of our general summer.  The main thing we've done differently this summer is to join the swim team, which was a pretty significant plunge for us (ha ha).  Most of our peers have been doing it for years and have pressured us to join, and I have to admit that it was a pretty good experience. It certainly was a time sink, but the progress the kids made in their swimming abilities was really awesome.  (It made me get all teary when Lucy first managed to swim an entire length of the pool, never having had ANY lessons previously.)  And participation in the few meets we elected to attend was also good and character-building, all that.  They were nervous, but all 3 of the older kids managed to compete in a few races and I'm very VERY proud of them.  I think Sage will not be interested in doing it again, but I plan on putting Ian and Lucy back in again next summer.

Other than that, we have a garden as usual, a tiny frog, a birthday girl in July, many wild berries, and some new glasses for Sage.  Take a peek!