Swimming lessons started last week for Drew and Mason. It was perfect timing. Last week was beastly hot and there is no place better to be (other than in my nice, air conditioned house) than in the pool. Darcy and I were sweltering, sitting pool-side the first lesson, but we found out that a parent/tot class takes place at the same time as the older kids' lessons. Darcy and I have been in the pool every day since! She doesn't enjoy it quite as much as I hoped she would but it beats sitting in the muggy heat. Drew loves the lessons. She is doing great and she swam on her own on her tummy today. Pretty good for a beginner I think.
Mason isn't as thrilled. For days leading up to the lessons he would carry his suit and towel everywhere so he would be ready. Well, now the only way I can get him in the pool is to bribe him with the promise of ice cream on the last day of lessons. It has been a good experience for him though. The first day he tried to do whatever he wanted to do, till the teacher got in his face and told him to listen to instructions. He has held onto that pool wall ever since! He needs the instruction and discipline from outside sources and I am happy to see he will actually respond well to it. I think he really is having fun but he won't admit it.
Darcy is exhausted at the end of lessons. They cut right into the middlle of her nap time. Here she is tired and soaking wet after she gets out of the pool.
And here she is nice and dry after a few minutes in the dryer! I actually caught her in there today as I was doing laundry. Darcy will be 13 months old in a few days and is still showing no signs of a desire to walk. This is driving me crazy. I thought she would be an early walker so she could keep up with Drew and Mason but I guess not. She buckles her knees everytime Paul and I try to get her to walk. Crazy girl. I guess she likes to be held more than asserting independence. 
We went to Tillamook this weekend for a small get-away. Paul told me it was to save me from myself, so I wouldn't be on my feet all day canning and drying fruit and making pies two days in a row. I think it was a bit of self-preservation on his part too, since he was in charge of the kids all the previous day and they wore him out. We visited the Cheese Factory, the beach, and the Air Museum. That was a really neat place. The kids were afraid of the mennequin so they stood on the other side of Paul for this picture. They got to sit in some airplanes and pretend they were the pilots, and Mason was very concerned about the blimp with aliens painted on the outside. It was a memorable place for the kids.
Here are my tired babies as we arrived home. I am so glad they all fall asleep well in the car!
We went to Sauvie Island Farms for some peaches and came home with 74 lbs! I canned 21 quarts, which will hopefully keep Drew fed through the winter. She downs these like crazy. I lightened the syrup a bit this year without telling her so we will see how well she likes these. The ones I have made in the past have been way too sweet for me but she loves them. I also made 4 pies and froze 3 of them. We ate one and there are enough peaches left for one more pie I think, which we will probably eat right now too! I LOVE peach pie. As I was canning tonight I heard a pop and one of the bottoms of a full jar of peaches cracked off in the boiling water bath. Luckily the jar didn't shatter so there wasn't a glass mess to clean up, but all the jars got to take a bath in sticky peach water. What a mess. The thought of fresh peaches and pie always makes my mouth water, but as I am staring 74 lbs of peaches in the face I always question just why I think I need to do all this work. In the end its worth it? I have also been drying 18 lbs of apricots. Yummy!
This is my little garden. Corn, peas, green beans, yellow squash, and cucumbers are planted here. I have two pots of tomatoes growing on the patio and 2 cauliflower plants among my shrubs, but they aren't doing very well. I don't know if its location or what. This is the first year I've tried cauliflower and I doubt I'll try it again. The heat of the past two weeks took a toll on my pea plants so they have been removed and the green beans are spreading out all over. Fine with me, I love fresh green beans.I am feeling well, happy to be moving into the second trimester. I saw the little baby on an ultrasound a few weeks ago because we couldn't hear a heart beat from the outside. There it was though, just hanging out with a little fluttering heart! I always appreciate that first evidence that there really is a baby in there!
