When I put these on my computer I put them in a file called “End of Summer” but I withdraw my assessment. It’s going to be 80 for at least the next week, we will beach it up again.

p.s. It was pretty cold for a beach day, but the gingers do not care.

A while ago, my friend Jill took pictures of her dog. They were beautiful and the post made me cry, because noooooooo dogs are not allowed to get old and sick and I refuse to even think about it when it comes to my own dog. It was bad enough when my vet put the “Senior” sticker on his chart.

Brutus is basically the best dog ever. I have friends who I’m pretty sure like my dog more than they like my kids. He barks at strangers and looks very scary (extra important since our neighbor’s house was robbed a couple weeks ago) but once he’s done acting super excited to meet you he will be your best friend forever. At the worst he might lick you to death. When the kids were babies he made an excellent pillow and would lie on the floor for hours so Evan could rest his head while he drank from his sippy cup. Now that they’re big and they “forget” not to ride him like a horse (it’s frowned upon in this establishment) he stands still and lets them until I can chase them off. He just wants to be fed, lie near his people, and let out occasionally. He appreciate a people-food snack every once in a while but Caroline has literally SHOVED cheese into his mouth and he won’t eat it until she drops it on the floor and he’s sure she doesn’t want it. Like I said, best dog ever.

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His only bad habit is he’s terrible on a leash, so we don’t walk him as much as we should, so he doesn’t get any better on the leash, so we walk him even less. It’s an unfortunate circle. But now that the kids can both walk around the block without a stroller and I can have both hands free for the dog I’m determined to make it a family habit. The kids love it and Brutus loves it and it tires them all out. Win-win-win.

That’s why we were out the other night when I realized the sun was setting just over our hill and it would be a great time to take some dog-kid pictures of my own. These aren’t technically perfect and not exactly how I would have planned a photo shoot – DON’T EVEN ASK about Caroline’s outfit, I’ve given up – but they might be some of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken.

My pictures this week are all blurry, of people’s back, or of nothing interesting. It’s actually a terrible representation of our week – we did a lot of stuff!! – but the more I have my big camera in my hands the less I use my phone. My poor Instagram feed is sadly neglected. Maybe some day I’ll find a balance.

Sunday:

A rare Suzanne sighting IN one of my pictures.

Couch naps at the lake – sleeping like a baby.

Oh, it’s cold and cloudy? NO1CURR. We want to swim.

Monday:

Evan decided mint chocolate chip is his favorite, which was totally my favorite as a kid too.

IT’S SO GOOD ONCE IT HITS YOUR LIPS.

Watching my kids play with my old toys in my old house is always weird.

Tuesday:

Jersey Plates: FISTPMP (I was stopped, traffic was terrible)

This is how she feels about cheeseburgers

The moon is far less impressive in this picture, but was very cool. You’ll just have to trust me.

Wednesday:

Hands in her pockets.

Don’t let her face fool you, she luuuuuvs frozen yogurt.

An evening walk-run-roll in the grass

Thursday:

For a kid who was having a TON OF FUN, that’s a pretty strong side-eye.

MISSER TATO HEAD!!!

Dancing at the winery – they fell down a lot for people who weren’t even drinking.

 Friday:

DRIVE THRU STARBUCKS DRIVE THRU STARBUCKS IN MY TOWN! And whatever this peach green tea lemonade thing is is delicious.

What are these candies shaped like rings?? What sorcery is this?!?!?!

Gorgeous night for a photo shoot at the beach.

Saturday:

Princesses love strawberries for breakfast.

As close as I get to a day off – letting them destroy the house and watch TV.

Evening walk. Still in royal princess garb.

 This week is going to be crazy too (pictures, orientation, Evan’s first day of school ON A BUS!) but hopefully I can do a better job blogging than I did last week. My mother will be very sad if I quite posting pictures of her grandchildren because I’m taking pictures of other people.

1, A Crime Story: Once there was a woman traveling with two small children. Her greatest fear was rest stop bathroom lines, since small children often do not alert you to their potty emergencies until the chance of getting pee on one’s self is at threat level red. The woman never asked to cut in line or skip ahead, but when it came her turn to use a stall with her two small children she made sure all three of them used the facilities to prevent stopping again 5 minutes down the road when someone who insisted they did NOT need to potty suddenly realized they DID need to potty. One day, at a busy rest stop in Maryland, a lady dared to glare at the woman and mutter “Ugh, FINALLY” when the woman emerged from a tiny, tiny stall dragging two kids. And then the woman murdered that lady with her mind. The end.

2, An Important Lesson: This one time, at my mom’s house, I was too lazy to get my toothbrush out of the car so I figured I could just rinse my mouth with the fancy mouthwash she keeps in a glass decanter next to the sink. This turned out to be a terrible, terrible choice, since I’m pretty sure whatever was in that decanter was NOT mouthwash. I don’t even want to think about what it was, but I can still taste it 24 hours later.

3, An Art Film: Girl gets up at 5 am to photograph beautiful sunrise. Girl realizes 5 am is REALLY FRICKING EARLY and hits snooze until at least 5:45. Girl finally gets out of bed, into a kayak and heads out to take some pictures. Girl notices totally perfect family of swans that appear to have been ordered from central casting specifically to make her pictures even more amazing. Girl takes photos of swans with her zoom lens until she realizes she can’t focus on them anymore because there are 5 giant swans charging at her through the water. Girl panics, tosses camera into the kayak and paddles as fast as she can away from the vicious swans. Girl realizes this is a sign 5 am is stupid and sleeps in the rest of her vacation.

4, A Comedy:
Idiot: Hey, let’s take my iPhone out to the float and take some pictures of you jumping off! It has a waterproof case, it will be fine!
Kid: OK!
Idiot: *Jumps in the water* OK, now can you hand me my phone?
Kid: OK! Here Mommy, catch! *throws phone into water*
Idiot: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! *scrambles frantically to catch phone as it sinks into 9 feet of water*

Postlude: The idiot caught it before it sank and immediately took it back to shore, where everyone laughs at her. IDIOT.

5. A Sappy Movie: I pretty much have the best parents ever. A lake house for us and the kids, amazing child-watching skills, super generous, and generally just really fun to be around. My 16 year old self certainly didn’t think I won the parent-lottery, but my 31 year old self knows I did.

This is a sponsored post on behalf of OshKosh B’Gosh and Kohl’s, but it’s mostly just pictures of my kids.

I’m going to whisper, because I don’t want to jinx anything, but I think the horrible, hot, humid part of the summer is over. It’s still warm enough to spend the day outside, but not so hot my hair never dries between cold showers. And our non-air conditioned house feels like a comfortable place to take a nap instead of a sweat lodge. We all smell better now, too.

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