It’s only Sunday and I’m getting this done! Because it is too hot to do anything besides sit very still!

Sunday:

That looks safe

Middle of nowhere

Apparently, some of my relatives are buried at this obscure graveyard in Ohio (that’s my maiden name)

Monday:

Waking up at the lake means 8 am swim call

Books books books

Future captain

Tuesday:

The lake has a menu

My baby is on that tube

Chips are very exciting

Wednesday:

Everyone loves the swim platform

I guess that’s fair

He likes the boat a lot more than this face implies

Thursday:

Tired, hot, filthy children are finally home

That “mild” sunburn hurts A LOT more than it looks

I taught them how to send FB messages

Friday:

Back at our own lake

Recital in two weeks!

Catching Pokemon from our front porch

Saturday:

Caroline the Bond Villian

Camp food!

The birthday boy was not in the mood for pictures

All the kids had a great time at Linc’s party and no one died of heat stroke. This week is going to be busy with making up appointments and commitments we rescheduled when we went out of town, plus it’s my last busy week of photo sessions before I start telling people I’m too pregnant. I mean, I’m ALREADY too pregnant, but I still like working. I’m going to “take it easy” from now until the end of August (which will more likely be the middle of September, since I always have boy babies late). It will be easier to take it easy once it is not 95 degrees every day. When can someone work on that?

We had an unexpected change in plans last week, and spent the end of it in Ohio for a funeral. Also the kids had control of my phone about 50% of the time trying to catch Pokemon, so I think I’m missing some pictures, unless you want to see 400 photos of ceilings and/or random sidewalks.

Sunday:

More pajamas are always necessary

Experienced shopper

Caroline picked these out

Monday:

Mystic looking misty

Rocking out at the Aquarium after hours

It’s not actually historic, but it’s pretty

Tuesday:

The penguins are judging her

I don’t know what he’s doing.

Wednesday:

Look kid, I’m just doing laundry, I’m not part of the resistance

They learned their daddy can do magic

I told him it’s bedtime

Thursday:

Early morning Tappan Zee

Nap cuddles

This baby might be tired of Pokewalks

Friday:

Cousins

And games

And more cousins

Saturday:

Hi Linc

More cousin time

This is not an iPhone photo, or even my photo, but it made me laugh (especially after last night)

Now I am going to go swim in a lake and not watch TV (unless it’s the Great British Baking Show) and ride in a boat really slowly to hatch Pokemon eggs. It’s better than real life.

We realized this year that because of the way our summers play out, we’ll probably always do warm weather vacations with my parents and the holidays with E’s parents. That means that when we’re in Ohio it is probably always going to be cold, raining and/or snowing, and dark. We’ve made it our goal to find as much kid-friendly indoor stuff as possible. Luckily, Ohio KNOWS it is cold and dreary in the winter so they’ve made an effort to provide us with lots of options.

We visited the Richland Carrousel Park* on Monday I think. After a brief mix up with what time exactly they opened (11 am, not 10 am) we had a really fun time. A book of 50 ride tickets costs $35, so not only did all the kids (mine plus two cousins) get to ride as many times as they wanted, the grown ups got to ride too. By the end Caroline wasn’t even saying “JUST ONE MORE PLEEEEASE ONE MORE??” There were a few other people there at 11 am during school vacation but not a lot, so the kids got their pick of fun animals. It’s a really nice wooden carousel, not the ugly plastic kind we get at the local fair, which made ME like it a lot more even if the kids didn’t care.

I took way too many pictures, as usual. Between the huge windows and the lights on the carousel and the Christmas decorations still up I couldn’t stop myself.

*Their website and signs say “carrousel”. My spellcheck tells me that is not a work, and perhaps I mean “carousel”. I did, in fact, mean carousel, so I wrote carousel everywhere else in the post but I can’t do anything about their official name. According to the internet, that’s the French spelling. I guess Richland, Ohio was feeling pretty international.

I’m late again, but it wasn’t my fault this time, I was having laptop issues and my iPhone photos wouldn’t load. I know you were really concerned.

Sunday:

Annual Nutcracker Conference

You’re “welcome”.

Teaching the children naval dominance

Monday:

Pretty pleased with his own driving skills

THE FORCE AWOKE

We play a lot of cards in Ohio

Tuesday:

Child-sized hamster run was quite entertaining

No caption needed

HEY GUYS I FOUND OUTSIDE

Wednesday:

The doc is in and she’ll fix you up…

Drive thru banking is so convenient

This is what happens when I want Linc to pose for a picture

Thursday:

Cousin Christmas is a little crazy

Trouble face

More cards

Friday:

Out?

I forgot to bring my phone inside COSI, but it was REALLY fun

Disco sparkle tree

Saturday:

So many pine needles

Post-Christmas disaster house

Post-Christmas ER trip for some face-gluing

I got both big kids out the door and off to school on time with no crying and no screaming, so reintroduction to real life is going pretty well. It’s currently softly snowing outside while I drink coffee and watch Lincoln destroy the house I already cleaned once today, so my day is going well. That’s not sarcasm, that’s a perfectly lovely day with a 17 month old.

I went a little crazy signing the kids up for activities (again) because bored kids trapped in a cold house are the worst, so this week is going to be B U S Y. Let’s hope they wear themselves out too much to whine, since I am all full up of whining children after 2 weeks off school.

Christmas happened last week and it already feels like it was a super long time ago. I am NOT looking forward to putting all of it away.

Sunday:

Pretty sure she insists on church JUST for the cookies

Shopping assistant

Dropped the kids off for FOUR HOURS of art (clearly they did not make these)

Monday:

Toddler playdate

Warm enough for a nap-walk

This free-from-the-trash coupe is working out well

Tuesday:

ALOOOOOOOONE shopping

Good dog

Good Daddy

Wednesday:

Blech

How Linc feels about the weather

Side-eye master

Thursday:

Bare feet on Christmas Eve

Last minute Santa cookies

An angel got her wings

Friday:

The only shot I got where they are all in the matching jams

Disney Infinity for 8 hours straight

Sticking to the 4 main food groups

Saturday:

Soooooo much of this

HEY GUYS THEY HAVE CHRISTMAS HERE TOO!

Borrowing toys from his cousins

After that week of super crazy warm weather mother nature is getting us back with rain, freezing rain, more rain, and ice. It’s unpleasant. I’m REALLY wishing I had brought my Vitamin D with me on our trip, because I’ve completely forgotten what the sun looks like.

I have a hundred Christmas photos to post but by the time I do it no one will care about Christmas anymore. Hopefully they are quickly followed by a very interesting recap of my completed 365 photo project, which I am probably never going to shut up about. ALMOST DONE!