Summer

To satisfy the two people that still read this blog, I will attempt another entry!

This spring/summer has been a real doozy.  Doozy, as in HOT, hot, HOT!  It is so hot, in fact, that neither of my children has much of a desire to go outside until late afternoon/early evening.  This doesn't bode well for Mommy keeping her sanity, so on occasion I do make them brave the great outdoors.

Our neighborhood has a few lakes, and one of these lakes has a little beach.  A very poopy, nasty beach, but a beach indeed.  I've taken my ladies there a couple of times, and they have thoroughly enjoyed playing in the poopy, mossy water.  When I force them to bathe directly after swimming, the bath water becomes a weird shade of green.  Ew.

When all is said and done, we've watched more television this summer than we did in the winter.  And that, to me, is very sad.  I just can't deal with Annika screaming and banging on the door, trying to go back inside when the temperature is 95 and the humidity is through the roof.  I find myself dreaming of the 'glory days' back in rainy old Stuttgart!

Despite the heat, the stalwart peach trees down in Southern Illinois are still producing!  I ordered and received a bushel (2 boxes) of fresh, Redhaven peaches from Beecham's Family Market, and a day later cut up and froze 28, three-cup bags.  I couldn't have done it without the help of my dear sister in law, Melissa, and my dear Daddy.  Both are whizzes with a knife, and Nate did a marvelous job boiling the peaches!  I had the best job, in my opinion, tasting and honeying the peaches before putting them into bags.

And today I took Elena to see her first movie in the theatre.  We went to see a Disney/Pixar Animation movie called Brave.  The story was about a young princess who doesn't want to be stuck in an arranged marriage.  She would rather shoot her bow and arrow and ride her horse wildly through the fields of... well... I'm not sure exactly where she's supposed to be from.  Somewhere in the United Kingdom, I am guessing.  She ends up hurting her mother's feelings in the process, and the whole movie is about her growing up, letting go of her pride, and doing what's best for others, not always for herself.  Despite a few scary scenes with bears, Elena wasn't afraid and she loved the movie.  I think she'll be talking about it for days!  Score one for Mommy!