The hazy, lazy days of summer......

Our summer has actually been anything but lazy. Daddy took a few days off work after the 4th of July and we spent some fun family time doing things around Cincinnati. The only drawback to that was the fact that it was nearly a million degrees outside. Obviously, I exaggerate, but temps were near 100 degrees every day that we had family fun outings planned. It's been a hot one this year!

We fit in a trip to the zoo, a visit to the Newport Aquarium, an outing to the Cincinnati Children's Museum, and a ride on the Lebanon Mason & Monroe Railroad -- while The Great Train Robbery was in progress!

A few weeks later, we headed to Coney Island for dad's company-sponsored family outing. That was another sizzler and we were all glad to get back into the air-conditioned comfort of home after a really fun day. There have been trips to the park and lazy swims in the backyard pool, too.

See for yourself all the fun the boys have been having:

Fun in the summer sun

Spring and summer are my favorite seasons of the year. I actually think I like spring a little bit more, because it's cooler and it's a new awakening after the dreariness of winter. However, summer brings with it the end of school, sunshine, and lots of fun activities you can't do any other time of year. Last week I took the boys for a picnic in the park. They were absolutely thrilled to do something as simple as putting a blanket on the ground, taking snacks, and reading books in the park. It was so much fun viewing this activity through their eyes and brought back fun memories from my own childhood.






Their dad got a new riding lawn tractor this year and it's a huge hit. I don't know who's a bigger fan, Tom or Justin.




Justin's going to summer camp 3 days a week through his preschool. One of the fun things he gets to do, in addition to field trips, is take swim lessons. Today was the first day for that, and he was terribly excited to sport his new duds.



I hope the rest of the summer is as much fun as the first few weeks have been.

The boys are getting big

Justin will be turning 5 this summer, and Tyler will be 3 in September. It's incredible to watch them grow, but time is moving so fast! Justin graduated from preschool in May, and will be heading to kindergarten this fall.



While his dad and I know he is ready, this will be a completely new experience for all of us. He'll be attending a parochial school, complete with uniforms and bus service. He will go full days Monday through Friday, an experience we would not have gotten had we chosen the local public school system. It was a tough decision for us to make, but once it was made, it really felt like the right thing to do for our family. Justin is a little bit nervous, but that is to be expected.

The even bigger decision was for us to send Tyler to preschool. We've made the choice to have him attend the same school that Justin will be going to for preschool. He'll go 2 mornings a week for 2.5 hours, a total of 5 per week. He's really more than socially ready -- every time we drop Justin off at preschool, Tyler wants to check out all of the centers and is ready to jump in on the playground with the other kids. He's never spent any time away from Mommy, though, unless it's been with family for a few hours. Hopefully this won't be a tough transition for him. Of course he must be potty-trained to attend, and that's probably going to be the biggest challenge for our summer.

Here are some recent pictures of the boys, as taken by my talented friend Becky Thompson.







It's gonna be a great summer.