Lovin' summer

Jim took half of last week off work. We had so much fun I forgot to take pictures. :) Because of the heat we scratched our plans for camping and instead did a bunch of little stuff -- Cracker Barrel breakfast, Tinker Nature Park (which has an amazing collection of taxidermied wildlife), a play date with Kate's ballet buddies, swimming at Oma and Grandpa's, visiting the guinea fowl and kittens (not to mention cousins) at Bubbaloo Farm, the planetarium, Cobb's Hill reservoir, hot air balloon party in Wellsville, and plenty of napping and backyard sprinkler in between. It was the kind of week that felt like a month.

We've been recovering this week, catching up on laundry and cleaning. I got us a 2-week free trial membership at the JCC, so we've been there a lot.

This morning on a whim after breakfast we went to the zoo. (The temperature is finally low enough that the idea of the stinky monkey house wasn't too much).

I love that they let members in a half hour early. We got there as the gates opened, had the place nearly to ourselves for a while and by the time we left the place was insanely crowded.

In an award-winning parenting moment, I made Molly keep Kate awake in the car so we could get McDonald's for lunch. We never did get that nap back and dinner-making hour was ugly. Point taken.

I was feeling adventurous after lunch so we drove around until we found Lake Ontario. We passed Seabreeze and the burger shops (were I was vaguely thinking we could stop for ice cream but we were too full on Happy Meals). What we did find was a mostly empty parking lot right in front of a sandy path leading to the beach! With bright blue lake water and waves and a pier! I can't get over how easy it is to get to things in Rochester. And how often there is free, available parking. Woo Hoo!

Granted, the beach was rather cluttered with seaweed, shells and bits of plastic. It smelled a bit off (probably just Kate's diaper). And there were "no swimming" signs. But I let the girls put their feet in anyway, which quickly turned into Molly getting soaked up to her waist and Kate getting splashed in the face with water that I suddenly suspected might be contaminated in some way. On the walk back Molly made a sand angel in the less-than-clean sand (~shiver~) and turned into a walking sand creature. Ah, well. Nothing a bath won't fix. I hope.

I think everybody's sleeping well tonight.