Beating the Heat

Well it's been pretty darn hot here in Minnesota.  We've had temps in the upper 90s, but heat index levels up to 110-115 degrees.  Yikes!  Hot and humid!  So we've been enjoying our beautifully air conditioned home and getting outside now and then for some playtime in the water.

We got out the beach ball sprinkler the other day.  Austin thought it was great...Sarah was not so sure.  She approached it cautiously, then ran screaming to Mommy when she got the cold water on her.

 Then, of course, you have to have some ice cream treats to keep you cool now and then. The kids were pretty excited about the ice cream or popsicle holders we got that contain the drips.

Sarah decided she wanted to bite off the bottom of the ice cream cone and proceeded to make quite a mess...but a yummy mess!

Peek a boo time!

Sarah peeks over the back of the couch and squeals with excitement.

Over the weekend, we had fun hanging out at Nanny and Grandpa's on Saturday with Auntie Michelle, Uncle Brian, and Uncle Kevin.  Grandpa got the kiddie pool all set up and Nanny brought out a new toy - a water table for Sarah since she was quite upset about the prospect of getting into the pool last time we were there.

The water table was definitely popular.

 And Sarah actually did play in the pool for a bit.

She also had fun pouring water on Austin's head.  He was a good sport about it and laughed right along with her.

 Fun with Auntie Michelle

Hugs for Daddy

Then on to the Slip and Slide!

This was Austin's first experience with this, and he loved it!

The challenge was that if he got going too fast, he would slide right off the end of the slide and into the grass.  Ouch!

Uncle Brian discovered this the hard way as well, but then was able to modify his technique so that he could jump up at the end and run down the hill a bit to stop his momentum.

Michelle was being a goofball and posed on the way down. 

We had a blast outside, then cooled down in the air conditioned house before heading to the movie theater to take Austin to the new Winnie the Pooh movie.  He really liked it and it was so fun to watch the movie in the theater because we could listen to all the little kids giggling.  Too cute!  Sarah took a good nap while we were gone and Uncle Brian and Grandpa stayed behind with her and got dinner started.  When we got home, we discovered Uncle Brian and Grandpa working hard to clean Sarah up after she apparently had a MAJOR diaper blowout during her nap.  The boys survived it and Sarah had fun getting cleaned up in the tub.  Good thing I brought extra sets of clothes for the kids.

Austin has also been having lots of fun with this sports class lately.  Last week was the long anticipated T-ball day.

Practicing catching with his mitt.

 Trying out swinging the bat. 

This week, his class had "wet and wild" week.  It was perfect timing to have it today because the heat index was up to 115 degrees and the only way to be outside was to be wet.  Luckily Sarah and I got to sit in the shade with a nice breeze while he played.  They did water balloon tosses, sponge races, super water guns, and a slip and slide.  Austin had so much fun that he almost cried when it was time to go home.

Other random cuteness...
We were outside briefly the other day, playing on the driveway and Sarah stopped and stooped down and waved to her shadow and said "Hi Hi!"  I tried to get it on video, but she didn't do it spontaneously again. She was too interested in stomping in a puddle, but she did wave to her shadow again on request. (The video is in wide screen, so it cuts off on the blog. Just click on it again and it will open in YouTube if you want to see the right edge).


We've got some big projects pending this summer, so we've been keeping busy and the summer is flying by.  I've already seen back to school stuff in the stores and even saw Halloween stuff on display in one store the other day.  Ugh!