Summer in Review

I can't believe this summer is coming to a close... Josh starts Year #2 bright and early tomorrow morning. While I'm happy for him that he gets to go off to school each day and take great classes, Howie and I will really miss him. The last however many weeks since Hebrew ended have been amazing... Howie has been ecstatic to have Daddy home for so much playing. So have I. The most common thing we hear every day is "Daddy COO COO TAIN!!" (read it out loud... that says choo choo train), or "Daddy TRACTOR!!" or "Daddy PAY PAY PAY!!" (PLAY NOW, DAD!) I'm sure we'll get used to having Josh around just a wee bit less once class gets underway, but we'll both miss him a lot. I was thinking about it today and then it hit me that we'll also have a new baby at home to adjust to while Josh is in class!! Oh yeah! Forgot about that one, even though we are wishing labor to begin itself at almost every moment.

I am also slightly envious that Josh gets to have the first-day-of-school experience tomorrow. I kind of miss that- the excitement of a new year, looking at a syllabus and saying "holy cow, I'm most definitely going to fail this class," seeing people you haven't seen all summer, etc. I guess Josh won't go to school with a new lunchbox or saddle shoes, but that was also a fun part of back to school back in the day. I'm glad that I don't have to put the work into all of the classes, but in some way I do miss the school routine.

Here are some pics for your viewing enjoyment from this summer that I missed posting for some reason...

That horse is so cool... Howie admires Louis astride his horse in Forest Park

Howie vs. spaghetti, round 500... spaghetti wins every time

Clean-up takes a while when you've had such an intense battle

Howie discovers the beaches of Lake Michigan on vacation with my family in July


Little better than beating the heat in the pool!!

Pouring fun with Mom and Aunt Jennie

Dude, that beach seriously did me in

My BFF Kelly visited us in July... college roommate, amazing friend... we had an awesome visit

Howie entertains Aunt Kelly at dinner at Panera... I think he kept drowning some chips and bread in Josh's soup. Mushy, soup-laden items give me the creeps.

Quick way to Howie's heart... read him a book