Summer is Coming!

There's no ignoring it (not that we'd want to), but summer is coming! Summer jammies, flowers, lots of wagon rides, walking with friends, baseball, pontoon rides, hot weather and more!

After last week's crib escape, the climbing has continued everywhere...one example? Finley pulled his chair over, climbed up and reorganized my kitchen-gadget drawer....SOOO helpful!

Finley wanted up in the junk drawer soooooooo badly, so what'd he do? He went into the closet, pulled out his crib bumper, brought it out to the kitchen, stood on it and attempted to see into the drawer...what a problem solver! He knew the bumper had assisted him before (worked in his crib) and was trying again!

Like Spencer, Finley brings random things to daycare...one day it was his wagon. He drags this thing all over the yard, down the street and around the house - he loves this wagon and it's just his size.
It turned out to be a good day to bring a wagon, we'd brought a BIG treat to Stephanie's, so Finley helped wheel it in. A few weeks ago, Stephanie told me how much Finley likes "cheese balls". We'd never had them at home, so I picked up a bag of Cheetos Cheese Puffs - oh my! Finley LOVES them! But he does NOT love cheeto-fingers, he insists upon wiping them after each puff.

We saw Melissa and Baby twice this week! One night Melissa brought us subs for dinner - Finley insisted that she sit at his table too. Where was Mommy? Sitting at the big table alone, watching Finley flirt with Melissa and making her wipe his fingers (after each bite), I felt a bit like the 3rd wheel!

Thursday night we met Melissa in Carson Park to watch Dave coach a baseball game. Finley did well, I brought him hungry in hopes a hot dog would keep him busy - it worked! He had fun watching the kids around us and clapping whenever the crowd did.

On Friday, we went flower shopping with Grandma; Finley loved the greenhouse and pointing out different "flawrs".
Grandma Lynn recently taught Finley how to smell a flower! It's too cute, so of course we made him do it over and over at the greenhouse...the best part? Rather than sniffing, Finley mimics the sound by blowing out his mouth.

Friday night we took a cruise around the lake with Grandpa, Grandpa, Grandma Lynn, Grandpa Jim, Dutch and Dyanne.

Saturday morning, we headed to Madison. We checked into our home-away-from-home (we always stay at the same place) and went swimming! Finley was a little timid at first...
...but quickly was swimming like a fish!
Like all "hoo", the water-basketball hoop was a favorite!

Easton didn't get to swim, he sweated it out on the deck with the ladies.

Saturday evening, we attended a surprise birthday party for our friend Ginny - she sure was surprised! Finley started off the evening crabby, I think the swimming tired him out.
He required a little entertainment, Grandpa Dutch is so great with our little kids and is always willing to take Finley for a walk.

The kids had fun with the balloons!
Finley was at it again with my camera and Auntie caught him in action! Spencer was so funny posing and making the biggest "Cheeeeee!" faces.
This is the best Finley got this time!

Finley enjoyed birthday cake - who doesn't?

Finley really likes "E" and was giving him kisses.

We got back to the hotel and played before bed, the boys were very excited to monkey-pile on Mommy!

Sunday morning started very early, a 5:10 alarm for a 7:20 race, I ran the Madison Half Marathon with friends Matt and Brooke.
The race started / ended at the State Capitol and the course weaved around downtown near a few lakes; the weaving allowed our families to see us a few different times.There were thousands of spectators lining the streets with signs, water and even sprinklers to hose us off.
While Mommy was running, Finley was kept busy with bubbles and walking between viewing spots.
I didn't beat my personal record from EC a few weeks ago, but with the humidity and mid-80's temps slowing us down, I was happy to finish in 1:35:13 (the seconds are accurate on the marathon clock, not the half-marathon clock). I was the 122nd finisher (out of 4,709 total runners), the 27th female (out of 2,799 women) and 9th for my age division.
I have 4 teaching days left...summer IS coming and I can't wait! Next weekend is very busy - hosting a grillout Friday night, attending Patrick's class reunion and the CV Airshow on Sunday. I'm going to attempt to blog, but if I don't get to it, it'll be here in two weeks :)