Beating the Heat

Memorial Day Weekend was one for the weather record books!  I set up the pool in anticipation of the heat last Wednesday.  The ground water is still pretty cold, so it helped to have it warm up.  This the third year I have put op this pool and I discovered the next morning that we have slow leak in the top ring and a very, very slow leak in the bottom ring.  I was able to limp it through the weekend, but already picked up a replacement.  These ones are cheap enough that I don't expect them to last more than a year.  I love being able to set it up on the deck, instead of in the grass.  I didn't have to worry about mowing before I set up and we didn't get nearly as much grass in it.  This is the first year has been able to really enjoy it as well.  She was just too little last year, but Parker is showing her the ropes!

 We went to the Children's Museum first thing Saturday morning.  Arriving at 9 is the best because there is nobody there!  We get the place practically to ourselves for a good 30-45 minutes.

 They have a new special exhibit, Dinosaur Train.  Parker liked the train horn and bell.

 He also liked the A-Z wall.  There was a dinosaur for every letter and he went through them all.

 Esme and I rolled out some play-doh and stamped dinosaur tracks.

 They also added some musical instruments on the main floor and both kids enjoyed.

 One final stop in Forces at Play for some car wash and ball launching fun!

 We had a BBQ Saturday evening with both sides of our family.  It was still sweltering out, so we ate inside.  It did cool down enough later to hang out in the backyard and let the kids swim.

 Sunday and Monday were pretty low-key.  We had a family church service that the kids attended with us, then we went to the park later in the day.  Parker was walking along a retaining wall and took a pretty nasty fall.  He scraped up his arm and was really shook up.  He doesn't typically get too upset by injuries, so we knew it was pretty serious when he wouldn't calm down.  We got home pretty quick, cleaned it up, and dressed him in some long sleeve jammies so he wouldn't keep touching it.  He was very lethargic the rest of the day on Monday and in to Tuesday.  We ended up keeping him home from school since Jimmy was off.  He was back to his normal self come Wednesday, which made us all happy.

 Memorial Day itself hit 100 degrees and broke a record!  We mostly hung out at home, but did go out for lunch at Five Guys.  Burger and a milkshake for the win!

It has cooled down now and we have a lot of rain in the forecast, so the pool will be down for a while.  We hope you had a great holiday!

Bushes and Baseball

My parents came over last weekend to help with some outdoor projects.  My dad cut down all the bushes in front of our house and hauled away the brush.  I am not sure what is going to replace them, but it already looks much better!  He also cut down all the landscape timbers from the planter I ripped out so we can dispose of them.  My mom also pressure washed our deck and it looked brand new!

 Esme and I headed out to Target Field on Monday night for the Twins game.  My friend's son sang the National Anthem with the all district elementary choir, so we got cheap tickets.  It was a bit of a chilly night, but we bundled up and lasted a couple hours.

 Esme got her first taste of cotton candy and we made it on the jumbrotron during #TwinsPics.

 

 I thought she might fall asleep for a little bit, but she was just resting.  It was a really fun mom and daughter date night!

School Carnival and Softball

Parker had a carnival at school on Friday night.  We (perhaps wrongly) decided to bike to the carnival.  It was only 2 miles, but I keep forgetting how hilly our new neighborhood is, especially with the trailer.  I was super hot, sweaty, and red-faced by the time we arrived.  We bought a few tickets and tried the game we thought he'd like.  He got some small treats and prizes.

 Parker was really excited about his balloon puppy and mini donuts.  Unfortunately Esme decided to bite the puppy after she was done with her donuts and it didn't make it out of the parking lot.

 Saturday morning we headed out early to watch our niece, Emma, play her opening game for softball.  She has become quite the player over the last few years and it on a local girls team and a traveling one.  Both are slow pitch, but she will likely start fast pitch soon.

 The kids got to play on the playground for a little bit and stayed pretty well occupied the rest of the time.  It was a chilly morning, but that didn't seem to bother them.

  A big win for her first game and a great start to the season! Go Emma!

Best Backyard Yet!

We loved hanging out in our old backyard and were hoping the new one would be just as good.  We are slowly making it better and better.  We added a new-to-us swing set last fall and are continuing to make improvements.  I was originally planning to keep the planter and use it partially as a standing sandbox.  I decided we probably wouldn't use it as planned, so it needed to go.  As i started tearing it down there was a stampede of carpenter ants and I quickly discovered this was their colony.  It reinforced my choice to remove it.  There was a decent layer of black dirt that I used to fill a low spot along out fence.  The bottom was filled with sand and some old concrete fence footings.

Esme was a great supervisor while I moved all the sand!  I have the new landscape timbers set in temporarily and I will secure them with some rebar stakes.

Another favorite in the backyard is the neighbor dog, Paisley.  Both kids run to the fence when she comes out.  Parker even says "Hi, Paisley" and Esme barks.  I am glad they are getting used to having dogs around and aren't afraid of them.