We kept ourselves busy this summer. It was enough just moving to a new town and settling in. We have really been enjoying our apartment. It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms and is the biggest and nicest apartment we have every lived in. There are lots of amenities which we have been enjoying over the summer, there is a small hiking trail, a playground, a gym and thank goodness, a pool. Grayson has been doing great in the pool, he still doesn't like going under water, but he will blow bubbles and float on his back pretty well. It is a lot of fun to go to the pool with him. We ended up buying him a float and he will just kick around the pool happily in it. He also likes to 'swim' with me. He holds my arms and kicks his legs around the pool.
We also went to the Botanical Gardens a few more times before our membership expired. Despite the oppressing heat, we still had a good summer.
We cut Grayson's hair at the beginning of the summer to try and help him stay cool. I still much prefer his hair long, but he still looks handsome either way.
We got to spend a lot of time at my parents' house too. They have a water feature in their backyard and a little kiddie pools, so it is a fun place to enjoy a popsicle and try to cool off on a hot day...which is most days. Have I mentioned it's really hot here?
We also started doing a letter of the week and Grayson has been doing a great job picking up the letters. We try to do some activities during the week for our letter. We did 'b' is for bird and so that week we went to the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge where you can see tons of birds and then to the Cook's Natural history museum.
Here Grayson was painting some bugs. This was our first week and it was 'a' is for ant, so we used his finger prints and some washable paint to make ants. It really turned into him covering the entire paper with paint, but hey he had fun so who cares.
Another first, I found some pop rocks at a store and so I gave Grayson some to try. He really did not like them at first when I put them in his mouth, but he discovered he liked crunching them. I ended up just putting some in his hand and he would lick them off and chew them and he was ok with that.
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| Family selfie! |
We caught a tadpole in my parent's pond and we kept him as a pet for a while to watch him change. Grayson insisted on calling him Froggie, he is not very original with names.
Another big part of our summer was our garden! My parents were gracious enough to give us some spots in their garden. We would go over every week and work in the garden and we got some beautiful produce. Grayson loved helping me in the garden! It was so fun to watch him help me water the garden and pick the produce. He was always eating the stuff we picked off the vine, it was great.
I joined a mom's club in the middle of the summer. I have a friend who is in it and I wanted to create an opportunity for Grayson to meet some new friends and for me to be able to meet some new friends as well. We went to a super hero play date which was right up my little guy's alley. He frequently wears a cap around the house or to the store or the library or really anywhere we go. Actually he is wearing it in the picture above, it's that weird blue thing you can see behind him. At our next event (which is where the picture is from) we met at a park. There was a little puppy there that the other mom there had brought. Grayson followed that puppy all over the place, then of course the other girl had to tell me they were trying to find a home for it. Her husband had found the poor little guy abandoned by the side of the road. We seriously considered taking him home with us, but decided it would be too much for right now. Although, I have to say any time we look at the picture of this dog, we kind of regret our decision. He is adorable.
At the end of July, Trevor went down to Montgomery to take the bar. Grayson and I had a great time hanging out with my mom. We went to the aquarium in Chattanooga, which we always love and a bunch of other things. We have to wait for a while to hear the results, but it is so nice to have it over and be able to spend more time with him. He has been building a bicycle and a table, among other things. Grayson loves having him home in the evenings.
One of Grayson's favorite things to do, is wrestle. He frequently asks, "want to wrestle with me?" I have to watch him because if I am sitting on the ground he will just tackle me, it is pretty funny.
Ok so you are probably asking yourself, why is there a bucket of green water with ice cubes in it? It's a funny story. The hardest time of day I feel like is at about 4pm right when I'm trying to get dinner ready and we can't go anywhere, so Grayson sometimes gets bored and into mischief. So at this witching hour, sometimes I will try and do fun, new activities to keep him entertained while I'm getting dinner ready. Our letter for the week was 'i' and I really needed to get the kitchen cleaned and make dinner. I remembered seeing an idea on Pinterest to make ice cubes with dyed water, well I didn't have time for that , so I just decided to dye the water.
So, my first mistake was that I chose a giant bucket to put the water in and I thought that I could feel it full of water and then carry it to the kitchen. So I realized I couldn't get it out of the bathtub so I dumped some of it out and some how was able to get it out of the tub and I started staggering to the kitchen. I had Grayson take a towel to the kitchen and at first I tried walking too fast, so I spilled a little so I started walking slower. I have no idea how I made it to the kitchen, but once I got there I realized I had another dilemma. How on earth was I going to put the bucket down without dropping it. I somehow made it to one knee and rested the bucket on my leg. I realized I was just going to have to go for it so I quickly tried to set it down, but the bucket tipped some and water went sloshing over the top. I got water all over myself and the floor but managed to keep most of it in the bucket. I scared Grayson with my screaming as I poured water all over the floor and he started crying. I had to hug him for a minute before I started cleaning up.
After a rough start, Grayson had a lot of fun playing with the ice. A few minutes after doing some dishes and Grayson had been happily playing, I hear "Mommy look my shorts are green!" And he is standing in the bucket. It was only a matter of time. I should have known to just put him in his swim trunks, but I wasn't thinking ahead.
By this time the water was cold and so he didn't want to play too much longer, but he had so much fun.
We have had a great summer and Trevor is getting settled in his new job. We are excited to see what new adventures come ahead!
