The Great Outdoors

One of the things we love about where we live is that we are right next to the woods and creek. It means we get a lot of time outdoors. Here is a typical afternoon. The girls are wearing dresses that Nana got on her cruise. They are from Jamaica!

Robin loves being outside.Miriam builds a fire for camping. She loves to do this! Robin walks over the fire and Miri cries, "No Robin, you'll burn yourself."

Miriam looks into Sligo Creek. The bridges are good for climbing on, throwing things off, and running over.The girls run to the park.

Robin climbing up the ladder.

No escape

Miriam had one place in the house where she could escape her crazy sister -- the top bunk of her bunkbed. Had. While Daddy was putting the sheet on the bed tonight, Robin scaled the side and slid over the top. (We deliberately had not built a ladder to make it more difficult for her, but that only worked for a couple months.) "Robin's on the top!" Miri screamed, out of surprise and, perhaps, anguish. Alas...there is no escape.

Robin recreated the scene for posterity (while Miri pioneered a new way up):

First day of pre-school

Miri is officially off to pre-school at Temple Sinai, where Mommy works. She excitedly picked out her favorite clothes (she's still in her Goth phase, as you can see) and got herself ready to see her teachers, Laura and Valerie -- they came by the house last week to introduce themselves. She's going to love being in school, but Mommy and Daddy are a little sad to see their baby go...

Summer's end

Summer's over...sigh. It's been great -- lots of swimming and sweating, plenty of popsicles and smoothies, and several trips to visit friends and family. A couple weeks ago, we spent a weekend in New York with Mommy's cousins Jonathan & Jennifer, Daddy's aunt, uncle, and cousins, and old college friends Michael Saul and the Suwankosais. The Suwankosais showed us a fun little water park in Brooklyn as well as a fantastic NY pizzeria. Their boys, Tyler and Ethan, are brilliant little buggers -- Tyler knows the first 12 presidents, and he's not even 4! The girls had a great time chasing them around for the day.

Swimming with Aunt Michelle at her neighbor's gorgeous pool

The world is their playground...