The house was suddenly quiet and this is what I found. Each of them in their old car seat that they have grown out of and I don't know what to do with.

Sometimes I look at houses to buy on the internet, Superman gets pretty upset, he told me today that we are "not buying any house, we already have this one".
Our garden is in full production. Lots of tomatoes, many green beans, and a couple cucumbers...Yum...
Mimi is actually smiling in this picture and is showing off her first mani. If Superman had ever shown an interest in getting his nails painted, I may have done it, but he never did. Mimi on the other hand, was really interested and so before church I did paint her nails.

I still have not yet posted the rest of our vacation photos, but I have a good feeling about this week...

Utah Adventures

This is just a couple of the HUNDREDS of pictures that we took over the last week and a half on our trip to Utah. We had a handful of family reunions, we swam in as many different pools, and had a few firsts.
Superman's first fish, thanks Granddad!
My first time allowing a photo to be taken of me in a swim suit in 20 years
Superman's first 2 times to climb very different mountains
Mimi's first corn on the cob

As I get more pictures from other family members, I will put it all in an on-line photo album, and send out the link--let me know if you would like me to send it to you. There are some great pictures of family groups (matching t-shirts and all), other adventures, and some more firsts.

NYC

"Watch out, Cannonball!" --that was Superman's exclamation the minute that we entered the pool area, he had taken off this shirt and sandals in record time, and was jumping in the pool before anyone else was in the water. Greg was able to save him, but not before I cried a little bit.
We started to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, but it was such a beautiful day and most of NY thought the same thing, so we turned back. Later we went to Greg's friend's apartment and found the bridge from another point of view.

Pig Tails

Such cheesy kids.
After church Mimi feel asleep, Greg volunteered to stay with her until she woke up. It was raining pretty hard.
My neighbor has been excited to put pig tails into Mimi's hair for some time now. She babysat Mimi a few days ago and when I came to pick her up I didn't even recognize her.

BOOM!

Our town has fireworks on July 3rd? Weird. We walked up to the pyrotechnics display, got some snow cones (that line was shortest), and sat down just in time for show to begin. Just then Mimi spit up a bunch of milk, and fell right to sleep. Superman was scared for the first time in his life of the fireworks, but since it lasted 35 *long* minutes, he got used to it and had fun after all.
We also had fun at a neighborhood BBQ. See the cute little girl in the left of this picture? I always imagined that my kids would be shaped like this--with cute pudge and round belly--but mine are all muscle. (May they always stay that way.) This little girl also talked to me a lot--also, something I thought my kids would do.
Superman just came to me and said the following:
"I want to tell you about myself. Once when I was eating ice cream, ah, and when I was seeing the fireworks, I was coving my ears, it was so loud, but I saw a big huge one! Did Mimi
"frow" up on you? I was scared, I was on Daddy's lap and what I said was 'Boom shalak lak Boom' "
--that's part of a House of Pain song that Greg likes to sing with Superman, his speech has come a long way this year.

Zoo

The Zoo was fun. Mimi's favorite animals were the Gorillas, or at least she babbled and waved to them the most. She bites her lip to put more vigor in her wave.
Superman has stated in the past that Giraffes are his favorite animal, so he wanted to look for them. Then we found out that their exhibit was under construction, so we thought we wouldn't get to see them. But later when we sat down for lunch we found them hanging around behind some fences and warehouses--Superman was thrilled. If you squint you can see them too--they are in the left half of the picture. Honestly they were as visible as most of the other animal in their real exhibits.
Mimi helped mow the lawn today. She loves this strawberry hat. She picked out her shoes at the store. She cried when I took them away. What could I do? I loved them too. She's not spoiled, I promise, but I couldn't resist black Vans with pick flamingos either.

Let's Go Bowling

Since the weather was unhealthy this week, we did indoor activities and who knew Superman would be such a good bowler? This is New England's kind of bowling, it's called Candle Pin bowling. The ball is much smaller and the pins are skinny. Luckily, the cute shoes are the same. People from here have no idea that people NOT from here have never seen or heard of bowling like this.
Ikea is also a great place to beat the heat, here Superman and a friend put on a dragon puppet show and Mimi watches (and of course smiles at the camera, one of her first words was "cheese").

Experiment

I thought I would test out our new super-fast internet that was installed this week. I don't know what all the hype is about. Anyway, for this experiment I thought I would post a picture of these guys in a typical stance for each of them. Superman, swinging on his belly (flying). And Mimi slouching with her hair in her eyes. It makes me laugh every time. I keep trying to get a picture of this slouch, but it's hard to capture. I'll keep trying, but this one will do for now.

Revolution

On Saturday the boys went to a New England Revolution game. Before the game there was a crazy obstacle course which Superman was able to maneuver very easily, he's all muscle.
This is the doll that someone left at our house years ago, that Superman named "Baby-Sister-Doll". I just got these bottles that have disappearing liquid, here Mimi is combing her hair and giving her juice.

Here's a funny story: Mimi has a tendency to lick things, her tongue hangs out most of the time. This morning as Greg was saying goodbye I told Mimi to give him a kiss. But before she could make it there Superman yells out, "she's gonna LICK you!." We all busted up.
The other day Mimi found my sunglasses on the couch and brought them to me (only after licking them of course) while I was doing dishes. So I handed her the little sunglasses that I bought for her, that she normally takes right off and licks. But since I had mine on, she proudly kept hers on, and she walked the circle of the living room and kitchen over and over again showing me her sunglasses.

Another Breakfast

With a little spotting from Greg, Mimi made it all the way to the top of the monkey bars. Doesn't Superman look grown up with his new hair cut?

Sharing

It's the last few days of Superman's school. Even though I tell him that there will be no school for the summer, I don't think he will accept it and he will ask for it everyday anyway, he loves school.
This is standard operating procedure
Morning: Sit in cubby, take off backpack, walk to classroom.
Afternoon: Put on backpack, sit in cubby, wait to be dismissed
I was trying to teach Superman to share with Mimi. The two of them sat close together on his bed fighting over a toy and sometimes coming in contact with each other. I explained that Mimi should have a turn and then Superman would have a turn, and "this is called sharing". Superman's response: "No, it's called bumping into each other".

Somehow, Mimi escaped the camera this week.

Knock Knock

We have been having fun with knock knock jokes lately. One boy from the playground tests me each day to see if I have a new one. He laughs weather he gets it or not, but it's pretty funny to see his face when he actually does. But this week's funny-Superman-story will knock your socks off, Superman likes to talk to himself on the telephone. He picks up a toy phone and this is how the conversation goes:
"Hello, Superman"
pause
"Is Superman there?"
pause
"Tell me a knock knock joke."
pause
"Who's there?
pause
"Boo who?"
pause
"Ha Ha Ha"
Want something funny about Mimi? She has a silly eating habit involving cereal. She picks up a spoonful of Cheerios and milk, flicks out the Cheerios and slurps up the milk. The radius of Cheerios is about 5 ft.
Mimi is tall and skinny for age, I tell them both: "eat more, you're too skinny!" Superman says back to me "no, you're too skinny!" and I say "thank you!"