My Seussical Life for 2006 July 19

Dave e-mailed an article about Lawrence temps soaring to 106 degrees (115 with humidity). I'm very much enjoying the Canadian cool. I'd trade my husband for the heat any day, though, now that we've spent three weeks apart. That is a long time. Nevertheless, the boys and I are enjoying ourselves. Here are some of our summer highlights:

Atticus had one hope for himself this summer. He drew pictures of his goal during the last days of preschool, and he's talked about his intent constantly since summer began. He really wanted to jump off the diving board, and now his jumping skills are old hat. He does it completely unassisted, too! Never to be left in his brother's dust for too long, Samuel is also jumping solo off the diving board and swimming to the side without help. This is all very exciting.

Dave's sister, Patty, and her hubby, Shawn, live on a real life Alberta ranch/farm. Shawn raises cattle and has one volunteer buffalo (apparently he enjoys the social scene). He also farms 4-5,000 acres of canola, barley, wheat, and oats. The boys love going out to see their three kitties, one dog, and four ATVs.

We have four rambunctious boy cousins and a very sweet baby girl cousin we get to play with everyday. Plus more kidoes in and out of town every week.

Uncle Mark has successfully taught Atticus how to blow bubble gum bubbles.

I finally purchased a swimsuit that I like, though it is much cuter on this site than it is on my body. Isn't that the way it always goes?

I made friends with a fun, adventurous mom with two boys. She invited the boys and me to join her and her kids on a hike at Waterton Lakes National Park (these mountains make up Glacier National Park across the Canadian border). Hiking the park and skipping rocks on the lakes are always favorite pleasures when I'm in this part of the world.

Every time I go running (which isn't very regularly), I make sure to route my way around the Cardston Alberta Temple and then let my heart go pitter patter when I pass Dave's old high school on my way home.

And last, but not least, we went to Calaway Park, an amusment park that seems to be designed with kids age 2-12 in mind. We didn't have any fun that a dose of Gravol couldn't fix.