Summer blogging is hard and virtually non-existent for me. I've realized that this is because summer finds me surrounded by people constantly: Dave and the children are home full-time for two months and the door has become revolving with visitors. Thus, my need to virtually socialize is filled by real live people. However, I must keep up the occasional post so as to remember my favourite season,
I love summer. For me, summer really is filled with endless possibilities. This year my parents came to visit for two weeks - two weeks! A whole two weeks! They rented a cottage only a five minute drive from our home, effectively providing us with a cottage and private waterfront for the first two weeks of summer. My mother's sister and family came to visit for a few days and we enjoyed a mini family reunion of sorts.
I've also realized that there are no photos of me during this pregnancy. Oops. I am 25 weeks pregnant; I had better snap some sort of belly shot to prove that in 15 weeks another Afelskie will be added to the mix. The kids are very excited for the arrival of their newest sibling, although Sarah really doesn't understand. When her twin cousins (almost one year old) come to visit, she stares at them as if they were a different species. Despite her lack of familiarity with children much younger than her, she is a tremendously helpful little girl and I suspect will fall quite easily into the role of older sister. I am hoping that this baby just might have brown eyes like its mother. I asked the ultrasound tech if she could check and she stared at me blankly...
A very small waterfront, but still our own for two weeks.
Isaac and Sarah are staring mournfully after Jacob and Hannah who spent hours touring the shores of the lake in the paddle boat. Dave and I tried the same but somehow found ourselves stuck in a second-rate paddle boat that actually moved faster backward than it did forward. Metaphor?
Sarah is a water baby. The kids started swimming lessons this week and I neglected to sign her up thinking that she had just turned three. She proved us wrong and joined Isaac's class as its most willing and enthusiastic participant. She actually quivers with excitement when her class runs into the water.
Towards the end of our stay, my mother swam across the lake (the nearest point in the photo) along with Jacob and Hannah. My father canoed beside them and Joe and Ben swam wearing life jackets. I was tremendously impressed, especially with my 66 year old mother! That's quite a feat of endurance.
Jacob spent hours upon hours in the water. I think he logged five hours of swimming one day.
Isaac preferred to try and catch minnows with a broken net and Joseph managed to catch his first fish with a hook and worm. None of us saw Joe's fish, so we are left with his word alone. Hmmm. The weather has been agreeable, not too hot and not too cold and just enough rain. Other than the humdrum of summer, we are all well. Nevertheless, and worthy of mention, Benjamin is battling some sort of mystery bacterial infection that started with strep throat in mid-May. His predominant symptom is a constant headache that has lasted for over a month. He has been through bloodwork, urinalysis and a cat scan. Thankfully, all came back normal. Now that the sinister possibilities have been ruled out, we are pursuing alternative treatment to mobilize his immune system to fight the infection and return him to good health. Joe, in classic sibling rivalry, managed to produce his own daily headache by flipping violently over his handle bars while riding his bike down hill. He has an impressive case of road rash and an advantageous headache that admitted him into the ranks of his invalid brother Benjamin. Tylenol and Advil are becoming scarce commodities.
