Beach Babes

Here is my annual "my kids are beautiful at the beach" montage. 
Some other highlights:

• Captain Sandy came- again!  He brought friendship bracelets, pirate candy, necklaces, tiny dinosaurs, etc.  How does that pirate always know when we are at the beach?
• Ian's 35th birthday- congo bars made with love by Zanne, and then, because Ian has a bit of a sweet tooth these days, a trip to the ice cream shop. 
• Watching a waterspout move across the sky and ocean
• Watching porpoises jump out of the water
• Having all three kids sleep in the same room, pretty successfully, and Graham picking up the girls bedtime routine (chat, chat, chat! and yelling, "see you when the sun and the moon come out")
• Building Harper a "mermaid tail" out of sand
• Graham falling in love with another rubber animal, this time a shark named "Sharky shark!"
• Lucy going off in "lu lu land" every time she was at the beach.  This kid could spend all day every day at the beach, water's edge and never know if the rest of us were down there or not.

Washington Monument

As is becoming a summer tradition in our house, we headed to the Washington Monument to "check it off our summer list" in August.  This time we added some friends and Graham and Harper were not in slings and could enjoy the sights themselves.  All the kids loved seeing "Daddy's work!" and the airport, river, Lincoln Memorial and seeing all the "bug people" way down below. 
Afterwards, they ran around, with flags flapping in the wind above them, and tried to "knock over" the monument by pushing, pulling and trying to lift it (little did they know and earthquake was coming weeks later trying to do the same!)

Preview

The girls are at Bible School this week from 9-12 in the morning.  This means that Graham and I are getting a preview week of what life will be like this fall once the girls are off to school and I have the little man alone everyday.  So far, so good.  I can't believe how much easier everything is with only one.  And this is taking Harper out of the equation, she's the easy one to begin with!  But only one set of seat belt buckles, one snack to pack, one to get across the parking lot, one in the cart, one treat to haggle over.  On top of that, there is no fighting.  Only one set of tantrums for the morning.  One person making messes (although he is the chief mess maker anyways, so I'm not sure I am off the hook here). 
We'll miss the girls, sure.  But so far, things are looking like they are going to be smooth sailing with me and the little guy.  (and just think of next year when they are all at school in the mornings- I'm almost giddy!)

Heard on the court...

- As Harper is coming upstairs, "I'll be right back Barbie." to which Harper, acting as Barbie with a very high voice, "ok Harper. I will miss you." to which Harper replies, "alright, I just need to go to the bathroom, gosh!"
- Graham in the toy department at Target, " Ahhhh! Bidaman! Kachow!" bidaman =spiderman
- "I'm getting really tired of being short and five"- Lucy, out of the blue

 We went to the new sprayground on Monday.  Harper jumped in,splashed for 15 minutes and then wanted to sit on the sides and watch claiming it was "too cold", the only one claiming that since it was 95 degrees while we were there.  Lucy loved it, but showed signs of outgrowing a sprayground and could have used a friend there to spice things up a bit.  Graham.  Well Graham would still there days later if allowed.  He loved every second of it.  He loved the water guns, the dragon, the water tables, the spouts, the bridge.  He loved it all.  He tried to figure out the patterns of the jets, always guessing wrong and getting sprayed in the face or the backside.  We'll be back sprayground.  On a hotter day, with a buddy for Lucy and with Graham ready to go!

Graham is doing great

Graham had tubes put in his ears this morning.  We discussed later how the whole experience really was a testament to what a great little guy we have.  He was so calm and sweet while nurse after nurse came in, then doctor and doctor.  He loved getting his hospital bracelet and was eager to show it to anyone who came into his room.  And we also know that Graham will be a funny drunk one of these days.  They gave him a potent little "cocktail" before the surgery and he got so giggly and silly and then limp and would answer questions with a giggle and a laugh.  Pretty funny to see.
He went back to the operating room calmly and only cried after the surgery when he woke up with only a strange nurse next to him.  A couple popsicles, a juicebox and a lollipop later, he was smiling, chatty and ready to watch his new favorite show, "Fireman Sam".  He was a little tired throughout the day but after a 3.5 hour nap, he was playing, jumping, and running around with his sisters as though nothing happened. 
Now he can hear, isn't in pain and surely his speech will become clearer and clearer.  Lucy is a little sad at that prospect.  She said tonight, "but will he still say all his words in a cute way?  That's how Grammy talks.  Will he still say cute things?"  To this Graham replied, "Yeah, Lucy.  Pretty cute!"

Big Winner!!!!!!

On Saturday night we attended Lucy's swim team awards, but let me back up.  Not ever having attended an awards banquet, Lucy asks that afternoon, "what sort of rewards will I get?"  I said, "I'm not sure Lu.  Maybe more ribbons or skittles, something like that."  Thinking that was "awesome" she bee bopped off into her merry little world, all the while I knew she would be getting a trophy that night.
And so the moment came.  We arrive at the pool and she sees it.  The table full of trophies.  Hundreds of trophies.  Some were for the tennis team.  But 171 of them were for the swimmers.  Yep, one for each swimmer.  She was elated and quickly ran off to find her swim buddies to eagerly await when their names were called and they were presented their trophy. 
It did not disappoint.  She was so excited and showed all her friends, their parents and all around her trophy (which all the other swimmers received as well, but who cares?!)
And then... they started announcing special awards.  MVP, Miss Tsunami, Mr. Tsunami, all stars, etc.  And then each coach began giving a little synopsis of a particular swimmer that they felt had stood out above the rest this season.  Coach Megan's went something like this, "This 8 and under girl never missed practice.  She never missed a meet.  She swam her hardest every day and improved her meet times with a personal best 3 times this season.  She grabbed the courage to swim a new stroke and led the entire way.  Some days she was a little mischevious at practice, and she loved to scream the loudest during the pep rally cheers.  This swimmer might be little but she made a big splash for the team this year.  This coach's award goes to... Lucy Jefferies!"  And there goes that little blonde ponytail bobbing up and down, jumping with excitement, hugging all her coaches and giving high fives all around.  Lucy didn't just get a trophy like the rest, she got one of the 4 that really mean something. Out of 171 swimmers!  As my friend said, "sure beats skittles!"
Lucy rounded out the awards banquet with a "paper plate award"- sort of the fun awards of the night" with a "Little swimmer, big fins" award in reference to her tiny feet not being able to keep on her big fins, even though they are the smallest you can find! 
Cake, a slideshow and then as we were packing up to go home, Lucy saw something that just blew her mind- older kids were jumping into the pool with their clothes on.  She had to give it a go.  And she grabbed her buddy Aimee and they swam like little river otters in the night.  The trophies were awesome, but I think it is swimming in her dress that really blew her mind!
The next day Lucy could be seen walking around with one of her trophies, usually the Coach's Award or just staring at them or telling me how "awesome" they were.  We are still trying to decide where to put them.  For now, they, as we, are on cloud nine!

After a long swim season and Lucy recieving a boatload of trophies at her awards ceremony, Lucy and I decided that she should recognize Harper and Graham for their support of her through the season.  She thanked them for attending all her practices, meets, pep rallies and for being her best and loudest cheer leaders all season long.  And in this house, trophies are all well and good, but Pez might still be top honors!