The Diver

Good think I moved the Special Plate to a lower shelf earlier this summer because we had the unexpected occasion to put it to good use tonight. Osten learned how to dive today. And what's even more surprising is that he learned from his mom! He also swam to the bottom of the 11-foot deep end by himself.

Now so long as Marci makes it through two more days of her first big-girl camp this week without incident, she's got dibs on the plate for Thursday!

The Camper

Osten had his first real camp experirence a few weeks ago, and it was a fantastically fun week! As Tom and I like to say, he came home filthy happy every day. Here he is showing Marci where to catch crabs.

They found something!

Sweet!!

Worn out after five fun-filled days!

Foutain Fun

On our family fun night downtown last weekend, the kids said that they wanted to see the church where we were married. After a not-so-brief stop at the five-and-dime store, we indulged their request. This is the fountain in front of the church. We had numerous pictures taken here including my bridal portrait.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but the kids seem to sense this was a special spot for us, and they took their time enjoying the fountain and asking us all kinds of questions. They each threw a few coins in the fountain and made a wish with each toss. Osten's first wish was for a cat. Oh, my . . .

Love!!

Cannonball

Osten has become a big "cannonball" fan. He even cannonballs his way off the slide!

He has become quite the swimmer and is thoroughly enjoying his new-found freedom in the pool.

He even amused me for a minute by treading water and posing for a quick photo.

Marci is also quite a little fish. At the rate she's going, I wouldn't be surprised if she's swimming on her own by the end of the summer!

H2O

Water, water everywhere! We dug out the sprinkler just last week when it started thundering on our way to the pool. As it usually goes, Plan B wound up being even lots of fun. As an added bonus, I got some great shots of the kids!

This has become Marci's favorite bathing suit. For some reason, she insisted that I shoot her picture from the rear so I can't take any credit for the composition of this shot. This just may be one of my all-time photos of her. Even though you can't see her sweet face, that little hand on her hip says it all!

We had a family fun day downtown last week, and the kids played in the splash pad. I brought all their gear except their suits, which ended up being even more fun for them, I think. I snapped this shot just as we were getting ready to change their clothes and go to dinner. Gosh, I love those two sweet kids!

Thoughts and Admissions

We had quite an interesting ride in the car this morning. Out of nowhere, Osten burst out with this question:

"Mommy, how come I never toot anymore?"

Not to be outdone, Marci later announced in her best sing-song toddler voice:

"I'm picking my nose. I'm picking my nose. I'm picking my nose . . . with my feet!"

Never a dull moment. In fact, dull moments have started to make me twitch. Good thing they're such a rarity around here!

Pre-K grads today . . .

. . . frat brothers tomorrow! Oh, my . . .