end of june

 Playing ball

 A walk to the field

 The storm wrecked this.  Oh, joy.

There was a fiercely fought game of spoons:

Onward.

Love, Grandma

the tubing and the skiing

 This was eventually a successful run, lots of set up, so much patience, but voila.

 Elin has discovered Sam's favorite pastime of watching fish in the water, trying to catch them.  I'm so glad. It occupies her for long stretches of time, happily concentrating and enjoying the lake in her own way.

 Dan:

Anyway, June ended on a splendid note, and July will be here in less than an hour.

Nothing but love,  Val

frogs

 They caught so many tiny frogs and were so careful with them.

 Eventually they let them all go again at the edge of the swamp.

There was hackeysack with a soccer ball, and what a great day this rainy morning turned into.

You all are some of my very favorite people.

We love you, Grandma and Grandpa

butter her legs

This was a long week, though I don't know why. 

Just tired I guess.

Wednesday when I walked through the kitchen, this is what I saw.

Yes.  She ate ALL the bananas at once.   I texted the pictures to Heidi who howled, "WHY??"

We laughed.

Sometimes you're just super dang hungry for bananas, apparently.

And this girl--the one we call Mimi or Spicy Toes--she has her nicknames.

Well, she climbed into a baby seat, a seat for the actual baby, and got stuck.

 I pulled and twisted, turned the chair on its side and tried to wiggle her.  She stood up with it stuck to her body, and at some point she started to lose faith in my extraction skills and began to cry. I texted Heidi, "Are you on a call?"

She came upstairs and we worked at it together, (I think she was on a muted call--she had on a headset) and I was sweating and the child continued to cry and the Banana Eating Sister was right up in our faces loudly instructing: "Butter her legs!  Have to butter her legs!"

Finally we were able to get the fabric seat detached from the frame and get the child loose. 

Heidi returned to the office.  I was on the floor hugging Spicy Toes and checking on the sleeping baby who did not wake up during any of the ruckus, and noticed it was as dark as night in the room, and these were the clouds:

Now we're having a tornado or what?

No, it was  just a lot of rain and a bit of thunder.   I found some vintage Sesame Street on my phone and we watched old clips over and over.

This summer is going by so fast, just like always.  Next week it's July, and today is Friday, best day of the week.

So much love,  Grandma

miss o

 She was just great, so much fun.

 She found Apples to Apples absolutely riveting.

Actually our game is too old.  We need updated cards. Everyone is annoyed.

 This is what I saw right after a text from Dan asking us to keep her awake.

 Not possible.

Onward to Monday.  I can smell the mozzarella sticks Kari is cooking right now.

Love you all, Val, aka MOM, aka Grandma

rockets

Love Grandma