The First REAL Summer

So this is my first real summer with kids. For the first time since having kiddos I can enjoy (with the help of a LOT of air-conditioning) the summer. At 5 and 3 the boys are now relatively easy to deal with. Oh, we definitely still have our issues, the bickering remains a constant sibling staple; but the FUN we can have! The pool, the movies, bowling, the planetarium, all are now doable! Last summer it was impossible to take the kids to the pool by myself. Jack was just a mediocre swimmer and Grant had NO fear (and NO ability.) This summer Jackson's on the swim team again, but can now easily 25 meter laps without holding on to the ropes, me, etc. Grant has been in swim lessons for over a year now and has no problems swimming either. It's such a joy to take them to the pool now that I don't have two monkeys clinging to me and pulling down my suit!

Jackson is such a big boy now. He's so funny and sweet and I'm torn between being so happy that he's growing up and so sad. Grant has finally realized his own mortality and is much more cautious than last summer. Poor baby knows exactly what an x-ray machine is and wants nothing to do with one anymore! All in all it makes for a much less stressed out mommy.
The other great thing about this summer is that Jackson is finally old enough for summer day camps. He had Outer Space Camp last week and was absolutely in heaven. He's still determined to be an astronaut one day and has all the planets as well as many nebula names memorized. I had to look up on wikipedia what a nebula was. My child is already smarter than me!

Grant and I are enjoying spending some time just the two of us too. What an imagination he has! In his quest to do all that Jackson does, he plays StarWars all the time. The other day I heard him in the playroom "I save you Anakin, you gots a boo-boo on your leg!"

One last little gem; we were leaving soccer practice on Monday and I told the boys I had to swing by the house on the way to Costco because I had to use the restroom. Grant asked why I couldn't just tee-tee on the grass behing the bushes. Jackson informed him "Because Grant, girls aren't as disgusting as boys!"