This post starts and ends with video and has two weeks' worth of photos in between. Someone has fallen behind in the family chronicle. I could try to come up with an excuse, but let's just chalk it all up to life, and whatnot. ("Life is not 'whatnot'." name that John Hughes movie!)

We actually had two of the most beautiful weather weeks ever in a Midwest July. Warm(ish) days followed by nice cool nights. Many around here were complaining about the lost summer, but not me. I could skip the whole heat/humidity scene without a second thought. It did get a little warmer this weekend, and yesterday I decided to blow up the kids wading pool during their nap time for a surprise afternoon activity. Amazingly, there was only one small hole in the pool, which had been wadded up in a ball for two years. Nothing a little duct tape couldn't handle. We never took it out last summer because with the house on the market, we didn't have a place to stash it out of potential buyers' view. They had a good time splashing around and flinging water with shovels and squirting implements. The part of the video with Daniel extricating himself from the pool cracks me up.

We've also had some summer fun with popsicles recently. Of these four shots, the first three are from the same sitting, with homemade frozen fruit punch popsicles. The last one is the aftermath of Daniel's "bomb pop"--my favorite red/white/blue popsicles that are a 4th of July staple. (Though this was just taken Sunday, well after the 4th!) In any event, they clearly enjoy the cool treat. Daniel was shirtless after soaking himself playing with watering cans in the back yard. Actually, he was pantsless too, and ended up with popsicle juice dribbled all the way down his belly and pooled in his belly button. Needless to say, next stop was the bathtub.




In the car recently, Edward spotted a jogger without a shirt and asked why. I explained that sometimes when guys get hot they take their shirts off. A few days later, on a nice temperate afternoon in the back yard, he began tugging at his own shirt, and when I realized he was trying to get it off, I questioned, "What are you doing?" "I'm hot," he said firmly. "Guys take their shirts off when they're hot." Of course Daniel had to get in on the action (he MUST do everything his big brother does and say everything he says) so they pranced around shirtless for a while. It was late in the afternoon and the yard is mostly shade at the time of day, so I wasn't worried about sunburn. Just look at those pasty white bellies!
The water is not turned on in this photo of Daniel, but you can see how he could get soaked in no time. The other factor is that he doesn't really understand pouring in a direction away from one's own belly. This also complicates tooth brushing as he is inclined to take a drink and then dump the rest of the cup down his shirt in an attempt to imitate Ed pouring back into the sink. Many a morning has ended in a shirt change immediately before dashing out the door to daycare/work!

Two Saturdays ago, there was a car show to benefit University of Iowa Children's Hospital so we took the boys and met Grandma and Grandpa to check out the vehicles and enjoy some kids games/activities. The owners of this vehicle were kind enough to let the boys sit on it. We were terrified that they would somehow break or scratch it, but owners were calm as could be. Ed thought it was the best thing ever and we had to stop by again later for more admiration.
Iowa mascot Herky was part of the festivities, which was a major hit with our kids. There weren't a lot of other kids around when he first came out so they kind of had him as their personal playmate for a few minutes. They each had their hat "stolen" and traded lots of "fives" but they had to draw the line at giving Herky a stroller ride.

As if this weren't already great enough, Grandpa played a beanbag toss game and won this amazing firetruck. We try to remind Edward that Grandpa won it for BOTH boys, but sharing is not high on the priority list when this truck comes out to play. Luckily, Daniel is easily distracted with other trucks. This one has buttons to push for siren and other firetruck noises and a ladder that goes up and down. In this photo, you'll see Ed has hiked his shorts way up. He told John, "someone at church wears his pants like this." Ha! I have no idea who he's talking about--many potential contenders for this award, no surprise. It didn't take long for him to decide this was uncomfortable. And once again, shirtless, despite, as noted above, our recent mild weather.Another funny Ed story, may get lost in blog translation, but here's at least an attempt. Last Sunday we took a trip to Chariton to visit John's grandparents. We stopped in Knoxville (the next town north of Chariton) to pick up KFC for lunch--Grandpa's favorite. Ed noticed that there was also a Taco Bell sign on the store and asked if we were getting tacos. (Note: I'm not sure how he knows what Taco Bell is--I think maybe he's asked about it as we've driven by in Iowa City.) He's also recently been interested in "open/closed" signs on store windows. So apparently this fast food convergence was percolating all week because on Saturday morning he was playing with John and offered him some food. He got out a bookmark he made at our town's recent literary festival, held it up and announced, "Ed's Chicken Bell is open!!" He then proceeded to bring various toys and offer them for consumption. Then he turned the bookmark around and said, "Ed's Chicken Bell is closed!" This game has been repeated frequently and never ceases to amuse any of us.

Finally, I've been trying for weeks to capture Daniel's "jumping" and the second part of this video is about as close as I can get. He never actually leaves the floor, but he does it with such gusto! The first part of the video was cracking me up. He's played with this car a lot, but this was the first time he seemed not to understand that he was in control of its motion.