iPhone highlights

 Here are a few iPhone highlights of this last week. It was a busy one that scratches the surface on how busy Mal and the kids are. I'll admit, the first photo of Finn wielding the baseball bat was from last week. I set up a tennis ball on a string for him and Madie to practice their hand-eye coordination and hopefully gauge Madie's interest in some different sports. I think the best starting sport for any kid is soccer. There is nothing quite like watching an entire field of kids flock around the ball with total disregard to position assignments. Besides that, I think it is a simple concept to grasp yet challenging enough to keep them engaged. Madie is signed up for a soccer camp in August. The tennis ball has been a hit so far. 

 We planted two strawberry plants in our garden this year. The kids seem to frequent them a lot. Finn in particular makes his rounds whether they are ripe or not. One issue we have had with them are the fire ants love them as well, so I like to be nearby when they start feasting so that they don't get any ant bites in or around their mouth. 

They love getting their hair spiked in the tubby.

 

Bumper rock-stacking is one of our latest crazes.

On Tuesday, Mal and the kids did a LOT! Mal spent the morning prepping a dinner to take to a woman that was bartering some ducklings. So she came home with these two, Flora and Chucklefeather. The genders are TBD. Immediately after, she ran over to Bucksport to go strawberry picking. When we lived in CA, we would get flats of fresh strawberries all summer, for dirt cheap at the farmers market. I have really missed that, and was almost reluctant to leave CA because of that. But, I feel that Maine has some pretty decent strawberries. They are not as big, but they are pretty good. Plus, I like the idea of picking your own. So kudos to Mal who is in her second trimester for toting the kids to pick some strawberries!

Finn, post-strawberry picking. Can you guess where all his strawberries went?

Madie has always been a HUGE strawberry fan. She is pretty snobby about which one she likes though. Size matters.

And Finn will eat the strawberry, hull and all.

The loot. I see a lot of strawberry shortcake and jam in our future.

After picking strawberries, Mal ran the kids home for some quiet time and prepped dinner to meet up with me for a dinner picnic at Sand Beach. Did I mention she was busy on Tuesday? It's been such a nice summer this year, I feel like being outside as much as possible. And the beach is literally four miles down the road from where I work. It was actually a great time to head to the beach because most of the tourists were leaving. The kids absolutely love playing in the water. Madie was getting very brave and going deeper in the water than she normally does. I think we may have to invest in a boogie board soon. Finn is also getting brave, and is maintaining balance fairly well after getting nailed by a wave. He did take a few tumbles, once even doing a barrel roll in knee-deep water. His facial expression when he got up was one of complete shock (water temps are around 55 degrees right now). 

After the barrel roll, we just took the shirt off.

Busy, but fun day.