Awesome August

August was intense, busy, and fun. We had a lot going on and saw a lot of people.

In early August, we visited some Long Island friends and got to enjoy some fun things that us city dwellers are normally deprived of, like grass, swing sets, and grilling out. With eight adults and 7.5 kids we were pretty evenly matched.

Jungle gym with a climbing wall! Fire pit! Marshmallows! Rachael and Scott thought of everything!

The gaggle of offspring:

I hope I have this right...ages 4, 3.5, 9 months, 3, 14 months, 4.5, and 2.

Since my hair cutting skills took the summer off, Tiger Cub had his second ever "big boy" haircut. Did you know a new haircut could both mature you by two years and slim your midsection?

  

We had parts of our bathroom redone, like the ugly tile floor and the bathtub. This was us taking the bus to Home Depot. It was much less fun than it looks.

Thanks to bathroom work, we had to get out of our house for a night and decided to make a weekend of it with a stay-cation in Manhattan. I've always thought it would be amazing to live on the Upper West Side so it was fun to play pretend for a few days.

We stayed in a tiny hotel room, did some sightseeing, and watched the Olympics - which might seem like a small thing to those of you who have a TV!

Living the UWS dream...

What's a visit to the UWS without going to the Museum of Natural History?

Celebrating 3.5 years and 9 months! Both kids are at a really nice sweet spot. Tiger Cub is easier to talk to and reason with and Small Bear is mostly a sweet cuddlebug.

And then my good friend Annie (she was my Maid of Honor 10 years ago!) visited. Annie stopped by to see us for a night on her way to Ireland. I was so flattered!

This is us looking exactly like we did for five years of college...

July Visitors

July was a big month for visitors! Grandma came to see us. She watched the kids and took on other valuable chores. Our apartment is always at it's cleanest when Grandma is here, which is one of the reasons she is always welcome.

Grandma took Tiger Cub to his first movie, Finding Dory. The movie and popcorn were both a hit.

#citylife

Randy's brother and sister-in-law came to NYC with their family for vacation! We let them do all the sightseeing stuff on there own but got together on a couple of occasions.

A cousin line up that shows they don't take themselves too seriously:

We did a little picnicking and a lot of running around at a park in Queens on the East River.

Ages 3, 8 months, 5, and 3.

I don't reveal names of young kids on the blog, but here's an interesting tidbit: all four of their names were around well before 1900. We're traditionalists I guess.

 Sunset at the pier...

On the train to Manhattan to meet up with the cousins the following day.

Annual family-in-Bryant-Park shot and the first one as a family of 4!

When plans A, B, and C fell through, we found ourselves on a city bus seeking refuge from the pouring rain. And then ultimately at our relatives' hotel.

And meanwhile, Small Bear turned 8 months old. He's still going for "biggest cheeks" award.

Summer Lovin'

Whew, talk about a summer that's flying by! I got behind but here are some good times from June and early July.

The boys like to hang out with their friend R2 and wear matching light turquoise shirts. Pastel turquoise seems to be our theme for the summer actually. Both kids have a few great outfits in that color that they've been wearing on repeat.

Grandpa does Queens! My dad visited in early June to see the boys and help us out. This was a post-dinner pre-bedtime walk.

Grandpa did a lot of caring for two kids, the older of which had Coxsackie virus the whole time, without a single complaint.

And Grandpa's antidote to sickness? A never ending supply of sweet treats. Tiger Cub did eventually recover so maybe there was something to this form of treatment.

The boys are learning to play together...sort of..at least interacting in small ways. Mostly Small Bear always wants in on whatever Tiger Cub is doing. And TC scolds the baby every time he gets within two feet of one of his toys. No one has been injured yet so we're considering that a good sign.

Story time at the library.

For Father's Day, we got dad a gift brings his pancake game to the next level. Tiger Cub couldn't be more impressed. The best way to say "Happy Father's Day" is "will you cook me breakfast?"

We also brunched the day before Father's Day because we're four-year veterans and we know that's how to beat the crowds.

More Father's Day moments:

At the end of June Small Bear turned 7 months old.

As usual, we did nothing special for the 4th of July. We went to the park like any other weekend and Tiger Cub worked on his scootering skills.

"Tiger Cub* are you an engineer or a construction worker?"

"I'm a construction worker!"

And our usual summer past time: eating delicious pastries in cramped bakeries.

*No, we don't actually call him Tiger Cub in real life! Well, not usually.