swimming in the big pool

We went to a friend's house a few weeks ago and took Jack in a real pool for the first time. He did surprisingly well. We tried water wings at first, but the vest worked much better. He spent a good portion of his time just standing on the steps in the hot tub, but he didn't protest as much when I brought him in the pool with me. Once I got him in, I think he had a pretty good time. He looks forward to it when we say we are going back over there. Maybe it's time to think about swimming lessons . . .

sprinkler's rock

It has taken a while, but Jack is finally getting over his discomfort with getting his face wet. He still freaks out a bit if it gets in his ears, but the eyes aren't as big of a deal. I can't water the lawn anymore without him wanting to run through the sprinkler.

the garden

Here are some update pictures of the garden. The tomato plants got too big for the sticks I had holding them up, so I had to got get tomato supports. Apparently there are tomatoes that only grow to a certain height, and others that will grow until they touch the sky. I bought the latter. Jill's folks have three or four tomato plants that are small and cute -- about a foot and a half high and covered in tomatoes. Mine are almost taller than Jack and are just now sprouting tiny green tomatoes.
We have several watermelons and the pumpkin plants are starting to crawl. I am an ass and have no idea about planting anything, so it is becoming apparent to me that I planted way too much shit in this little tiny garden. I had to expand the fencing around the garden to allow the watermelon and pumpkin plants to vine out. I know they are going to go farther than this, but I want to keep them away from the rabbits as long as possible.

just because it's funny

Gardening

Last month Jack and I planted a garden in the backyard. I severely underestimated the work that we going to be involved in digging up the grass, but after about 4 hours, it was done. Jack and Jill helped move the sod while I dug it up. We planted corn, tomatoes, watermelon, pumpkins and peas. I cannot believe how big everything is now. We don't have any actual fruits or veggies yet, but the tomato, pumpkin and watermelon plants are huge. Hopefully I will get some updated pics up soon.

We took Jackson to the Appel Farm arts and music festival earlier this month. It was hotter than the surface of the sun that weekend and we spent more time in the shade of the kid's tent than we did out in the field listening to the music, but we all had a good time anyway. Jack got to eat cherry water-ice, Jill go to eat kettle corn, and I got to have a few cocktails, so all were happy. For reasons that I still do not understand, we actually got there early (we are never early for ANYTHING) so the day was much longer than we had planned. We didn't make it for the show headliner, but we did get to see most of The Smithereens, which was probably what Jill cared about most.