the joy of summer

Here's grandma's rendition of our first real hot day here in Columbus (hope you don't mind mom) :-) .

Yesterday I hauled myself out of bed early, on my DAY OFF, to go to Columbus with Mike. He dropped me off at Beth's. We were met by two smiling, excited boys who raced out to meet us. It was a quintessential summer day with kids, and I loved every minute of it. We were outside nearly all day, in the sprinkler and/or kiddy pool, riding trikes up and down the sidewalk, back in the air conditioning to cool off and read, because it was stinkin' hot. Ian and his Mommy made popsicles. We picked cherries from their tree. We ate leftover cold pizza on the deck for lunch. I helped Caleb watch ants, pill bugs, find out about bird poop, and pretend to "fish" in a crack in the concrete with a stick. And watch the neighbors--he's very interested in anything the man next door does. Caleb reprimanded me after a lady walked past us with her dog; he continued his nonstop conversation with her, as she passed. Then turned to me reproachfully- "Grandma, you didn't say hello to her!"

I got to read lots of books to the boys, with them cuddled up on either side of me, so I could hardly turn the pages and they had to help me. Then after Grandpa returned, Beth fixed a lovely impromptu dinner of marinated grilled pork kabobs with rice-a-roni, green beans and sauteed sliced mushrooms. The boys chowed down, too. Ian liked the meat and veggies best, and Caleb liked the rice dish. In fact when Ian was done, Caleb moved over to Ian's plate and polished off the rest of his rice. As he had earlier finished off Ian's abandoned dry Honey Nut Cheerios... There is no food wasted at the McElhenys.