These guys just love to swim. Last weekend was overcast and the air wasn't very warm, but they got their swimsuits on and ran down to the dock to get their inner tubes and leaped into the water.

This weekend we had lots of fun at the cottage, even though we didn't have the best weather. We swam, had a canoe ride, enjoyed a boat ride, picked blueberries, and played at the T-burg playground. I was hesitant about returning to the scene of the crime, the scene where exactly one year ago today Beckett broke his leg. Here he is at the exact spot, before attempting the monkey bars.

Politics

So we've been running a County Court Judge campaign out of our house here for the last six months, and we haven't really written about it on here. Because life is a zero sum game, it's meant that we've spent less time exercising, socializing with friends, relaxing at the lake, doing things with our kids, cleaning our house, and sleeping because we've been out getting signatures for petitions to get on various ballot lines, getting out to community events in our Judge Jeff Leibo shirts, reviewing other candidates' petitions for errors, planning fundraisers, and strategizing with folks who are helping us out and working with us to get this done. It's been a bigger job than I ever imagined, and I probably wouldn't have agreed to get ourselves into this mess had I known what it entailed. But here we are! And this week, we had a good week in the campaign. The Board of Elections upheld many of our challenges to an opponent's petitions, and a hearing is scheduled for Monday for a final determination. If we win, and keep the opponent off the ballot, it means we will not have a Democratic primary in September. And I will take all of August off from the campaign trail! We owe ourselves a lot more time at Gillie Lake, at Green Lakes, at the cottage, at Cape Cod, and just diddling around the house and neighborhood without going a mile a minute on campaign stuff.

Pops in the Park

Tuesday nights in July our park hosts great big bands for free concerts. We have had a great time meeting up with neighbors and the kids' friends. The kids just run around the park together while we sit on a blanket and listen to music and chat with friends. It's one of those times that makes me feel like there's no place I'd rather be than right here, in Strathmore. Theo's friend Johnny and his family have become friends of all of us, so we spent last Tuesday night with them.

Just found some old posts that never got posted!

Sunday morning started out with underwear artwork (Reed even got in on the fun!). Then we drove to the lake to see Aunt Teddy and Uncle Tom for dinner and a boat ride.

Sunday morning started out with underwear artwork (Reed even got in on the fun!). Then we drove to the lake to see Aunt Teddy and Uncle Tom for dinner and a boat ride.

Irish dance lessons

A couple of months ago Theo asked if he could take dance lessons. I looked around and asked around the neighborhood, and found an Irish dance school in the Tipp Hill neighborhood near us that parents I knew really liked. So about six weeks ago I took Theo to check out a class. He sat still for about five minutes before he was up and tapping his feet and dancing along, watching the kids and instructor intently. Last week he went to his first class. Before we left, he said he wasn't going. He rode his bike down the block to get away from me so I wouldn't make him go. I basically abducted him from the end of the block to get him in the car as he cried and screamed. We got there and I had to carry him into the building. I finally got him to sit down next to me. He agreed to change into his dance shoes. Then, a bunch of kids went to the center of the dance floor and started stretching. And Theo trotted out, started stretching, and never looked back at me for the next 45 minutes.