We're Havin' a Heatwave

July has been incredibly hot.  As in, too hot to do anything except swim or hide in an air conditioned room.  The temperature has been over 90 degrees for seven straight days now, and was over 90 degrees on at least 5 other days this month.  Since today is only July 20, that means that we have only had eight days this month on which the temperatures was less than 90.  We have been in the pool a LOT.  The kids have been existing on hot dogs, peanut butter, and popsicles.  The adults are not faring much better.  We have been insisting on mandatory quiet time every day, if only to get everyone into the A/C for a bit.  It has been frustrating because there are a lot of fun, outdoor activities we would like to do, but it's too hot to go to a playground or even to the beach!  Yesterday, the temperature reached 100 degrees and it was even too hot to be at the pool at some points!

 

The only advantage to the heat has been that we have seen our family nearly every day, and have had friends come to swim, too!  The kids love seeing everyone and were confused today when I told them that no one was coming over.  I don't think that has happened in weeks!

 

Poor Mairin is having a tough first summer.  Too young to swim or do anything fun to cool off!  She is still such a good baby, though.

For the first part of the month, the little kids refused to swim in the big pool.  They were nervous and just did not want to do it.  So, with a cool 16x32 pool ten feet away, they are sitting in a warm baby pool together.  They were getting along, though, so it worked out!  They are swimming now, though.  Each boy made up his mind on his own time to swim, and now they don't want to get out!

Why do I feel like we will have similar pictures of Kellan when he is in college?

Mairin may be too young to swim in the pool, but she knows how things work.  She arrived with a case of beer under her stroller and an iPhone close at hand. 

Our friends, the Whites, came over last week and brought these water cannons that were a huge hit.  They kids had a blast soaking each other.

Mairead has developed a fondness for Dunkin' Donuts coolattas (not the coffee ones, the ones that are pretty much just ice and sugar.  So, you know, healthy.).  Though she is not allowed to have them often, she asks for a 'special drink' on some of the hot days.

 

We have been trying to give the kids some 'learning time' despite the heat.  Mairead was using the pictures on the juice boxes to draw Mike Wazowski from Monsters University.  Ben calls him Mike Azooski and Sully is 'Solomon.'

Since the boys are obsessed with ninja turtles and Mairead loves turtles in general, Dave had the great idea one day to use play doh to make ninja turtles.  The kids loved the project!

 

This is the Mike Wazowski that Mairead drew.  I think it was pretty awesome!

It's hard to believe that summer is going by so quickly.  Mairead and Dave start school in 38 days, and the boys are not far behind.  We are having a lot of fun and enjoying the security of knowing that Dave has a job for September.  It has been a much less stressful summer than the last two!  We are also relieved to know that the boys have been given spots in the preschool program at Mairead's school, so all three kids will be in one place this year!  We are excited for Fall, and until then, we will keep eating too many hot dogs and too much ice cream, swimming until the kids can barely keep their eyes open, calling a swim in the pool 'good enough' for a bath, and losing track of what day and time it is.  Summer is for having fun, staying up late, and making memories, and we hope our kids are doing just that!