And you know the best part?  The bathing suits I bought Jake and Eli two years ago finally fit!  The size 6’s that I bought before we moved to Zambia.  Those little booties are finally filling out!  Although some days we don’t even need suits, it’s more fun to just jump in with our clothes.  Daddy taught them that.  When he gets back from a run he’s so sweaty and wet already that he just goes straight into the pool.  So Eli thought he’d try it too.

Warm weather also means that the garden has been growing.  Rows and rows of spinach, chard, chinese cabbage, and carrots.

Eli gets them good and clean in the salad spinner.  “Mom, they smell like lemon!”

Speaking of food, the boys are great helpers in the kitchen and I love baking treats for them.  They make a good team.  On Friday pizza night there is one to help with the dough,

and one to grate cheese.  It’s so hot in the kitchen these days!  Where’s your shirt, Jake?

Speaking of food, I also made this lemon meringue pie.  I couldn’t believe it!  It worked!!!

I’m pretty proud of my pie.

And what says summer better than a growler full of homemade beer?  Pumpkin beer in this case, shared by our friend Matt during Mike’s Fantasy Football draft party.  12 men, 6 boys, and lots of Man Food.  The house smelled interesting that night.

It will always feel a little strange to have the hot summer months starting in October, when it seems like leaves should be falling and warm sweaters should be pulled out of storage.  Where are Starbucks and pumpkin bread?  Where are the drizzly evenings spent sipping microbrews?  Where is Seattle?  I think I will always miss that.  But swimming, barbecues, and late nights with wine watching the bats in the backyard are really nothing to complain about, are they?

Or bouncy castles on the weekends,

Ice cream from Gigibonta,

Or Sundays inside with air-conditioning.

“Which Popcorn are you going to choose?” (the movie theatre has flavored salt)

“I have a recipe box in my head!”

“Eli has my pants!”

“Look Mom, I found a huge piece of granite!”  (THUNK!)

Swimming starts tomorrow, the third year that the boys have taken swimming lessons during PE at school.  They wear swim caps and bathing suits, and now we notice that the South African influence has turned it into a “swimming costume.”  As in, “Dad, where’s my swimming costume?”  Are they turning into ex-pat kids?  We don’t know.

All we know is that they are pretty cute, and life is pretty great these days.