Memorial Day

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend.  My days all blur together, but I assume some of you got an extra day out of the deal. :)  We certainly enjoyed having Kyle home yesterday, that was nice.

Yesterday was warm...dare I say, hot?  Right on cue, New England decided to honor the unofficial start to summer.  We spent our morning lazing around the house before running a few errands together.  After we put the girls down for nap, Kyle and I got ready to grill.  I mean, it's memorial day...you grill. 

And you know what?  It's just the two of us really.  We didn't have anybody coming over, nobody to "cook for" and it would have been super easy to save the time, money, and effort and just say "eh, I'm fine with a bowl of cereal"  But - there are few things I enjoy more than celebrating traditions...so I was really happy that we went through the "trouble" of grilling out.  Even though it was just us.  

nothing super special about this picture, but it captures the memory for me. 

We grilled burgers and tried our hand at beer sausages for the first time -with peppers and onions - they turned out pretty tasty...and that's coming from someone who doesn't really care for sausages.  Add in some cole slaw and chips and we had ourselves a mighty fine lunch.

After Abs and Elizabeth were up, fed, and dressed - we got out and walked to the park.  I mentioned that it was warm, right?  Humid too.  I mean, not really too humid by Arkansas standards, but definitely by New England standards.  I kinda enjoyed it.

tangent:  When Kyle and I first came to Boston to search for apartments, we had such a good laugh when we passed a lady standing in line at a dunkin' donuts stand in the subway.  She was waiting for an iced coffee and talking on her cell phone.  In a THICK Boston accent, she was telling somebody on the phone "Yeaah, it's like eighty degrees, I'm DYIN' out hea'"  Kyle and I just looked at each other and laughed.  I mean, we had just come from 90-100 degree temps and were enjoying the nice cool temps.  Anyway.  Point is.  It's all relative, and now we're the sissys who think 80 degrees is hot.  ....of course, we don't put on coats till temps get down in the teens. ;)  end tangent.

Here are a few park pics

Her little plaid shorts and the green grass - summer, no?

Abby is no longer satisfied with swinging at anything other "super high" heights.

She was so nervous trying to navigate these little pedestals, Kyle guided her through while making her do  a lot of it on her own. It was cute to watch. 

E just slept pretty much the whole time.  No blankets needed today.

After the park, we obviously needed to stop for ice cream.  I mean - how could we not?  :)  Abby got her usual mini cup of M&Ms, but I let her try my ice cream cone too.  She's never had her own cone - and I usually get a bowl.  So, it made me laugh when I gave it to her and she 1) didn't realize you could eat the cone and 2) didn't know HOW to eat the cone.

trying to eat it corn-on-the-cob style :)

Wait, what?  You eat it how?

Ooooh, got it. 

(also, note how gloriously sweaty and dirty she is - sign of summer for sure)

she insisted on walking the "bal-wance beam" on the way home

We got home and had a quick dinner before putting the girls to bed.  We had them both down around 8:30.  Later than preferred, but a small price to pay for such a lovely afternoon and evening.

Also (if your name is Kathy, stop reading right here.  Really).  An amazing thing happened last night.  Elizabeth slept from 8:30pm-4:45am.  That's like 8 hours of sleep!  She ate a few ounces and was back down by 5.  She woke for the day at 7am.  The other cool thing? Abby did too.  She tried coming in our room at 4am, but I put her back and she also slept till 7.  And also?  I had the good sense to go to sleep early.  Ok, so actually I just crashed from exhaustion, but I basically went to bed at 9:30.  You really don't realize how much you needed the sleep until you get it.  I feel pretty good today.

Also, while on the topic of sleep - I'm trying to give E more structured sleep.  Over the weekend, we stopped putting her to "bed" in her baby seat where we would keep her with us while we watched TV and such - and instead, we've been putting her to bed upstairs in her pack-n-play.  It's a little weird not having her within arms reach while we're up at night...but for the best I think.  I've also been putting her down for nap in her pack-n-play the same time Abby takes a nap....that's been going well.  And today, I put her down for an official 9am nap.  So, slowly but surely, we're developing a routine.  She sleeps a lot still, but I'm not complaining.

Ok.  Kathy, you can start reading again.

So, happy unofficial start to summer.  I need to remember to blog about a bunch of other stuff too.  Mainly - Abby's recent antics, photo stuff, and deep thoughts for the girls.