Staying Cool in the Heat

It's been a hot couple of days here, especially for May (about 90 degrees). Yesterday we took a hike at Highcliff State Park right away in the morning before it got too warm. The bugs were a little annoying, but the boys did awesome on the hike through the woods. No tumbles, even though it was not always smooth hiking trail. Plus, Jack hiked the whole thing by himself and was definitely keeping up with Andy. We had lots of fun, went about 1.5 miles, and then played at the park for awhile. Bailey got his exercise for the day in too.

Today, we had Andy's last Down By The Pond class at our local park. In this class, Andy learned about frogs, turtles, raccoons and other animals you might find near the pond. Jack and I played at the playground while Andy was in class, but it was super hot already by 10:00! This afternoon, while Jack was napping, Andy enjoyed playing with his new Buzz Lightyear sprinkler (which even I think is awesome) and wading in the little pool. He was outside for 2 hours before Jack woke up. Then it was time for icee-pops, where we all tried a few different colors :) Jack decided the pool looked pretty fun, so we swam until 5:00 this evening. They were tired out tonight!

Here's a picture from a week or two ago - Jack loves ice cream cones. At least he's okay with eating vanilla, chocolate would be much messier :)
On the way to our hike yesterday. Don't they look supertough and ready for anything?

Me and the boys hiking at the start of the trail. During the hike, Andy ran back and forth between me & Jack and Chris & Bailey.

Ready to go...

Jack did not ask to be carried once on the trip. He liked trying to look for turtles in the little waterfalls and monkeys in the trees.... we didn't spot either :)

This picture is a little deceiving, but it was actually an uphill that we were climbing up. They were doing great at jumping over roots and rocks. Any rock that Andy jumped over, Jack had to jump over too.

Crossing a bridge

In the final home-stretch! Jack found his second wind...

Trying out our new Buzz Lightyear sprinkler today. Andy could do it by himself, which was cool. He's got it all set-up here, ready to shift the lever that turns on the water

3-2-1 Blast-off! Buzz's ship gets shot up by the water. Andy thought the water was like a geyser, and really it did get 30-40 feet high. Pretty cool!

Chilling out in the pool for a couple of hours. Once I put my feet in the pool, I was instantly cooled off. It was really nice!

Icee-Pop time! They started with Blue, then Purple, then Red, then Green, then Pink. We're saving the orange ones for tomorrow.

Jack loved sucking the juice out of the pop.

Jack instantly claimed his turtle that he had gotten for his birthday once he got by the pool.

Fun!