Summer!!!

Well, summer is well on its way- and today we finally hit 100 degrees.  Not that it is bothering Chase or Zoe much as they have been in the pool/river/splash park constantly.  Both my little fishes are swimming so well. Zoe is beginning to learn real strokes and is pretty  much completely independent in the pool, which is SO nice for me.  And Chase, well Chase *thinks* he is independent.  He really is quite amazing for a just turned 2 year old and can swim 8-10 feet without help, dive for stuff on the bottom of the pool, and come up for air as he swims.  But, he gets a little over confident then gets stuck come up for air. Today he wanted to swim the entire length of the pool himself.  Oh my.  My crazy child.  Chase has also surfed and wakeboarded with Daddy and ridden the "ski tube" by himself behind the boat (pretty fast!) while standing up.  And he asks (screams) to do it!  Zoe we have enticed to surf once, which she loved, until she fell.  She will ride the ski tube too, but very slowly and I think she just does it to appease us :)  But, we have had lots of fun on the river this year, due to the lakes all being low.  I would LOVE to know how many pounds of food we go through when we are on the river.  It seems like they never stop eating!  We actually spend a week and a half down in Waco with the boys. The kids totally loved this routine - get up, play, take a walk - Now our walks went like this, Zoe and Caden riding in the stroller (as they only lasted like 5 houses scootering or whatever), Maddox on his bike, and Chase on his balance bike very persistently chasing Grayson on his electric scooter - all the way around the block! Then we swam, ate, rested, swam again, ate dinner, played outside, and did bedtime.  Note that bath was not in there - we might have gone 4 days without one - but hey- chlorine cleans right?  But the kids had a great time together and Im so glad they have each other.  Plus Catherine and I decided everything was a bit easier with 2 moms- ha!  We also had a visit from Tete and Charlie to celebrate Tete's bday! Yea!  Ribs (which we had I think 3 times in the month of June) Aside from all our water activities, Zoe and Chase are each going to school one day a week.  Chase was SO thrilled to go on his first day (june 20th) and carry his lunch box( he always wanted to carry Zoe's) and nap mat.  Such a big boy.  Zoe is old hat with going to school, but we are able to have "Zoe-Mommy Days" while chase is at school - which has been so fun for us.  The first time we went to Half Price books and read disney books for a couple hours, followed by Zoe's Kitchen, playing at the Toy Store, and Monster Yogurt.  And my Zoe, such the creature of habit, now wants to do this exact "plan" every Tuesday.  Im going to have to work at it to change it up!  But its been sweet time just being with my girl.  Her imagination is running wild these days and is always playing pretend with mermaids, princesses, etc.  And for some reason, she always wants her name to be Collette.  No idea where she heard that name, but every time she plays, thats what her name is!  Zoe is still loving color and art and can now write several words, mostly names like Daddy, etc.  We are getting ready to move her into her big girl bed, which she is so excited about - she has to earn it by not getting up at night!   Oh, and she really, really wants long hair!  And asks me pretty often when her hair will be as long as mine (or Rapunzels)  Oh, and now Zoe has gotten Chase into "Dance party!" and they will both come and (especially when daddy gets home as he is the best dance partner!) ask for Dance party!  And my Chaser, wow, has he changed over the last 2 months.  He now can pretty much say anything (though I don't always understand what exactly he is saying) and speaks in sentences 5-6 words long.  Zoe though, almost always understands him!  I often ask her "what is he saying Zoe"  Though, most often its probably "ME do it!!" Little dude wants to do everything himself from climbing in the car, to putting the cap on his toothpaste.  My favorite Chase quote - we were swimming and I told him to take a break and watch Zoe swim, his response, in a very LOUD voice - "no, ME watch ME swim!!!"  He does so love his sister though, and is always ready go pick her up when she isn't home.  He even plays princess dress up with her (she dresses him from crown to high heel!)- we will see how long that lasts.  He will definitely be my sports player though.  Most of the time, if he falls, he just gets right back up, though he might ask me for a kiss on his boo boo, but then he is off!  And whoa, can that kid ride his balance bike- I mean crazy man.  We were taking a ride around the block the other day in waco and J and I didnt see this big hill..  Well chase starts going down it and  yells "balance!!!!" all the way down.  J literally had to sprint to catch up to him he was going fast.  He didnt crash thank goodness! but "Me go fast!!"  And, very sadly, "Datu" is no more.  a couple weeks ago, he out of the blue said Zoe, said it a couple more times, and never used "Datu" again.  Now, the way he says Zoe is pretty cute, but come on, I miss "Datu"!