summer time

I'm pretty much, officially, the WORST at blogging in the history of blogs. But, eh, in the grand scheme of things that's an okay thing to be terrible at, right? I'm also the worst at things like scrapbooking, posting things on Facebook, Instagram-ing (is that a word?), etc. So, in this day and age where it's entirely feasible (and not unheard of) to take 18 pictures of your toddler eating a single blueberry, I'm left with way too many pictures in folders labeled by month. I so appreciated having their first year documented here because I forgot a lot of those little moments. And with a summer that started with a lot of traveling and new experiences for the girls, I wanted to keep track at least a little better than I have. When I was going through my phone, looking at pictures from our first little trip, I thought, 'I'll just Instagram a bunch of these.' And then I was like, Who am I kidding...{Instagram is not very instant for me. I end up coming across a picture or being reminded of a moment weeks later and think, 'Shoot. I was totally going to edit that and post it.'} Thus, I give you pictures from my aunt's lake house, from the middle of June. 

My cousin, Wills, and his girlfriend, Kirsten. 

The girls LOVED them. These two love birds were the lucky recipients of a crash course in all things parenting. And they were awesome. {I've said it before, watching twins is a good form of birth control. These two will probably wait to have kids until they're at least 32.}

The girls would have been happy to drive four hours just to see twin dogs. Two dogs?! They were in puppy dog heaven. 

 

Perfect boating weather.

 The girls weren't huge fans of their life jackets but, alas, they're still too small for most other (less constricting) CGA flotation devices. Next year. {Ya know, if they gain ten pounds or so. Which is not looking good...}

They were, however, big fans of driving the boat, feeding ducks, and napping in the sun.

Those tiny legs just kill me. 

As does this face. 

I swear my kids smile. It just seems that when they are thoroughly wrapped up in something new, even if they love it, they're all straight-faced and serious-looking.

Paul and Gabe made it to the lake house on Friday and the girls had three of their all-time favorite guys in one spot. Oh, the joy. Even better than two dogs. 

It's hard to tell, but, she's thrilled. Thrilled. 

I was talking to my friend the night before we left, as I was thinking of the 532 things I just couldn't forget, and I asked her when vacations would be like a vacation again. She just laughed. But, honestly, that week was refreshing.  Yeah, we traveled with way more stuff than we ever dreamed possible for one week--pack and plays, lovies, blankets, enough snacks to feed a high school sports team for a week, baby monitors, two tiny doll strollers, toys....but the time spent with family made it worth the effort. Pure bliss. Good for the soul. 

{Also, if you care to see pictures of my babies smiling, duck-feeding, s'more-making, my aunt and uncle, me tubing with the girls (yikes), Kirsten getting up on the wake board (woohoo! High five!), their grandma, golf cart-riding, Kirsten and Wills  coralling the sisters during a meal out, and basically any pictures not on the water; see my sister's FB lake house album. She's way better about posting things. Way better. And there are some good ones on there. It just would have taken me approximately 2 months to choose pictures from there to add to this.}