between here and there

I knew that the first part of our summer was booked pretty solid.  And as the summer continued to unfold, the rest of it got pretty booked up too!  But with such great things.  Here are bits of what we've been up to since our trip to the Lake:

*We got to spend the evening before leaving with Minnesota with PJ and Kersta.  So fabulous to see them and catch up.  Love this being back in the same country as my best friends thing!

*Elsa had her 18 month doctors appointment.  She's weighing in at a hefty 17 pounds.  I would like to remind you all that my son weighed 16 pounds when he was just 6 weeks old.

*Breck has been going to swimming lessons once a week.  HE LOVES IT.  And it has left me a little flabbergasted as to how this new love of the sport has come about.  Before this summer, any water in his face and the man would have a breakdown.  Ten minutes into his first swimming lesson and he is doing bobs in the water.  How does this happen!?!?!  

*We headed west for the weekend at the end of July.  Chris was asked to preach at a church in western Iowa so we enjoyed some time in Omaha as well with friends and family.  Had a great baby shower for my best friend, Erin on Saturday morning before heading to Iowa with Chris without our children :).  Grandma Kris is so fantastic.  The kids stayed the night with her while we got to explore the wonders of Shenandoah, just the 2 of us.

*Chris' Aunt Patti and Uncle Rick came to Chicago for the weekend and treated us to all kinds of meals out and a day at the zoo.

*NP replaced all the windows in our apartment.  It was kinda a mess to have to move everything around in our apartment so they could work, but so worth it!  And the weather has finally cooled down and it's been so nice to have the new windows wide open.

*Chris' Dad and his wife came for a night and brought us a new (to us) dinning room table!  Ours was quite literally on it's last leg.  (Wonder where that saying comes from?  Anyone know?)  Great to share meals with them without having to give warnings that any moment dinner might fall into their lap.  But we are so grateful to Will and Rachel for the donation of the table we had before.  It served us very well these last few months.

*Jessa and Erik were in town and Julia took a few days off for staycation with us.  The best.  The best. The best.

And just like that, school starts in less than a week!  Ah!

I was talking the other day with a friend about how funny this idea of summer is.  Most people have this expectation that it is somehow less busy or more relaxed and that certainly has not been the case, at least for our family.  It has been busy with such great, fun, life-giving people and events, but busy none the less.  My friend said that she believes the school year and summer to be just about the same on the busyness scale, only that the busy that happens with the school year comes with much more predictability.  And I think I agree with her.  

So the routine will hit again in another week.  But until then, we will soak up our last few days of this wonderful season.