Family Photos

Betty shoving her face into the flour is only a portion of the excitement in the Gates home as the summer unfolds.

Lincoln has been back in swim lessons, and things are really clicking. We also enrolled him in tennis lessons at Towpath Racquet Club and he's been doing very well. His teacher showed me a surprised expression when I told him Lincoln had never been taught how to toss the ball for serving, saying, "He's really good at that."
I got one of those bigger inflatable pools for the kids in the backyard, and that's been a hit on these hot humid days we've been having.
And recently our friend Courtney went out with us to take some family photos.
Disney training is well underway. Jenn is taking the kids on walks during the day and sometimes when there's time before bed, we'll go for another walk in the evening. Our goal is to have them ready to walk several miles during the day without complaining. If we can have their little legs ready, then moving between Dumbo, Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean & It's A Small World shouldn't be too hard. We're also having little "sleepovers" where they all sleep in the same room. We had to abort the first night because it was a bit too novel with a certain little excited girl keeping the boys from sleeping. The second attempt went a bit better, until the middle of the night. Our original plan was to have Lincoln have a room to himself to fall asleep and have the two little ones share, but we've learned that Lydia is the one who needs to be isolated. Best to learn this stuff here before we get there.

The big event of this week is the coming Independence Day celebration at Blossom with the Cleveland Orchestra. While it hasn't exactly been an annual tradition, we've made it more times than we've missed, and there's no better way to spend the holiday, in my opinion. Joining us this year will be the Ucker family and Auntie Haley. We'll see how the little ones do with fireworks; Lydia continues to remind us how they hurt her ears... 2 years ago.