It feels good to finish things.

Houston, we have a roof.

Technically, Kim "raised the roof" (it never gets old) two weekends ago, but we've been too busy playing to photograph the very nearly finished product. All that is left is to plant a bit of sod to cover where an acacia tree used to be.

Alastair loves his swing, although he is pretending he is incapable of swinging by himself for the time being.



The whole shebang.

At this point, we have a kid swing and a baby swing and are debating putting in a trapeze/ring combination at some point. We are enjoying the quality construction ("Mom! Get off; it's my turn!). With the frequent afternoon thunderstorms we have been having lately, it is really nice to be able to play right up until it starts raining without factoring in car loading time or the walk home from the park. And hey, I'm lazy.

Alastair: "I like my beer."

Root Beer. It is root beer. Kim and Alastair worked hard last night to brew their first batch of root beer. Despite the many "do not put that in your mouth" and "do not touch that" instructions, they had a good time and Alastair is excitedly waiting until July Fourth, when the yeast will have made the bottles fizzy and thus ready for consumption. We let him try a half full bottle last night and he was delighted. Today he kept telling me, "I want my beer." Classic.

At publishing time, Kim is hard at work brewing his second batch of dark beer. I know that is a terrible description, but he'll get his own post in the near future and then I'll take notes to provide better details. What I'm looking forward to is the fall when we'll make my favorite: cider! Yum.

One funny Alastair-ism to share. We have been working with Alastair to say Mr. and Miss/Mrs. in conjunction with our friends names. Miss Jennifer, Miss Audrey, Miss Stephanie, and Mr. Brian (which works for the spouse of all three of those pals). I reminded him of this the other day while we were swimming in Miss Audrey's pool. On the way home, his friend Ella told him "Bye Alastair!" and he turned around and yelled "it's MISTER Alastair!" That kid cracks me up.

And a sneak preview of my little sparkler in her patriotic attire. No, she is not dressed up in either the rebel flag or in a tribute to Evil Knievel. The latter would actually be pretty cute, though. More when I post photos from July Fourth. Which has yet to happen.