Next-to-the-last day

80.

The summer has gone by at the speed of light. But it's been fun and today was no exception. We all went to Goody's for one last game of mini golf. The Little Prince and his dad tied for first!! I do believe next summer we will not stand a chance of winning.

Of course, the Little Prince wanted to try out the batting cage. They were fast pitches; probably Little League speed. But he managed, sandals and all, to get quite a few good hits.

The beautiful day ended with the Little Prince pitching with his shadow while I picked grapes and his dad re-painted the swing set and picnic table.

Just this once

79.

Just this once, we broke with tradition and went to Heisler's solely for ice cream. And look who we saw. Molly, Catie and Bailey the puppy.

And so it begins

78.

The days of chopping food really small, taking forever to eat and eating mostly yogurt, applesauce and pudding. Maybe I should invest in baby food again?

The big day

77.

Today is the big day and the Little Prince is in the chair again. This time for a different reason.

He checks out the bands they put on his molars. Why bands?

To attach these lovelies on the bottom...

and these on the top. Yes, at the tender age of 8, the Little Prince has braces. What a way to end your summer, eh? At least he has the rest of the week and the weekend to get used to them before school starts on Monday. He was excellent, though, during the process of getting them put on. Now if only I can remember all the steps to cleaning them and what he can no longer eat, we will be in awesome shape!

Enjoy it

76.

For the last Tuesday of Summer Vacation, the Little Prince and I had Wendy's for lunch and enjoyed a $.99 frosty. Actually, I was a good girl and did not order a frosty, I just finished the last 2 spoonfuls of his.

Put me in, Coach

75.

Waiting on the sidelines, ready to go back in. They had practice in the pouring rain. The Little Prince's toes are still pruney, he says. The girls waited under the pavilion until scrimmage time.

Late Bloomer

74.

Bet that title made you wonder, hmmmm? The Little Prince's sunflower just opened today. We were a bit late starting them, but they did grow. All two of them.

Summer End Carnival - take 2

73.

Second night of the Carnival. More baseball, still no prize. But we did score a tiny monster truck at the lollipop stand and a funnel cake on the way out.

Summer End Carnival

72.

Lots of fun to be had at the school's Summer End Carnival. Like dunk the Marine. Which the Little Prince did. He wanted to try again, but the tank stopped working. No matter. The bounce house, hole-in-one golf and home run baseball caught his attention. The dunk tank will be there tomorrow night and maybe one of the teachers will be on the wet seat...

A family tradition

71.

Each time we go to Heisler's, we do these three things, in this order. 1) Order cheeseburgers, onion rings and fries (which the Little Prince feeds to the sparrows).

2) Play 18 holes of mini golf. Usually, the Little Prince's dad wins by 5 or more points and I am always last. Today, the Little Prince won by 4: he was 6 under Par. I tied for second for once.

3) Finish the evening with ice cream. The Little Prince is holding my CMP (chocolate, marshmallow, peanuts) because it looks cooler than the chocolate milkshake he ordered.

Focus

70.

When we focus on the Little Prince, everyone else seems to blur.

Last day of vacay for some

69.

This will be our last visit down home this summer because these two little cousins start school tomorrow. The Little Prince and I stopped at their house and they rode over to Grandma's with us. How exciting for everyone!

We had a picnic lunch in Grandma's back yard, which included me getting stung by a bee. Not so fun. Then the chickens got some lunch.

Next, we visted the new kids on the block. This one was trying to lick the Little Prince. Or was he crying to his mamma for help?

The Little Prince found another one that was crying to be held. There were lots of them around. So cute!

Then it was back to Grandma's to splash in the little pool and cool down with ice cream. A very enjoyable day. The cousins played nice together and I got to visit with my sisters and my mom. I love time spent with family!

The girls are back in town

68.

The girls were back for another scrimmage. This time, the boys were able to score. After the game, the girls' coach said, "Wednesday is revenge!!" Our boys are happy to take on the challenge.

Another hot, hot practice. The Little Prince takes a break from the game and hydrates himself. He drank almost a liter of water at practice. And yes, that's sweat on his head, not water this time.

Rainy Sunday

67.

More rain today for the Little Prince to play in. Don't you think the umbrella and flip flops would look more inviting if they were in the sand at the beach?

New shoes

66.

After watching the Little Prince's first several practices, we noticed he was slower and tripped quite often. Could it be his Mary Poppins look-alike shoes? I really think his toes only came to the end of the Under Armor logo.

We bought some less pointy shoes and took the Little Prince to the soccer field (the real one, not the practice one) to try them out. Much better. He was faster and spent less time on the ground.

More rain

65.

Well, not really. It was actually the Little Prince and his spray bottle. I took these pictures about an hour ago and he's still going at it.

Had I asked him to clean it up after he sprayed, I don't think I would have gotten this level of cooperation. I guess since it was his idea, that makes it fun. No argument here!!

Downpour

64.

We had a lovely downpour this morning. I heard it raining and looked for the Little Prince to share the news. He was nowhere to be found. This is why. He was already there.

Girls......

63.

The girls, some of them former teammates of the Little Prince, were in town today for a scrimmage. I couldn't stay for the whole game, but the Little Prince and his dad filled me in. It was a tie game 0-0; no one scored. Check out the wild socks on some of those girls. Nice!

Bloomin'

62.

The Little Prince planted pumpkins in a cup this summer. I think we started them too late to get any pumpkins, but the blooms are very nice. And the bees love them.

Coping with the heat

61.

So maybe baseball season was hotter, but with soccer the kids are running around a lot more, so 97 seems just as bad. The Little Prince tries to cool down with water on his head instead of drinking it.

The gnats were terrible at the practice field. The Little Prince shows his friends that a "cloud of bugs this big" follows him around in his yard.

Another purchase

60.

Tonight, the Little Prince and his dad had a bad case of baseball fever. Again. For several weeks, they have been searching for a catcher's glove that will fit them both. And since we were in the vicinity of Dick's Sporting Goods..... Tonight was the lucky night!

Lazy day

59.

Another beautiful day and we had nothing planned. We spent the majority of the day outside: lunch and dinner on the grill and eaten at the picnic table, a little gardening, watching the Little Prince try to catch gnats in his jar with a magnifying glass in the lid (thanks Aunt Becky). We took a break for drinks on the deck and a little DS baseball. Because you can't have a day without some type of baseball in it, right? "Mommy, take a picture." I took one, which he wanted to see. "No, zoom in and take a picture of my baseball game." So here it is.

Mid-summer picnic

58.

Our 3rd Annual Mid-Summer Picnic. We had a great time getting everything ready. For me, the most fun was watching the Little Prince mix up brownies and watching his dad make and flip burgers. My most important job was distracting the kids from going inside to play Wii. I was able to stretch "in 10 minutes" into about 30.

When the entertainment arrived, though, the real fun started. And lasted until 10pm. We should all sleep good tonight.

Friends

57.

We haven't been here since the School Picnic. With summer almost over, we managed to coordinate 4 schedules to spend the day here again. Some rides, a picnic lunch and the rest of the afternoon in the pool. Ahhh....

One more time

56.

One last game in Baseballtown this season. The Little Prince patiently waits for a player to walk by and sign his baseball. He did get autographs from the first baseman and the first base coach after the game. Our team didn't win, but we had a good time. The cheeseburgers and fries and dippin' dots were delish and it didn't rain until we were in the truck.

Harvesting

55.

We are being overrun by cherry tomatoes. The Little Prince loves to pick them. He comes inside with both hands full of the delicious summer veggies. Not that he eats any of them...

It's here

54.

Soccer season is back. Tonight was the first practice and it took awhile for the Little Prince and his teammates to get back into the swing of soccer after so much baseball. Coach Mike reminded them of the rules and then they were off making passes and stealing the ball whenever possible. And trying to remember not to use their hands.

**Note: Thanks to the Little Prince's dad for saving the day with his iPhone when I forgot to take the camera.

Home, Sweet Home

53.

Not huge mountain of laundry since we were only gone 3 days, but I wouldn't mind if it was twice that size! I'm just glad to be back in my own house, to sleep in my own bed and to let the Little Prince run without saying, "Shhh, people are sleeping next door, under and above us!" and "Do not sit or put that on the floor. It's dirty!" How true it is: Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home!!!!!

Fun at Ben's place

52.

We spotted him outside the Franklin Institute. I think he is related to the idea of these that we saw in Harrisburg, because I spotted another one in different garb elsewhere in the city. I couldn't ask the driver (the Little Prince's dad) to go around the block while I dug my camera out for a shot. We just wanted out of that crazy traffic!

The Little Prince really enjoyed gear design and balancing on the surfboard, among other things at the Franklin Institute. Their IMAX show on the Hubble Telescope was awesome!

I tried the surfboard, too. It was a lot harder than it looked. Like the sign says, wider definately is better.

The wild

51.

Spent the day at the Philadelphia Zoo. Giraffes and tigers and bears, oh my! Lions were there but would not say cheese so they did not get their picture taken.

The weather was great: not too hot and no rain. The Little Prince had fun, but did not complain when it was time to leave.