Milestone mania: E plays soccer, learns to swim; H turns 2.5, K rides a bike, J learns to sand

Dearest blog fans and lonely web surfers, if you like cute pictures of the kids and embarrassing photos of adults, are you in for a treat.  

H turned 2.5 on July 22 and celebrated it with presents and cupcakes:

E made H a few drawings for his birthday

I know I'm biased, but this is one cute kid

H contorted himself while playing with a contorted balloon animal

My favorite picture of the day

After "swimming" every day in the Adirondacks (think: floaties), each of the kids has been going to twice-a-week swim lessons as well as spending Saturdays at the pool. H is more confident in the water and E is actually swimming (puts her face in, gets horizontal, and uses a stroke-plus-kick that fitfully inches her forward). She also holds her breath and finds diving sticks under water. 

 E also has hour-long soccer practice on Saturdays. She's the tallest (although not the oldest) one on the team.

Note the tongue (from her mother's side of the family)

Note the impressive form and yet lack of movement (from her father's side)

H takes a selfie

Daddy time last weekend included the zoo, a carousel, and expensive hot dogs (haute dogs) and shakes in Park Slope.

I spent a long time with my new (ie, very old) electric sander

And last (but most importantly) Kate is learning how to ride a bike

Summer vacation in the mountains - Adirondacks

Our first family vacation of the summer came and went during the week of July Fourth, when we ventured into North Country for a week in the Adirondack mountains.

Adirondack is more than just a rugged style of wood-plus-stone-architecture or a chair with lots of slats. The Adirondacks are a beautiful, lake-filled part of Upstate NY where I could easily see us retreating for a week or two every summer. Why? Well, it wasn't because there was a lot to do. But what we did manage to do was canoe and swim every day, stay cool without the need for air conditioning, and enjoy beautiful views everywhere we looked. Proof:

29 June (arrival day) - Stopping for strawberries along the way in Saratoga Springs

30 June - Testing the water ... all day

1 July - Exploration and smores

It's a crayfish

E is less than happy to be on the canoe (she just wants to swim)

Bucky waz here

2 July - Adirondack Museum (it had rained every day and we thought this day was going to be the worst; it was actually the nicest day of the trip)

3 July - We must have been in the water all day, because shucking corn is all we captured. Barbara and Bill went to Ausable Chasm and also had a nice shot of sunset from our porch. 

4 July - Historic Ticonderoga for a parade and Fort Ticonderoga

Henry pretended to be a dog for most of the this day and the next, hence the tongue.

5 July - Making the most of our last day 

B & B went back to Fort Ticonderoga; they have a very nice garden

6 July - Packing up, heading to Ausable Chasm ourselves, then on to Burlington, VT

E fell into a fountain in Burlington

7 July - Vacation over. Returning home via Lake George