Progress

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Bubby started swimming lessons this past summer.

He has progressed from this...

and this...

during his outdoor lessons in June, to this...

and this...

during his indoor lessons in August.

Progress, for sure!

Megan and Preston hope to purchase a house with a pool in the next few months, so the swimming lessons will surely continue—swimming lessons, I'm thinking, in which Bubby is the teacher, teaching Gramma all the right moves.

I'm crossing my fingers Gramma progresses from guppy to surfer dude as quickly as her grandson has! Well, minus the "dude" part of it. And maybe the "surfer" part, too.

Today's question:

What is one new thing you learned over the summer?

8 signs fall is nearly here

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COMING THIS FALL!1. I had to throw on a sweater over my jammies while watching TV last night.

2. The USAFA Thunderbird jets have been loudly cavorting overhead, practicing for their shows of support during Air Force Falcon football games.

3. Visions of pumpkin bread have started dancing in my head.

4. Windows throughout the house are no longer left open at night.

5. Piles of catalogs arrive in the mail each day as retailers rally for holiday dollars.

6. Fall crafts are on clearance at Hobby Lobby as, typical of craft stores, current season decor is so last month.

7. I've given up watering annuals in the yard—flowers that never grew well, many that never even flowered at all, thanks to the blistering, record-setting heat of this past summer.

8. Best of all: Megan is lonesome for home...and has planned a trip here with Bubby and Baby Mac in a few weeks because fall is her favorite time of year in Colorado.

Mine, too!

Today's question:

What signals have you experienced of fall's impending arrival?

Bacon, eggs, and Bubby

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When I visited Bubby and Baby Mac last month, one of the things Bubby wanted us to do together was make cookies. Because it was so darn hot in the desert—even in the house—I convinced Bubby that it would be so much more fun to make and eat...well...bacon and eggs!

Believe it or not, it didn't take much arm twisting. Especially once I told him the bacon and eggs we'd be making featured none other than one of his all-time favorite ingredients: "num 'n nums".

Thanks to Grandma Judy, we had an easy recipe for bacon and eggs that required no oven, no stove top. I had made them for Bubby last summer, and he kinda sorta remembered that they were awesome. This time would be even more awesome, though, as Bubby was old enough to help make them.

So he donned his apron and set to work.

First, on a wax-paper lined baking sheet, Bubby carefully laid out double slices of bacon, aka stick pretzels:

Then Bubby separated the egg yolks, aka the num 'n nums, aka—for real— yellow M&Ms.

Once Gramma had the egg whites ready (meaning she had melted white chocolate in the microwave; see, no oven or stovetop required!), she poured the egg whites on top of the bacon. Bubby topped off the whites with yolks:

Time for a quick taste, so Bubby sampled a strip of bacon in the whites:

And again:

Heck, forget the bacon and the yolks, Bubby said, and went for every last drop of the whites:

Gramma placed the sheet of bacon and eggs in the freezer for "cooking" then washed up Bubby and his egg-white mustache.

Twenty minutes later, bacon and eggs were done, served, and savored!

One bite and Bubby was more than convinced that bacon and eggs are indeed so much more fun to bake and eat than cookies—especially on a hot summer day in the desert.

Today's question:

What is your favorite no-bake treat? (Recipes welcome!)

Bubbles, Bubby, and the final frontier

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I have a pretty large bubble—the amount of personal space I need around me. Strangers and folks with whom I'm not intimate best stay at arm's length or I get crabby, uncomfortable, anxious.

Folks I love the very most are welcome to enter my bubble any time they want, of course...as long as they don't dwell there too long.

Indeed, I need my space.

Bubby, on the other hand, has not yet learned about bubbles, doesn't understand the concept of personal space. Especially when it comes to his brother, whom he loves so, so much that time and—especially—space know no bounds.

To wit:

Bubby will eventually figure it out. Especially considering how often Mom and Dad—even Gramma—gently remind the enamored big brother that "Baby Mac needs some space."

Despite concerns about rendering Baby Mac claustrophobic at times, I adore the unabashed, in-your-face loving Bubby offers his brother. Such things are short lived and it surely won't be long before the "Mom, he's touching me!" complaints start up between the brothers.

From the looks of things, though, I'm pretty sure Baby Mac will be the one to first utter the refrain.

Which means Bubby's bubble-bursting privileges will remain intact for at least another year or two—about the time it will take before Baby Mac will be able to put into coherent words such pleas for intervention.

Today's question:

How big is your bubble?

Imagine that

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Life in the desert—where Bubby and Baby Mac live—is a wee bit different from life in the mountains—where I live and where Bubby and Baby Mac's mommy grew up. For one thing, it's often too hot in the desert in the summer time for kiddos to play outside. Seriously too hot. As in Extreme Heat Warnings from the National Weather Service hot.

That certainly doesn't mean, though, that there's no fun to be had.

When temps get too hot and high in the desert, folks simply take the fun indoors. They forego sizzling playgrounds and descend upon indoor play areas instead. Air-conditioned play areas.

One of Bubby's favorite indoor play centers is called Imagination Avenue. We visited last week, and he certainly exercised his imagination while there.

He imagined himself as a policeman, a fireman, a doctor, a grocery shopper.  

He also baked cookies and cupcakes, worked puzzles, played school. And he built houses and boxes and a tunnel for taking a break from the workout.

With so much to do and the myriad imaginative options to explore, the fact we couldn't play outside no longer mattered one single bit. Not to Bubby, not to Megan, not to me.

Not even to Baby Mac.

Imagine that!

Today's question:

What is your favorite indoor activity on hot summer days?