July 2011 was going to be about recovering and preparing for the Fall. We had a wonderful time with family and summer activities throughout June and July was to be the recuperation month. But it didn’t happen… which is completely fine because we ended up having much more fun the way it went down.
This is my sister Abby and her husband Trevor. 
They live in Maine. Someday, I will write about her unusual wedding -which may or may not have been in a remote location in North Carolina and may or may not have involved me holding a shot gun in a bridesmaid’s dress, or not jumping up and down like a complete dork-
but for today, I will tell you that they live in Maine and they are preparing to go to Kenya as missionaries, which is where Trevor grew up. Trevor is my African brother-in-law … of this, I am quite proud.
I’m also very proud of Abby who is carrying her first child: due about 6 weeks after my 4th. I’m a little less proud of how totally un-pregnant she looked in July. This is most likely due to her sick enjoyment of working out and running marathons. (I sometimes ponder how genetically connected we truly are)
Along with her delusions of fitness and health, she is clearly struggling with hormones during pregnancy because she likes the name “Elvis” for her unborn son. I prefer to call my in-utero nephew “Thing 1”. Po-tay-to; po-tah-to … you know?
During the two and a half weeks they were here, Trevor built bookcases for my parents’ living room. This was a source of CONSTANT joy to my boys as there was a steady stream of tool-usage all over the house. (They remain both petrified and enthralled by the screech of a circular saw) Not that they needed any further reason to be in love with their Uncle Trevor … Uncle T is their motivational force on almost everything. Standing over six feet tall, he is a monument of … well, incredible tallness to both my little midgets. A standard conversation in our house goes like this:
“Bud, you have to eat your beans.”
“I don’t want to!”
“But they’re healthy and they’ll make you grow big and strong!”
“Big and strong like Uncle Trevor?”
As a parent, it is very hard not to use this weakness in them (Aidan especially) as an excuse to get them to do, well, anything. “But, I’m sure Uncle Trevor would eat this”, or “Uncle Trevor would wear shorts like that”, or “Uncle Trevor would never talk to his Mommy that way”. Don’t worry, I said it was hard; but impossible. To date, I have never used this paragon of brother-in-law-hood to talk my kids into doing anything other than eating their vegetables … and getting their hair cut … and maybe once I got Aid to wear his camo pants because it was the only pair I had for him at the moment. But that’s it, I promise!
Sidenote: Aidan also asks me if he’ll someday be as big and strong as his Aunt Meg (my diminutive, loud-mouthed, 5 foot tall sister) … not sure at ALL where that one comes from. And Meg, if you’re reading this, I apologize for slightly mis-representing you … I know you’re really a little over 5 feet tall. (insert snide older sibling laugh here)
Here are a few pictures …
My sister is a great photographer. The kids especially love that she lets them take pictures with her camera. …something their own kill-joy of a mother rarely lets them do.
We spent a lot of time outside, both running through the sprinkler and swimming. While searching through the garage for appropriate outdoor toys, Aidan found this car brush … which -not knowing what a car brush is- he referred to as his “toothbrush”. …wow, so close … and yet so far.
How many small children can YOU fit in one paddle pool? In other news: Darcy is the best and most patient older sister ever.
This was captured just seconds before Aidan put the bucket over his head, tripped over the side of the pool, and unceremoniously fell in. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred time, but in light of this photo, I think it bears repeating … he might not be college scholarship material. I’m just sayin’…
Here is Uncle T working on the bookshelves in the driveway. Sidenote: like many craftsmen (is it part of their union contract?), he listened to the radio for background noise much of the time, and I can honestly say I’ve never heard anyone who could cover so many Bon Jovi songs … in a falsetto voice. Hey, T, if that whole wood-working thing doesn’t work out, you might have a back-up plan…
And finally, here is my father … pretending to work on the bookshelves with Trevor. If you don’t automatically get Village People’s “Macho Man” in your head when you view this; you should.
Just a few brief glimpses into our fun July. At some point, I will print a retraction and/or full apology for the last image shared.
Family is the best.
Wow, and I still have the chorus to “Macho Man” in my head … wonder how long that’s gonna last …
Chocolate … ah, chocolate. Chocolate makes me happy.