Weeee, bump, splash

Hey friends and family,

The summer doldrums continue here in AZ with night time lows around 86. Our pool turns into the largest bath tub you've ever seen. Even with no ability to play outside we still closely monitor the TV for Easton and Layla through the summer months both in quantity and content. We recently introduced "The Incredibles" to them with great success. Maybe too much success because Easton has taken on the identity of Dash. We visited the Cole's for an afternoon of poolside play time and Easton ran around the house pretending to be Dash. He finally got the concept of "fast".


Especially the part of the movie where Dash runs across the water. The twins laugh hysterically at that section titled, "100 mile Dash".

The momentum carried over into other areas of life for Easton. He flipped a switch somewhere and became more of a risk taker. I drove alone with the twins to the public pool last night to enjoy an evening swim in a more social environment. Unfortunately it was closed to the public. We saved $3.25 by swimming in our own backyard and I improvised to add some new excitement by moving the slide from the living room to pool-side.


Easton amazed me by going first on the slide because I thought Layla would be the trail blazer. And as another shocking moment he eventually asked me to move out of the way and go sit on the steps so he could go down the slide all by himself.

Layla practically jumped off the top of the slide into the pool and after a few times down she turned over on her stomach and went face-first into the pool.


Kendra took them out again today and said their level of daredevil activity is increasing. I'm all for risk-taking as long as it is safe... As an example, here's how we exemplify safety. oversized car seat, 5-point harness seat belt, sun glasses, and doused in sun screen.


Each night the twins request a story from me and they provide the major elements as we get closer to bed time. Each day the expected list of content gets bigger and bigger. Here is what my story last night had to include:

Ariel the mermaid
a BIIIIG dragon
a dinosaur
a castle
a basement
a flashlight
a sword fight
and a pond

By the end of this year my story will be long enough to make a feature length movie at this rate.

Yesterday evening I came home from work to find the usual controlled chaos. Easton and Layla were both talking 100mph telling me about their day. Layla said she wanted to show me her Halloween costume and Kendra agreed to give me a preview. Layla put on her official Cinderella dress and came into the room beaming. I matched my response with her level of enthusiasm.

Then she said, "Daddy, would you like to dance with me?" Her sweet request caught me so off guard I had to quickly recover and say, "yes, I would LOVE to dance with you!" She requested ballerina music (the symphonic radio station on Satellite TV) and we danced in the living room. Even Easton jumped in on the moment and voluntarily told Layla she was beautiful while giving her a hug.

The scene I just described is the polar opposite of the double technical foul for biting just two days earlier. Such is life with twins and the ups and downs of parenting!

See you soon.