Summer's baaaaaack!

I have a post in my drafts about how that mother nature girl knows her calendar and hit the "Fall" button the minute Labor Day showed up -- or to be honest, a few days before because some over achievers think early is better than late -- but then we got hit with some 80+ degree days and I don't even mind.

Duke and I have some really important plans to beach it for maybe the last time this year, and get ice cream if anything is still open. We're going to make like it's July and just rock and roll with it.

***

Speaking of Duke, my little dude turned a year old on Wednesday.

The stunned look on his face when we sing "Happy Birthday" just cracks me up every time.


One is a pretty good place to be and officially my favorite age so far (but I say that just about every other week). He is talking to us all the time, babbles, but points too so we kind of know what he's looking for. The other day, he was crying pretty hard and I couldn't figure out what he needed. Then he pointed to the sippy cup out of his reach and calmed down as soon as I handed it to him, and now I'm convinced my kid is a genius.

Speaking of that, he clearly understands how the Apple remote works - sort of. He points it at the TV and starts clicking away and somehow, magically, 9 times out of 10, navigates to Sesame Street and I'm simultaneously ashamed and amazed at this.

Another fun party trick - he can open a toilet lid. So, we're in that place now where quiet is a bad thing. It means mischief is in action and a couple of days ago, it happened for a grand total of 2 seconds. I found my little sea turtle holding the lid open with one hand, and splashing away with the other. "Bath time!" I announced, marching up the stairs with that little turkey tucked under my arm.

He's just fun right now and makes us laugh a lot.

***

Bringing it back around to Labor Day -- it was chilly-ish, but still 100% pleasant.


My sister-in-law and I packed up our kids - hers are practically adults now - and went to Sleeping Bear. Too bad for the kids, there's zero wifi, limited cell service, and the moms were talking so much, we missed the road and ended up in friggin' Glen Arbor. We made it eventually, but only after the first "how long do we have to stay?" was thrown out.