New Playset

I hope to get around to posting more of our vacation pictures soon. Meanwhile, though, here are some pictures of the kids on their new (huge!) play set.

One of Jeremy's co-workers was getting rid of this, since her kids are too old for it. Jeremy and his boss (who has a truck) spent a Saturday morning dismantling the play set, loading all the pieces into our van and her truck, and then driving it down to our house--quite the feat in August heat! Jeremy put part of it together that evening and has been working on the rest in bits and pieces since. He had to discard some wood because of bug damage and rot, but the main portion is fine. The kids are thrilled with it!

 Abby pushing Josiah and Lydia

Abby

 Pirate Captain Josiah

 Abby

Josiah pushing Lydia

When Jeremy pulled into our driveway, van loaded down with pieces of the play set, Josiah watched from the front window and exclaimed, "Dad is definitely a genius!" Later as Jer put the play set together, Josiah reiterated his acclamation: "Thanks, Dad! You're a genius!"

Lydia

The girls especially love (and thus vie for) the swing hung at the back of the set. They shoot out the door in a race to get to it first, mow the loser down in triumphant swinging, claw each other in anger when possession of it is in question, etc. I've settled many a dispute over that swing this past week.

Abby on the "swing of sin"

The rings were an initial hit but aren't as coveted normally. Daddy helped everybody swing sitting atop the bar the other night--and then the girls figured out how to share the rings and swing together!

 Abby

 Josiah was nervous

 Lydia in her "unnies"

Twin swing!

All three love the slide on the new play set. Our dinky Little Tykes fort (see in background above) is entirely outshone now (and that slide ceased being very fun once the kids grew taller than it). But the kids aren't content to climb up the ladder or climbing wall and then slide down the slide. No, they like to climb up the slide (often when someone else is sliding down), pull each other up the slide with ropes, slide down head first one on top of the other, and generally devise new and exciting ways of using the slide for more dangerous purposes. Jeremy humored their "mountain climbing" obsession with the slide by attaching a hefty rope to the beam at the top.

Unfortunately Josiah came down with a virulent bug last week that prevented his enjoying the set to its fullest potential (though that may not come till the weather cools down enough to permit sustained outdoor play!). He was sick with a fever and cough for a full week, and only started to mend this past Sunday night after we started antibiotics. He seems to come down hard with illnesses! I was initially thankful that his strep test last week was negative--I hoped to avoid antibiotics and dreaded a repeat of last fall's recurring strep.

But he worsened rather than improved after we had been to the pediatrician on Thursday. Our pediatrician recommended taking him to urgent care on Saturday if he was still running a fever, so that's what we did. The PA there said he could hear wheezing when Josiah breathed and figured he had a bacterial infection, since he just wasn't getting better . . . thus the antibiotics. He's on a five-day course that will end Thursday. I'm hoping and praying this will be the end of illness for a while! Hopefully the kids can stay fairly healthy through the birth of our new baby.

Anyway, I guess that's a recap of what we've been up to the last week and a half: new play fort and sickness!