a 'summer' day

chocolate face? check.
good music? check.
sleeeeeeep eyes? check.

today was one of those days that just felt like summer vacation.

it could be because it was over 90 degrees for probably the first time this year. 

but i prefer to think it is because of what an awesome family hanging-out day we had.

we were up pretty early, but it was a snuggling kind of morning (my favorite kind) and my husband made us a delicious breakfast. eventually, we made it out to a local produce market that was having a "louisiana food festival" and tasted all sorts of delicious goodies (including the fudge that is smeared all over john's face in the picture above). there was a band playing great music, and john and i just sat and enjoyed it while my husband made our produce purchases.

it was hot as blazes, so we stopped for a snowball on the way out. it was john's first-ever snowball, which is no major surprise, but somehow my husband had never had one either. (i know, i was BAFFLED to find that out!) sticky, multicolored messes, we made our way home.

we tried to put john down for a nap - his droopy eyes belied his low energy level - but unfortunately he just fought and fought and never really did go to sleep. i think part of the problem was that he had fallen asleep in the car on the way to the produce market, and even though he only snoozed about five minutes i think it sort of reset his wakefulness.

finally, we gave up on nap. and since it was so hot and sweaty out, we decided to break out the swimming pool:

what was mind-boggling to me was how small that pool looks this year -- last year, it looked enormous with my little teeny boo sitting in it. now, with a three-year-old wildman bopping around in it, it just looks like your average tiny backyard play pool. i guess that's what happens when kids grow? i'm still not used to it.

after the swim session, my husband took buckets of water and watered some of the plants around the yard, so john decided to 'help' by taking water by the cupful and watering things around the yard himself. he was so excited to be helping his daddy out, it was great to watch.

when we came inside and dried off, my husband decided to install the fancy-schmancy new toilet seat we got for john's bathroom -- it has a built-in child seat that flips up and sticks inside the lid when it's not in use. and of course, john wanted to help some more. so daddy showed him how a socket wrench works, and john "fixed" his step stool with a screwdriver. i just stood by and took pictures -- never have been particularly handy -- but this was my favorite picture i managed to snap:

the hard hat was at john's suggestion.

john kept asking my husband if he was bob the builder. i'd say that's pretty high praise from a kid his age.

the rest of the evening wasn't so hot, to be honest; a very sleepy, nap-deprived john broke down, failed to listen, yelled, screamed, and fought pretty much everything my husband and i said for the rest of the night. he was mostly inconsolable, though we got some food in his belly and he went to sleep with no fight once bedtime came around.

but despite the less-than-fabulous ending, this was one heck of a day. happy "summer"!