This week is the last full week of summer for us. Next week Atlas starts preschool, Nick goes back to school and baby #2 is due. I mostly just wanted to watch TV all week and rest, but Nick had other plans and Atlas has too much energy to stay home all the time. Monday our trip out was to the grocery store- pretty exciting. Tuesday Nick took Atlas to an outdoor movie and said they had lots of fun. He let me stay home to rest and give me a break, which was very thoughtful. Wednesday we took our friend Eric to the beach.

The beaches cost money, but not if you go after 5:00, so we made an evening trip. The tide was coming in and the waves were pretty big, which made me more nervous about Atlas running around, but after one wave knocked him down he started being pretty cautious. He loved that we were there after the lifeguards had gone so that he could sit in their chair.

My cousin Julia is in Boston for a couple weeks so on Thursday we went to see her. We picked her up from the temple and headed to dinner.

Then we went to the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art. We hit major traffic in the city and got there late. That, coupled with Atlas being very wild made for a short trip, but we had just enough time to see it all.

The building is right on the harbor and the weather was perfect. It was nice to see some extended family! I haven't seen anyone from my mom's side for a very long time.

We have been doing lots of fun things this summer, which means there are a lot of photos of me really pregnant, and I don't like them at all. Hopefully this is the LAST ONE!!!

Last Wednesday Atlas had to have some blood drawn for a lead check for preschool. I was worried it would scare him and told him if he was good we would take him to the zoo afterwards, which was totally unnecessary cause he was way less scared than I was, but we fulfilled our promise and went to the zoo anyways.

He spent a very long time watching the harbor seals. They were definitely his favorite this time around.

The zoo just opened up a new play and explore area for kids. Atlas fished,

played with water flow,

played in a fort,

and up in a tree house.

We have also been frequenting a lot of local parks. These scary rope toys are everywhere out here and Atlas is getting more brave on them all the time.

While walking across a particularly dangerous part Nick said "Be careful. Don't fall." Atlas replied "I won't fall, because of my attitude! I am a winner! I am the boss! Ohhhh, yaaaaaaaa."

Yesterday Nick requested a hair cut and I figured Atlas could use one as well. I love his hair when it gets long cause it starts to get curly and adorable, but he plays too crazy and hair is constantly in his eyes. With preschool starting I decided to give him a trim but started regretting it the second I cut off the first curly lock. After I was done though, I realized I love being able to see his cute face and Atlas was very excited to be twinners with Dad. I can't get him to smile in pictures anymore cause his a such a clown. Nick doesn't want me to post this photo, but I am going to anyways.

Their haircuts don't look great in that photo, but I was pretty proud of my work. I am starting to get the hang of it and am getting better each time I attempt a cut.

For this post we start on Thursday the 9th of August.

We went to a story time in the park that got invaded by aliens. Atlas was TERRIFIED.

That night we picked up Megan and Michael from the airport. It was late at night, so nothing occurred that evening, but the following 10 days were packed. We have been meaning to explore a lot of places in and around Rhode Island this summer, but haven't had much money, so we saved it all up to do while we had company. The first weekend was rainy and we stayed in most of the time. On Friday Atlas kicked Michael in the face and split his skin on his cheekbone open. Nick went to swipe Bixler's legs while he was trying to jump up to food on the counter and accidentally hit his foot on the oven really hard. Nick spent Saturday morning in the ER cause he thought his foot was broken (it wasn't) while the rest of us went to the Farmer's Market. Sunday was a Stake meeting in Connecticut. Monday we finally got some good weather and went to the tide pools in in Jamestown, which were incredibly picturesque.

There was a small lighthouse museum there and a tiny aquarium where we saw some small sharks.

Atlas, of course, threw some rocks in the water.

Then we went on the Cliff Walk in Newport, which is a path you can walk on out along the ocean that takes you past all the old historic mansions on the island.

Atlas got too hot and took off his shirt to lay on the cool grass.

Tuesday we started off by a walk in the swamp out on Cape Cod.

Then we went to Commercial Street in Provence, which was just a bunch of shops out along the coast. We stopped and had lunch.

Then we went across the cape to Rock Harbor.

Atlas loved getting buried

and jumping the waves.

We tried to fly our ninety nine cent kite, which worked about as well as a ninety nine cent kite.

Wednesday we spent in Boston and went to dinner with a friend of Megan and Michael's.

Thursday we went to Matunuck Beach. Atlas loved chasing the Scuttles (seagulls), finding clams, and building sand castles.

He sunbathed for a while.

And loved the sand.

I'd been wanting to go out to Matunuck Beach to try a pizza place out there that gets rave reviews so we stopped by for dinner, and it was delicious.

On the way back to Providence we went to a little sweet shop to get some cupcakes that were also very delicious.

We stopped by the RISD Museum of Art for an event they were having. Megan and Micheal explored the museum while we went outside to listen to a band and eat ice cream. We all agreed that Thursday was our funnest day.

Friday we went to a Pawsox baseball game. Atlas was really into it for about 3 innings.

We enjoyed some frozen lemonade and fried dough. Two of Atlas's favorite treats.

Sunday we went to church and made dinner and today we dropped them off at the airport. Now it's back to our normal quiet routine for 2-3 more weeks while we wait for our new addition.

Last week we had a beach day with our friends, the Culley's.

The little ones loved playing with the hermit crabs. They each had their own bucket full.

Atlas loves masks and costumes. He always tries on the super hero masks when we go to the store, and he looks sooooo creepy.

We haven't been doing many things that are fun to photograph, so I don't have much to post. We have been going to story times and movies at local libraries a lot. There are a lot of libraries around here and they all have great children's programs in the summer. Atlas has been practicing and getting better on his bike, but mostly I try to avoid going outside too much, at least during the day because the heat and humidity are a little  much for me right now.
Other notable things that have happened since our last post:
Nick shaved off his mustache.
Our fridge died and we had to live out of a cooler for a few days and stick all our other food in the Culley's fridge while we waited for our landlord to replace ours.
I bought some dark purple beans at the Farmer's Market today. I get so excited to try new produce.
Nick is getting pretty close to finishing his children's novel and is really into drawing cowboys this week.
I have about four and half weeks left of pregnancy. (at least I hope) My doctor is going to do an ultrasound in the next couple appointments so that she can try to see how large he is and decide how long after my due date she will let me go so that I can try to VBAC. I want to try to do all I can to not have another c-section, while making sure I am doing what's best for baby. It is pretty hard to know what to do.
Megan and Michael are coming for a visit and will be here on Thursday! I will have plenty more picture after their visit.