1. Connor had swimming lessons! Holly, a girl in our ward, was offering private swimming lessons this summer, so we signed Connor up for two weeks worth - his first lessons ever! I think he did really well, considering. He was pretty fearless and cheerful, which was fun to watch. By the end of the two weeks, Holly could walk him around the pool and "accidentally" push him in, and he could turn around and swim to the edge, then get out of the pool. That had basically been our goal for this year (pool safety), so I'm really happy with how it went. He never could figure out how to do an effective swimming stroke (his swimming looked a little like running in place underwater), but I figure he has plenty of time for that!
2. Utah Trip! Ryan took a week off work, and we all drove up for a visit to Utah. We spent the night in Vegas, and discovered (almost next door to our motel) the Old Mormon Fort. Apparently, Las Vegas was originally founded by Mormons sent down by Brigham Young! There was a museum and huge replica (plus part of the original walls) of the fort they had built, and it was really interesting. Unfortunately, it was also about 110 degrees, so the kids didn't have much patience for the outdoor part. The park ranger in the museum took pity on us, and let us bring the dogs with us into the museum, since we obviously couldn't leave them in the car. 
Our week in Utah was pretty awesome. We went to the Thanksgiving Point dinosaur museum for the first time (including a 3-D movie). 
Grandma made everybody fancy breakfasts, including Mickey Mouse pancakes, which traumatized Elise. She kept saying, "No eat Mimmie Mouz!" She never would eat him, despite eating the plain ones with gusto. 
Ryan and I got to go on a belated anniversary trip! It was our first no-kids overnighter since Connor was born, and it was great. We were able to go to the Mount Timpanogos temple, then saw Cirque du Soleil in Salt Lake, then spent the night at Snowbird, where we rode the lifts up the mountain and hiked around the next morning. Thanks to Mom and Chuck for that one! 
Grandma Cloe broke her leg! We were about to go out to dinner with everyone when I went out to meet Grandma Cloe, who was slowly coming up the driveway. She smiled sheepishly and reached out to take my hand for help up the porch steps, and I, dummy that I am, casually went to help her. My mom came out, immediately saw that something was wrong, and demanded, "What happened to you?!" I guess poor Grandma Cloe was gimping around on a leg she had freshly broken at JC Penney 20 minutes earlier. We rushed her to the urgent care place down the street where they discovered a spiral fracture and wrapped it in a temporary cast until the swelling went down. Grandma Cloe spent the next few days at my mom's house, until a real cast could be put on, and she could learn how to get around on crutches and a knee walker. I love Grandma Cloe. Throughout this whole thing, she was as cheerful as a lark! Currently, I'm told she has a walking cast and is doing physical therapy, and should be fine soon. 
The day we left for home, we went to Payson Pool with Kyle and Kelli. It was bizarrely cold, so we only stayed a couple hours, but had alot of fun. Elise was terrified of even the 6-inch part of the pool, but when I found an area that sloped up to 1-inch, she thought that was just great. 
That afternoon, on the way home, we stopped at Kolob Canyons and walked around a little. The kids were really impressed with the redrock, but equally so with these spray-painted blue ones. I hope to take them on more visits to the Southern Utah I grew up with, but this will have to do for now.
3. Disneyland, again! We did two more Disneyland days throughout the summer, but I'll combine the pictures for brevity. Highlights included Elise "driving" the autopia cars, tasting cotton candy for the first time, the Tiki Room (Elise's absolute favorite), meeting Mickey Mouse (Connor's favorite, not Elise's), finding pirate treasure, and a million other rides and attractions. Connor ended up riding every major roller coaster on which he was allowed, and loved them all, brave kid!
4. Fire! The Station Fire (largest wildfire in LA county history) started just above our town, and continued burning everything in sight for about a week (this was just locally - it spread elsewhere and continued after that). We had some amazing views from our driveway. In fact, all the neighbors would congregate there to get photos and talk about it. At night, you could see huge plumes of flame lighting up the entire horizon, it was surreal. During the day, the smoke and ash falling down made it impossible to go outside, and they cancelled most of the first week of school. From a distance, it looked like a mushroom cloud hovering over our little neighborhood. Anybody who could get out of town, did. A bunch of our friends were even evacuated from our homes, since the flames burned right down into the residential areas. We were lucky to be at a safe distance. Oh, and the Connor/Elise picture in bed was what the kids did when we were outside gawking and chatting with neighbors one night. They stole my ipod and "secretly" watched Wonderpets and Blue's Clues together. 
5. Random Pictures! The kids spent half an hour playing with the dust motes in a beam of light one morning. Connor made a bed for Portia, and insisted on a picture of how comfy she was. And, finally, Elise had one last round of playing on the Learning Tower that we recently sold on Craigslist. It's supposed to allow kids to help you in the kitchen, and I fell for their advertising, paying $200 for the goofy thing. Then we discovered that a ten dollar stepstool works just as well, and takes up alot less space, so we passed it on. 
So, that was our summer! I'll see if I can get back to a more regular approach to maintaining the blog - wish me luck!
Connor even got to sleep in a "big kid bed" for the first time. I had doubts as to whether he'd break his neck in the middle of the night, but he did great (Elise actually slept in her Pack N Play - she definitely can't handle real beds yet). Saturday, after Connor's favorite tradition of eating doughnuts, we went to the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Ryan got some of my favorite pictures ever of Elise. 
They have a bunch of exhibits on various animals and ecosystems, including a huge rainforest dome filled with butterflies. 
Elise kept holding out her chubby hand and telling me she wanted the butterflies to go on "Eeess awm, Eeess awm!" Sadly, none landed on her arm, but I did let her lightly touch one that had landed on a flower. I guess this is strictly forbidden, as another child doing the same thing got yelled at by a museum worker, but we weren't spotted! 
Oh, I have to mention my favorite thing about the Academy of Sciences. Their cafe areas have these elaborate systems of garbage cans, with separate places for various types of recyclables (of course) as well as compost bins and plain ol' garbage (which practically had a big frowny face painted over it). Ryan thought it was ridiculous, but I thought it was cool. I'm just not sure if it really works. People are easily confused, and I'm sure the compost bin would need to be thoroughly sorted for plastic wrappers, etc. (Not my first pick of jobs.) Anyway, after the museum trip, Helena and Ryan's mom did a great barbecue dinner with all kinds of stuff I'd never thought of grilling. 
We had corn on the cob, roasted potatoes, veggie kabobs, roasted strawberries with green onions, and grilled banana. Oh, and I think one steak. It was very educational. I'm definitely going to attempt to recreate the dishes at home now that I can enjoy food again. 
The next morning, Ryan took the kids with his dad and Helena to (of course) get doughnuts, and tour a warehouse Merrill is currently taking apart. I can't tell you much about it, but they say it was huge, and equipped with its own little electric cars. And a cocker spaniel. 
After they returned we went up to Tilden Regional Park, just north of Berkeley, and did their carousel and steam trains. 
The trains were really impressive - we've taken our kids on all kinds of mini trains since they were born, but this one was the best ride by far. Monday morning we headed back home, but not before the kids spent more time on the pelican slide. 
Ryan's dad had this and a turtle-shaped slide brought from (I think) a Great America he worked on. In other words, they were part of an amusement park. He keeps suggesting that we have them shipped down to our place, but I really don't see how that is possible. Besides, they suit that yard perfectly.
Weirdest thing I've ever seen a squirrel do, I imagine.