Hot August Nights

That blog title won't make much sense since all the pictures are in the daytime, but this month has been a scorcher for the Nelsons.

It all started when we found out the air conditioning in the Battle Cat (Matt's car, that turned into Julia and Covey's car after he was born) was on the fritz just one month after forking out a couple hundred to fix it for the first time in 4 years. Tunex wanted 700 bucks to repair it this time, but seeing as how the Battle Cat is only worth about two bushels of apples and a tummy rub, that choice was simple.

About the same time all this was going on the air conditioner in the house stopped working, so basically Julia and Covey spent their time melting everywhere they went. Babies can sure get sticky.

Covey wearing his Mantua shirt for the first time in Mantua. It was well received among the Nelson side of the family. We've looked all over for a hat that fits him, but this is as close as we've come. My sister Emily took these pictures for us. She's pretty good, almost as good as Emily Allen.....hmmm, I wonder if it's a name thing.

My favorite sound in the world is hearing this little guy laugh. He doesn't even get tired of old material. Basically I've got three moves to get him laughing: 1)blowing on his belly 2)lifting him up in the air over my head while I make faces at him (demonstrated above by Julia) 3)showing him our engagement picture. We're not sure why he laughs when he sees it, maybe he's making fun of us. Or maybe that's how he remembers our faces from heaven.

The Nelson residence in "downtown" Mantua. I hope the Christmas lights still hanging on the house can distract everyone from the sock tan lines on my legs.

Playing with and wearing out Grandpa Meldrum.

We just got back from another Fairview trip with our good friends the Larsons, Allens, and Thornes. We had a great time, but sadly it always goes by so fast. And then you have to come back home to where the air conditioner is still struggling in both your car and house, and you just want to go back where...where everybody knows your name....and they're always glad you came... you wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same...(sigh)...you wanna be where everybody knows your name.

Covey was mesmorized by the sound of this little four wheeler that Todd was riding around. I decided to show Covey how a real man handles an ATV. So I put it in first gear and took my seat as the girl on the back, with Cov running the show in the driver's seat. Then we made our way around the yard at an impressive rate of 2 miles an hour. I did have to steer because Cov's arms wouldn't reach.

We hit the links at the Skyline Golf Course while at the Cabin. Covey and Kayson are amazed by the awesomeness of Todd's latest drive from the tee. They had a different reaction to Julia's drive, which was even more awesome, but that reaction wasn't as photogenic, it was....estinky.

Note from Mom: this picture was really supposed to demonstrate Covey's newest accomplishment... sitting up all by himself!!

We played this "golfball-rope-pbc pipe" game that is sweeping the nation, over and over. I managed to rack myself twice with these contraptions over the weekend, giving me a greater respect for the pros like Dwayne Masterson and Stewart Buffens, that take their lives in their hands everytime they go out and toss those golfball-rope thingys.

Kayson was nice enough to share his exersaucer with Covey throughout the weekend. Covey spents hours in that thing, causing us to realize that if the exersaucer could somehow produce a constant source of food....Covey would probably trade us for it. In the background Brittney is struggling with the dilemma of whether she wants to stand or swing...and doesn't get why she can't do both.