swimming and staining

This has been the summer for staining. First the fence (not because we wanted to, but because we had to).

Then the swingset (it needed it).

And this weekend, the hottest weekend of the summer, the deck.

Yes, it needed it, but did it really need it this weekend, when the temperatures were nearing 100 degrees, and the sun just bakes the deck in the afternoons????

But my wonderful husband did most of the work, and it looks great. I did help for a couple of hours today. My job was to use the shop vac to clean out between the boards. I had to use a skewer to dig out the junk that the shop vac wouldn't suck out! After two hours I was dripping with sweat and exhausted. I can't even imagine how tired he must be.

Rachel enjoyed her pool today, and since I haven't gotten any pictures of her swimming yet this summer, I decided to take some today. Here she's pretending her train toy is a camera. She kept saying, "click!"

She looks like she's up to something here, don't you think?