5 on a friday - summer edition, Weather, work, admin rhythms, food, swims.

Using my colander to view the eclipse

"Summer" is now more than half over for us.  I know that those in the US are feeling the "end of summer" vibes but I'm squarely in the "late middle" vibes.  

It was hot again this week - 33c/94f yesterday.  I went to the office so I could get some air conditioning.  It was so nice not to sit in a loft room slowly melting into the afternoon.  It was also nice to see people.  I need to go into the office more.  The only downside is the 5 hour round trip commute.  At around 2pm I noticed that all the trains to Cardiff were slowly being canceled due to heat, and at 3pm I ran for a train to Bristol hoping I could transfer.  The 4pm train was cancelled but I managed to get on the 4:30 train and make it back home by 6pm.  In time to do dinner and bedtime.  Was that the right call..?  maybe.

Tonight I am solo parenting dinner and bedtime for the first time in a very long time.  I am a bit scared but everyone will be fine.  

I definitely miss my Friday life admin time I had when the twins were in 2.5 hour Nursery on Fridays.  I'm behind on a lot of things.  The house is really gross.  You know what makes a house gross?  Potty training.  Ugh I am not into the potty training.  We decided to start with Aubrey because she was more keen.  It's going well, I guess, but I can't wait to be on the other side.  Survive till 5!

Today our nanny is coming in the morning for the twins so I can take the big kids to the open air pool.  It should be fun, they can both swim so much better than last year.  The poor twins don't get to go swimming because often pools have a 1 to 1 kid ratio and at no time does my family work in a 1:1 capacity.  I realized the other day that at almost no time does 1 kid get 2 parents ever.  I think I'll put that as a future goal for the big kids.

I've started food tracking recently and it's gone on longer that I've ever tracked food before.  It's been kind of interesting.  I'm being a basic human and trying to eat more protein but also not eating meat (except fish) so that's a fun project.  I must have some unexpected brain space or something to be able to think about high protein veggie meals for me that also suit the family.  Last week I made DIY taco bowls with Tofu:

We have a pretty low key (for us) weekend coming up.  Maybe we'll get a chance to clean the house somewhat, or update photo albums, or install the new light fixture for the dining room... or maybe we'll ruin our life by starting White Lotus season 2.

Is your summer winding down or endlessly long?  Are you jumping on the protein trend or have you been there all along?