The last day of June

I am feeling melancholy about the end of June.  Summer needs to SLOW DOWN.  I haven't yet forgotten the stress (and sometimes pure hell) that was the school year, and I'm not anxious to get to it again any time soon.  I don't want to dread the future, and yet there is part of me that absolutely does...that is how much stress I felt about the school year.

At the same time, I acknowledge how wonderful the last five weeks have been.  We've had vacation and popsicles and family movie nights, and time with extended family...and there is plenty more of that to come.  I can't begin to describe how grateful I am for that.

And I kind of want to throttle Robert in this regard.  He seems to be thoroughly enjoying our summer and contributing to the fun family times...so why can't he do this year round?  What is it about school that brings out the worst in him?  I've invited him to explore that, and hopefully at some point he will.

This evening is another swim meet, and then we have the long holiday weekend.  Robert has to work all weekend (except maybe Monday, we won't know until Sunday) but it's only a few hours each day.  Other than dinner with friends Sunday evening and church in the morning, we have virtually no plans for the weekend.  Totally awesome...and much needed as always!

Old magazines

I've realized I do not need to keep every magazine I've owned and read.  However, I don't want to lose out on having them on hand if there is something I'd like to hold onto...so I'm browsing through the old ones before recycling.  Most of them are from 2011 - 2013, but some of them go all the way back to 2007!  It's a little comical to see how things have changed in just nine years, but somethings never will!  I'm also enjoying thinking back to that time of my life and remembering what might have been happening at that time.  It's actually been fun!

Gorgeous summer weather

We are enjoying some absolutely gorgeous weather right now.  We've had some miserably oppressive day, but fortunately it hasn't been a long string of those days all together.  We've had a few of those, and then the rest are just your typical midwestern summer days.  Right now though, we are enjoying the kind of weather that almost makes me giddy!  Highs are in the 70's, and last night it may have been down into the upper 50's.  The humidity is also low, so I'm just really enjoying the weather.  Our primary job is to get the garage cleaned out and turned into an informal rec room...so the weather is perfect!

Summer fun

Today is definitely one of those days that make summer so very much fun in our house.  I will eternally be grateful that Andrew and I made the decisions we've made through our parenting years where we both were home in the summers. So very, very grateful for these days.

We purchased a membership to a museum in April.  Many of the larger exhibits are closing for a couple of years and although we had visited once, we hoped to get there again.  Friday is the final day so we journeyed down today, although most of the stuff is already packed up.  Thomas had seen the exhibits with his Godfather and was disappointed he couldn't show them to his dad, but we still enjoyed what we did see.  Andrew and I decided to stop for shakes on the way home and by the time we got there, decided lunch was even better.  I so enjoy these days with my kids.  We laughed a lot and teased a lot, and just enjoyed the time together.  I miss having little kids in so many ways, but restaurants are not one of them!  There really aren't words to describe how grateful I am for these days!

Friday dinner with my grandmother

This past Friday we ventured to my hometown to deliver to my mother a piece of furniture she had been storing in our garage but was ready to have at her house.  She had mentioned though, that she wouldn't be doing dinner because she was having her siblings in for dinner.  Not a problem with us!  We were able to say hello to my aunts & uncle we hadn't seen since Christmas, and then headed over to my paternal grandmother's house.  We had offered to bring dinner in, but she had emailed earlier that day that she had cold meat, chips, melon, and dessert at the house if we just wanted to do that.  Honestly, it was perfect!  My eighty-five year old grandmother is just absolutely amazing...there simply aren't words.  She absolutely delights in seeing my kids and my kids so enjoy seeing her...especially since there is always favorite snack food at her house.  I especially loved getting to share the TV recognition of the 1976 Reds World Series team with her.  She is the biggest Reds fan in our family outside of my sister and me.  She is truly one of the biggest blessings in my life and I'm so grateful we got to share an evening with her!

Pete Rose weekend

This weekend the Cincinnati Reds have made the weekend "Pete Rose weekend".  The 1976 World Series winning team was honored on Friday, and last evening was the ceremony honoring Rose's Reds' Hall of Fame induction.  This afternoon the Reds retired Rose's #14, just the tenth Red to receive such an honor.

As a lifelong Reds fan and a child of the 70's, it's been a blast, and even at times a little emotional, watching all of the pre-game ceremonies.  They've showed clips of his playing days, and of course we've seen hit #4192 which I had watched live as a fifth grader.  It's fun being able to hear the late Joe Nuxhall's voice on that call, who was the voice of the Reds during my entire memory until 2008 or so.  I got a little teary eyed hearing the "old lefthander" again.  And of course I can't help but think of my Dad.  I have such clear memories of him washing the car or doing some other work outside while the radio would be broadcasting the Reds game.  The Reds are having an absolutely abysmal season, and it continued this weekend, but they finally won one today...and it was so much fun to relive some glory days of my childhood!

Not much sleep

We were on the edge of the very severe weather that came through last evening.  It wasn't the worst storm I've ever been through, but in the heart of the storm it is very possible there were winds in the 90 mph range.  It's also very possible that tornadoes occurred as well, but it was impossible to know damage until daylight.  Andrew rode around town this morning during the kids' swim practice and said that even here, there is lots of debris and a road closed in town due to down wires.  Our electricity flickered, but I'm very grateful it didn't go out.  Unfortunately, we were also among the area that was hit a second time with a second round, so I didn't get much sleep last night.  We've decided that swim practice tomorrow morning is not going to happen, and we are all sleeping in...I am very excited about that!

Moving right along through summer

Summer is flying by...even Robert commented on that yesterday.  Gratefully, he still has seven weeks until school begins and the younger two have eight.  We've been out for four weeks so we aren't even half way done.  I try to remind myself of that as I already start to dread the beginning of the school year.  It's going to be crazy, but I try to enjoy the slightly less crazy summer.

Right now we are under a tornado watch until 5AM.  In my mind, I'm writing this Wednesday night, but I guess technically it is Thursday morning.  The weather reports are indicating it could be the strongest winds we've had since Hurricane Ike came inland in 2008.  We also had a very strong derecho come through four years next week, so I guess maybe we are due.  I'm realistic enough to know that I won't sleep well until the storm system is through.  Fortunately we are in the western part of the viewing area and I might get to be in bed by 3:00.  Andrew went on to bed and I know he'll let me sleep tomorrow if I need to do so.

Looking forward to a rather unscheduled weekend!

This year's first swim meet

Tonight was the first official swim meet for the season.  I enjoy watching my kids swim, although it certainly isn't a true talent for any of them...at least not yet.  I somewhat regret that they got started so late, but I'm glad they are enjoying it.  Catherine had a particularly rough evening, and because of improper technique was disqualified in two of her events.  Thomas struggled in some of his events, but did have one where he did't come in last.  This was Robert's first meet.  In two of his races, he was the only one in his heat so it's difficult to really know how he did.  In the other two events, he raced against only one other person, and of course that one other person was the son of our good friends here in town.  I hated that both Robert and Isaac were the only two racing...I would prefer to root for both!  He did manage to beat Isaac both times, which surprised me because Isaac has been swimming for years.  However, Isaac does no other athletic events during the year, and Robert is very involved in athletics.  With only two years remaining I know that Robert isn't going to be a consistently winning swimmer, but I think he'll be able to be competitive.

We also learned yesterday that Robert is going to be allowed to participate in cross country this fall.  Because he met the state requirements but it was the school standards where he felt short, the school had some flexibility in deciding how to apply the 2.0 rule.  Andrew met with the athletic director yesterday who decided he would use Robert's cumulative sophomore GPA and declared Robert eligible.  He felt it would only benefit Robert to be participating.  It's hard to argue that point.  The first semester Robert had a 2.6...when he was doing cross country and diving.  After he broke his hand and made several other poor choices that led to him not being able to continue in the dive season or participate in track, he recorded a 1.3.  We are very grateful that he'll be able to participate, and Robert was very excited.  Hopefully he has still learned a lesson, and things get better next year!

Longer days

Not only are we coming up upon the longest days of sunshine, but we have now officially been out of school for three weeks.  I find it interesting how much slower the days seem to pass by.  During the school day, it seems as though, even though I have 8-1/2 hours to myself each day, the days fly by.  It's probably because I know how crazy the schedule can be once the kids are home and there is homework to be done and taxiing to and from various events...and with Andrew working it's usually just me.  Even though we are getting up over an hour later each morning, I am still astonished when it isn't later in the day.  I am so very much enjoying the slower pace and feel of longer days.  I really enjoy our summer!

I was more emotional than I realized

The last two days, Andrew and I have been doing some work...a lot of work...in our garages (we have an attached garage and a detached garage).  For almost two years, we've had this vision of turning our attached garage into a very informal (and loosely "designed") rec room.  We have a ping pong table in there and have a love seat we've had in storage that we can put in there.  However, not only do things have to be organized, we need to get rid of a lot of things.  In spite of my sentimental emotional nature, I've been pretty good about getting rid of things.  We've had two full trash bins and Andrew has made three trips to Goodwill.  There is still even more that is going to be donated or pitched, but we've made a really good start the last two days.  Last evening Catherine walked into ask what to do with her Mickey Mouse ears that she didn't want anymore.  I've put a few special things into storage, and told her to add those to that pile.  Andrew insisted they could be thrown away, but I told her to put them in the storage pile.  Andrew called me ridiculous, and tears just started rolling down my face.  I know that it might seem ridiculous, but I just couldn't let her get rid of one of my favorite memories of her wearing those ears.  It was on a vacation and she was just six.  It was a vacation that was supposed to be with my parents on a trip for the entire family, paid for by my dad's boss.  My dad ended up being hospitalized, and my gang and my sister went without our parents.  Overall, I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of the ears that I associated not only with childhood, but with my Dad.  I miss my dad so very, very much, and with Robert turning seventeen before too long, I am also realizing the days with my family safely under this cozy roof are very, very limited.  I am trying so hard to treasure each and every one of them!

It was a fun weekend

Last weekend, our first full summer weekend at home, was so much fun!  Friday morning, right after swim practice, I drove to our former town and picked up the daughters of our dear friends.  They were out west at a wedding, and we were the first stop for the girls.  It was such a blast having them.  We had mac & cheese with tater tots for lunch, Andrew took them all to the state park beach, and dinner pizza.  Then we had popcorn and a movie for the evening.  The kids laughed harder than I have heard in quite some time.  In the meantime, Robert had worked in the afternoon, then had a date in the evening.  On Saturday, we took the girls back to our former town so another friend could pick them up for the next round.  We then ventured to my cousin's graduation party before having the entire evening at home.  Andrew agreed to grill so I didn't even have to worry about dinner.  Robert had to work most of Sunday and the rest of us went to church.  That afternoon Andrew had a meeting, and then we drove to our favorite pub for dinner with my mom and sister.  Thomas and I especially couldn't get enough of the fries...those fries!!!!  We were home in time to just hang out and enjoy our evening.  It was such a great way to begin our summer weekends!

Single digits in June

My favorite part of the summer is the single digits in June.  The summer feels so expansive and open and way out in front of us.  I like it that way!  Catherine and Thomas don't go back to school for almost 10 weeks, and for Robert (attending a vo-tech school this year) it is nearly nine weeks.  Love, love, love.

I know that reality is this summer, just like all of time, is going to fly.  The reality is that after this summer, we only have one more summer with all three kiddos here at home.  With Robert wanting to join the military, there is no guarantee what the summer after his graduation will bring.  It just seems so hard to believe how quickly this time has flown by.

Problem Solving

Yesterday Catherine informed me of a "crisis" in her room involving a large "icky" spider.  I asked if she needed help (suspecting that she did given her word choices) and Thomas volunteered to come to the rescue.  I walked away to do other things, and was informed later that the "crisis" had been handled.  I walked past her room and asked her to put away the flashlight and masking tape.  I'll be honest, I was confused about how the masking tape had been used in dealing with the spider, but thought I might not want to know.  It turns out that Thomas realized he was going to have to smash the spider with his shoe, and didn't want spider guts all over his shoe.  He decided to "rig" his shoe by taping masking tape to it.  Problem solved!  Andrew and I were very amused!  It's the best problem solving he's done in a long time!

Back at home and to reality

We arrived home from our vacation about 10:00 Sunday night.  We had gotten a later start that morning than I wanted to, and there was some rain along the way that added time.  We unloaded the vehicle, and while everyone was still a little wound up, I told the kids they needed to get to bed.  Swim practice began bright and early yesterday morning.  Andrew is taking the kids and then goes on a bike ride, and I enjoy some quiet time in the morning.  And what absolutely gorgeous mornings they are!  It could not be more beautiful, and in fact should be fabulous all day.

The other reality we had to deal with upon returning yesterday was that our TV had stopped working.  Just three weeks ago we had purchased a stove because our other one was on its last leg, and in April it was our washing machine.  This is getting to be ridiculous.  Again though, we are grateful that we are able to fix these things, although it would be nice if the money could stay in savings.  Such is life, and we are still blessed to have that savings!  Anyway, Andrew went and purchased our new TV yesterday afternoon.  Because we are "low-tech, not fancy" people, we were able to buy a very basic model at a reasonable price.  Nice to be able to watch TV again!

I know our summer is going to be busy and life isn't going to be "peachy-keen" every day, but I'm still grateful for a slower pace of life!

Last week's vacation

This might be a long post that no one wants to read.  And that's okay, because really, it is just for our memories!

Last week's vacation was amazingly relaxing.  Andrew and I both commented on how much our family needed it, and we are so grateful that we were able and had the opportunity to make it happen.  The kids all got along, Robert laughed along with us, and it just felt as though we were all working together, instead of against each other.  The kids all really enjoyed it as well.

We stayed further north than we've ever stayed before, and it had some pros and cons.  Everything was pretty newly built where we were, and it also gave us the opportunity to try some restaurants we'd never tried before.  Sadly, we weren't overly thrilled with any of them, but none of them were awful...just overpriced.  I know many do vacation on a budget by staying in and cooking dinner at the rental house, but that's not our style.  For Andrew and I (especially me who doesn't like to cook) the best part of vacation is eating out.  Our favorite meal was Thursday evening at a place called Owen's.  It was recommended to us before we made our first trip to the Outer Banks (this is our fifth), and it is the only restaurant we've eaten at every time we've been there.  It is truly fabulous, and has enough selections that we could probably eat there more than once during the week...we just can't afford to do so!  Everyone loved that meal.  We also found a cute little cafe in Rodanthe.  We were going to make the trek down to Hatteras, the roads were flooding and with more rain the forecast it was making me nervous (the downside to being on the island while a tropical depression is in the area).  We turned around and found this little roadside restaurant.  I had a fabulous hot dog (nothing fancy, but SO good) and Andrew had the best fish tacos ever.  He even said that was his favorite thing he ate all week.  We had ice cream a couple of times, and discovered a soundside boardwalk had been built in the five years since we'd been there.  That was awesome for our shopping on Wednesday.  We were all at the beach together Tuesday morning, and Andrew took the kids back again on Saturday.  We took our bikes down, and Andrew got up and rode many days.  Robert went with him in the rain on Monday, and Thomas rode with him to breakfast on Saturday.  Thomas also had his first road crash that morning as he came too close to a trashcan, but fortunately the car he was trying to get out of the way for gave him a very wide berth.  The tiny pool at our rental house was too cold for us, but the bigger community pool was a little warmer and Thomas especially enjoyed spending some time there.  Friday morning Robert and Andrew rented kayaks and spent some time out on the sound.  We all spent lots of time in the rental house's hot tub, and the kids enjoyed the xbox and watching TV.  We visited two lighthouses, and all-in-all, just really enjoyed our time together.  There truly are not words to express our gratitude for this blessing!

Last night at the ocean

We are leaving tomorrow to head home.  I won't lie...I'm ready to be in my own bed again.  I have absolutely loved being here this week, but I am ready to be home.  It's raining this evening (again) and I don't mind, but I'm ready to head out and to get home.

Next week I'll write about all of the fabulous memories we made on this trip.  This has been, hands down, my favorite vacation we've ever taken.  It has been so amazingly relaxing.  Part of it is the fact that my kids are older, part of it is that we've been completely on our own schedule and it's just been us to worry about, and part of it is that we just NEEDED this time away.  Robert seems to recognize that as well, and he's treasured the week as well.

Robert's work will start back up, and twice daily swim practices begin for our family on Monday.  I have financial reports due this week for my job, and Robert has rehab as well as another doctor appointment, and needs to work on his summer school.  We are back to "normal" this week, although our summer normal is still better more relaxed than school year normal.  I am so absolutely thrilled that we have begun our summer this way.  It's been awesome!

The Cardinal

This vacation has been one of many firsts.  It is the first vacation we've taken completely on our own, it was the first vacation we've taken of this length since we've moved to our new town, and it is the first vacation we've taken since my dad died...which makes it the first vacation we've taken without worrying about an ill parent at home.  In fact our last beach vacation three years ago was one where I wasn't even sure he would be around when we returned, and as we were close to home my mom let me know Dad was being hospitalized.  I miss him so, so much.  Just as when I'm home, there have been so many things happen that I want to pick up the phone and tell him something, but I can't do that.

Every morning this week, there has been a red cardinal that has been here on the top deck and has been trying to get into the house.  It has been such a constant that it has been comforting, although I am a little worried that it keeps flying into the windows!  I know it is said that a cardinal is the spirit of a deceased loved one, and Thomas mentioned that as well.  I think it might be my dad, reminding us that he is always with us no matter where we are.  It's been very comforting.

It's been a great week

This has been such a fabulous week for our family.  We've had two very, very rainy days with Tropical Storm Bonnie, but they were early and then in the middle of the week.  Yesterday was a pretty miserable day though, but we got out and had the best dinner of the entire week.  Owen's is our favorite restaurant and is the only place we've eaten every time we've been here.  I refuse to eat there early in the week because I'm always afraid the rest of the food will be downhill after that!  We've had lots of hot tub time, and pool time, and shopping, and it's just been fabulous.  I am so grateful our family has had this opportunity!