5 Miles

• Sunday we had some friends had their sitter get sick and she had to cancel. They called up to ask if we could watch the boys that evening. We were free and quite sympathetic to their plight. The boys were THRILLED. Alex has asked several times “Maybe their sitter will get sick again and they can come over!”  We do invite them over more then that, silly kid!
• Tuesday was our 2nd to last soccer session. I was prepared to stay and let them play, but then my head started to hurt. Then, a bee flew up my pant leg and stung me on my calf! I was just sitting there readingwatching the boys play. Yesterday it really swelled up so James got me some Benadryl cream. The swelling has gone down but the itching has gone up and I have a lovely red blotch where the bee hit me. But it’s healing, so that’s good.  And we only have one more! They’ve had fun, but I’m getting ready to be done. What am I doing to do this fall when Will has actual games? Another reason to hope for a dry, warm fall!
• Today was the 14th day of the month that we did not hit 80!!! Yes, this was a cool month. I’m thinking we’re going to have a heat wave in September and October (just like last year).
• Tonight, as the boys were getting ready for bed and going to the bathroom, I overheard Will say “Ready, One, Two, Three, GO!”  They were having a pee race. (Will won, if you care to know.) Boys! I just had to laugh.

We made it up to visit Mom and Dad and spend one more time at Taylor Lake this summer (the lake closes right before school starts).  Once again the kids had a great time. Mom and I enjoyed chatting while they played.

The boys tried to use buckets to catch fish. That didn’t work so well. Later in the afternoon, as more kids came, a dad of one of the other kids caught a fish or two using a sieve and all the kids were quite impressed. 

   

Jumping off the dock into the water…the water that was up to their knees when they stood up. Still, Will was safe because of his life vest!

It took several tries but I got a picture of him in mid-jump, I had to share that one. Later in the afternoon Will saw some bigger kids jumping off one of the platforms in the background and that inspired him to start trying to do his own. He also started inching further and further down the dock–it was nice to see him get a bit braver as he got more comfortable with the water.

Will showing me how he can “swim”.

Summer is wrapping up here.  I know that’s a crazy thing for most of you to read. But Will starts school the 2nd week of August (either the 11th or 12th*), so we really only have 2 weeks left…kind of. He is only going alternating days, so we’ll still have “off” days to do summery things together. But I do have a slight feeling of panic, thinking “Must cram all the things I wanted to do this summer, next summer will be totally different, we’ll have a baby again!”   We’ve also had a very cool/wet summer, so in some ways, it’s had to believe July is almost over with.  I’m suspecting we’re going to have a warm fall as payback!

*I don’t know the exact date he starts yet because it depends on if he goes Monday/Wednesday/Friday morning or Tuesday/Thursday/Friday afternoon.  I stopped by the school on Friday to drop off Will’s medical record and asked if they had any idea when we’d find out. They did not.  The main reason I’m wondering is I need to let Alex’s preschool know if he’ll be going M/W/F or T/Th–they’re holding two spots for him right now so the boys can go on the same day.  I was told we’ll probably find out at our Aug. 6th parents meeting. Yeah, a week before school starts. I’m trying to not be too much of a planner and too frustrated.   (At least Alex doesn’t start until after Labor Day so there’s more time for the preschool.)

So, in the last week, we met friends at the park and played a LONG time, did our usual soccer on Tuesday, had Bible Study & a lunch/play date afterwards, went to the library and tried to have some free time for the boys to just play outside. 

Friday James and I had a date night and we got to see Harry Potter #6. We enjoyed that a great deal.  We also bought a new computer cabinet from some people at church. (Our church has a great program where you can email all the people who’ve signed up to be on an email list and sell things/give away things/ask for recommendations/etc.)  Someone posted they were selling a computer cabinet and while we thought it might be too big, we went ahead and bought it.   We brought it home Friday night and spent today rearranging the living room.  This is step one to getting ready for baby to come. The computer in the office/guest room is getting moved out back into the living room. The old desk (that showed all the papers on in and looked so messy) is getting sold. The office/guest room is turning into a nursery. The futon in there will be sold and we’re going to get to buy a sofa bed couch for the living room. So, if you come to visit after Jan, know you’re getting stuck in the living room, no more guest room! 

Anyway, here are pictures of the After (sorry, I have no good pictures of “before” on this computer…I might add a few in tomorrow). We’re VERY thankful for this cabinet. Turns out it’s perfect for what we needed–it’s large enough to hold 2 monitors (a must for James), has doors that close (a must for me) and a spot for everything, but not enough room for clutter to build up.

 

View as you walk in the door–if  you look down it’s “Hello couch!” (Boys like to climb to the top and jump off. They’ve already been told that WILL NOT happen on the new one.) I have not moved/centered pictures on the far right yet.

TV ended up staying in the same place. Partly because we didn’t want to move all the cords. We were going to put the couch in front of the window and the TV where the blue chair is, but I didn’t like how the couch blocked the light and you were stuck staring at the wall–here you still have the option to look out the window.  Missing from this view is the big, ugly black office chair that will have to be by the computer…I’m hoping to replace it with a nicer one eventually (something like this).

And here’s the great cabinet.  You can pull out the shelf above the keyboard to have a desk top area to work on. We’ll have craft supplies in the top right area, and files in the lower two drawers. 

We did that this morning, and registered Will for soccer for the fall. He is quite excited about being on a real team and playing real games. That’ll be our new adventure in September and October.  This evening we went to a birthday party at a near-by park. After a rainy morning, it cleared up and it was a beautiful afternoon/evening for the party. The kids had great fun running around and the grownups had a great time talking.  It was our favorite kind of party–low key and social for both kids and adults!

So…a week ago last Thursday, we went to a different park, one that had a playground and fountains to play in. Last year they loved it. This year we went back and discovered the boys are getting a bit too old for the fountains/splash park area (really, they should be swimming in pools, but with no neighborhood pool learning to swim hasn’t happened yet, but that’s another story.) They played on the playground, did a bit in the fountains and then we went for a walk and ended up in the creek.

 

 

 

This area of the creek had a small dam other kids had build. The boys had a great time throwing rocks and breaking up the dam. We took a break for lunch and then were getting ready to come back to the creek when Will got stung by a bee…so we had to come home to treat it.     I loved having so much fun in the creek, and am looking forward to doing this again (either this creek or another one I know of) and just letting them have fun playing naturally.

Will: Alex, can you please leave, I want to be alone.

Alex: But Will, you’ve been alone in here for, um… 9 whole minutes.  Aren’t you sad?  I’d be sad if I were alone that long.

“Will, let’s play David and Golaith! This is my stone!”
(Thankfully it was a small plastic ball, but they were still sent outside to play.)

Last week was a really busy week. And after Monday I forgot to take my camera with me!!!

Tuesday was a home day. We had soccer and then came home to rest a bit before we went to the Doctor. We visited the Orthopedic Specialist to have Will’s shoulder checked on. They took X-rays and the shoulder is healing well. He has a big lump of new bone around the break, and in the next 9 months that lump will be “whittled down” to the normal bone shape. (It’s amazing how the body heals broken bones!)

Wednesday we went back up to Upland. The plan was to go to Taylor Lake, have a picnic lunch there and enjoy time before the camps that are run at Taylor come to use the lake. That morning it was quite cloudy and cool. We spent an hour or so at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, ate lunch inside and then it cleared up. We then went to the lake and the boys had a great time. I was so sad I’d forgotten my camera! We went out on the lake in a canoe and the paddle boat. Both boys enjoyed the paddle boat more, they thought the canoe was too wobbly and were nervous we were going to tip (we had told them to NOT move too much and scared them too much). By 3 Grandma, Heidi and Doug were ready to go back to the house but I stayed with the boys and enjoyed reading while they played. The camp that was there did come around 3:30, but most of them either went on boats or to the deeper end of the lake and the boys continued to have fun playing. We left about 4:30 so we’d have time to shower before supper. After supper we took the boys to their FIRST Ivanhoe’s visit ever. I’m embarrassed Will is almost 6 before we took him!   They enjoyed their ice cream and then we headed home.

Thursday was our rest/clean the house day.

Friday we went to a church play date at a near-by park. Then I ran to the store before James’ mom and dad came for a visit on their way back to PA.  They stayed Friday night and Saturday and left this morning.   We added to the fun by having friends over last night for a cookout–they wanted to talk with James’ mom a bit more about going overseas to do post-graduate work. 

Sunday morning, I was TIRED. Alex had several fits when asked to do simple things like getting dressed or to come to me so I could wash his face. Then Will started telling me how his throat hurt and his tummy hurt. We decided to stay home from church to rest. Now his throat  only hurts when he yawns and he’s feeling fine. Both boys have played outside and are now playing “Balloon Base” (baseball with a balloon). So  I guess they were fine. But it has been nice to not go anywhere today and just relax. Now we’re waiting for James to get home (he had gone in early for Praise Team practice) and then lunch and nap time for all!  This upcoming week looks much calmer and more relaxed.  We and fun with the friends and family but it did wear me and the boys out!

Monday night we went to our make up baseball game (after the one that got rained out).  After a late night Sunday, Alex took a short nap in the car.

(I can not get over seeing him sleep like that! It looks so uncomfortable!)

 

We had a great view (though people came later and filled in the front of us…the whole stadium filled up more. It was $1 concession night so the concession lines were rather long at this point).

My parents, brother and sister met us there but couldn’t get seats with us. And I didn’t manage to get any picture of them. Alex loved having the chance to go back and forth between our section and theirs and that probably helped him last longer at the game.  Will stayed in our area more because he could see more and he actually watched the game.  Dad got pictures of the boys eating the baseball staple–cotton candy. We had a great night, but the home team didn’t do as well. Their pitchers had problems and in the 7th Inning that pitcher (or several, I think one was replaced in the middle of this but did no better) gave up 8 runs–most of them from walks. This caused a really long inning, and we left after that since it was 9:30. Will really wanted to stay for the end of the game, but it just wasn’t possible.  So we (along with many others) left after the 7th Inning stretch. The Indianas (AAA Farm team for the Pitt. Pirates) ended up losing 15-1. Ouch!

Sunday we went up to Mom and Dad’s. The plans included having the bon-fire & smores we’d missed out on because of the rain before and to go out to dinner to celebrate Doug’s Birthday, a bit early.  After a great meal out, we headed back to get to work on that bon-fire (or more the coals).

   

It was hard for the kids to wait for the coals to be ready. We played ladder golf…

…boys had fun being silly for Aunt Heidi while she had fun with my camera…

 

 

…and Uncle Doug helped keep them busy as well. (Can you tell Will’s shoulder is better?)

 

Finally, the coals were ready for roasting marshmellows. The boys enjoyed the smores a great deal!

So we had great plans for this weekend. Friday was going to be my shopping day, and a day for the rest of the family to recover from all their traveling.  Saturday Mom, Dad and Doug would come down and we’d eat together and then visit CarmelFest.  We’d do a bon-fire, roast marshmallows and MAYBE even venture over for the fire works.

But…the “chance” of rain they’d been forecasting earlier in the week became a certainty of rain all Saturday afternoon by Friday. So Friday afternoon James and I took the boys to CarmelFest. They’d had their hearts set on going and I knew they’d be the most upset about not being able to go.  Alex REALLY wanted to go to the “Festabal” as he kept calling. 

This is part of the Japanese garden near the City Center, the boys are sitting on the side of a small foot bridge.

 

Alex remembered playing golf last year and REALLY wanted to play again. So we did that first thing. Will was thrilled to make a hole in one one time.

  

Then we were hungry so we had to stop for corn dogs, a lemon shake up and some fries. Later we had to share a funnel cake as well.  Then we walked around and looked at the various booths and visited the fire station. While we were there, the truck and ambulance had to leave for a call and the boys got to watch them leave. They were happy both waited until they were out of the area before turning on their sirens.

 

Then the boys had fun shooting water balloons at other kids.  After a bit more walking around we were all ready to head back home.

Saturday was just as predicted–rainy and cool. The rain started around 10:30 and kept going all afternoon and evening. We told the boys we’d do the bon-fire at Grandpa and Grandma’s Sunday night. Having Uncle Doug, and then Aunt Heidi arriving, helped keep them from being too upset. 

We did pull out our small stash of fire works I’d gotten and light them. We were trying to keep them under the eves (where it was dry) but not too close to the house.

Will enjoyed his!

Alex did not like them.  It was a really wet 4th of July but nice to spend it with family. Tomorrow we’re going up to my parent’s house to spend more time together while both my brother and sister are in town. (I think this is the first time we’ve ALL been together since last MAY!)