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Busy, busy summer

Last Monday: Last day of school. Also last day for me to teach (I was in a county where it wasn't their last day of school, obviously).

Last Tuesday:
Tennis at 8:15 a.m. Drove 300 miles "home" with the four kids. Dinner out with my closest friend who I probably only see about 2-3 times a year. Cheesecake Factory -- they don't have those around here!!!

Last Wednesday:
A trip to the Creation Museum.
That will take it's own post -- it is SO wonderful!!! My dad took me, my older two and my oldest niece.
I will encourage everyone I meet to go -- it's that good. When we got back I picked my mom up and we met my sister and some friends for dinner and drinks. . .and wound up with my mom at a local donut shop at 1 a.m.!!! That never happens around here either :)

Last Thursday:
I got to sleep in for the first time in a long time :) I had lunch with another good friend and visited IKEA for the first time in my life. I was there for something specific but would love to go back sometime just to browse for awhile. . .that night my mom took the kids and I out for a pizza dinner at Mama Rosa's -- yum! After dropping my mom off at home we went to our old neighborhood and visited with a family there that I was close to. They vacation down in our state each year and we always "make plans" to meet up with them for a day -- it's only happened once but I hope this year it happens again :) Her girls have grown up so much and we still have a lot in common. . .we'd definitely play LOTS of tennis together now that the kids are older if we still lived in the same 'hood!!

Last Friday:
Tom got in late Thursday night and Friday morning he got up and met my dad and sister for breakfast with me. Then he spent the afternoon shopping with me for gifts for the family birthday party that evening. We were celebrating Margaret's 8th birthday (on that day) and my youngest niece's 6th birthday. My sister had a lot of family in from out of town plus our family so the party was a pretty big affair! My wonderful in-laws hosted the event :) This is a picture of Margaret when she opened the gift that Tom bought for her -- a new necklace.

Saturday:
Breakfast again!!! This time I went out with Amanda, who spent a week down here with us earlier this year and so this was another chance to see her. Tom had some things to do for my mom at her house that afternoon and I headed out for a L-O-N-G day of shopping. Not my favorite thing to do. Margaret had gotten quite a bit of money for her birthday and wanted to spend it -- she got her ears pierced too! -- then I needed to take Marie out for a few essentials. That night my girls went to spend the night with my sister and my mom took Tom and I out for burgers at a new-to-us place, Extra Ordinary Burgers. I highly recommend it! We also ran into dear friends there who we hope to see down here at the lake in July :) We took my mom home and I was hoping to go back out to visit a friend but we started going through old pictures from her attic. . .we were finding pictures not only of her parents, but of Tom and I 20 years ago!!! And some that would make good Facebook posts. . .ha! Unfortunately, I didn't make it back out that night. . .but. . .

Sunday:
My dear friend Jill was able to meet me for breakfast (yes, I pretty much just ATE my way through the week!) with her oldest and youngest daughters. I love spending time with her. She is my hero -- she has 7 children, is a stepmother to her husband's older children, and has 2 grandchildren. She's a full-time teacher. . .wife. . .she does it all! (I need to mention that her youngest isn't even one!) When she headed to church I met up with the the Bell boys and we took my mom out to the cemetery to visit my stepdad's grave. This is a picture of Tom and Thomas planting a couple flowers that we brought.After that I took the kids to meet my sister and the girls at the pool while Tom packed up the car to leave. . .we were back home by 9 p.m.

Monday:
Jill's husband had the other five kids with him at the lake so we decided to make the 2-hr drive up there to visit all of them for the Memorial Day holiday. . .it was a beautiful HOT day so after grilling out lunch we hung by the pool. The guys didn't want to take a boat out on the lake on a busy holiday weekend -- we had 10 kids in all (one of his daughter's had a friend with her) and we were the only ones at the campground pool -- yea! I got to sit by the pool and read a book, the guys sat under a tree and did whatever they do. . .we ended up going back to their place and grilling round two of the hot dogs and sausages we brought than headed home.

Tuesday:
Up early for an 8:30 tennis match that was rained out 45 minutes into it. The kids and I went to the library and then stocked up at Wal-Mart. Tuesday evening was the first night of Mega Sports Camp at a church in town that I do the crafting for each year. It's such a neat program! They added a parenting class to the schedule this year so when Tom got off work he headed up and joined the class :) This is from 5-8:30 every night this week.

Wednesday:
My first day of summer classes! I am taking two this summer semester -- a law class and a PR class. I think I'll like them both. I had an 8:15 tennis match than the kids and I met up with friends to head over to Splash Country for the day. It was kind of a disappointing day. . .we got there at 2 (they had guest passes so we only had to pay for the boys to get in -- it's a 2+-hr drive for us) and then 15 minutes after we got in they closed everything down b/c lightening was spotted within 6 miles. We got some food. . .walked around. . .and 2 hours later they opened back up. It never really significantly rained. The park was only open for another 1.75 hours so the older kids ran to do the slides and things they wanted and I stayed back with the two youngest to play in the kiddie areas. Our friends were heading out of town from there. . .we came back home with a stop at Dairy Queen on the way -- it didn't "make up" for the lousy weather that day but it was still a special treat for them.

Thursday (today):
FINALLY, a day with nothing on the calendar but Mega Sports Camp. Margaret had been complaining of an ear ache so I called as soon as the dr.'s office opened but they couldn't see her until 2:45. We did chores around the house, I worked on my school work a bit, the kids watched a movie, I got ready for my craft tonight, then we went to the dr's office. We had been in the waiting room for 70 minutes and finally I was frustrated and afraid we were going to be late for church so we left. This is NOT the first time we have waited over an hour in the waiting room -- usually when we do that we're also back in the exam room for more than an hour too. So. . .I instead called my sister and gave her the symptoms (I was pretty sure it was an outer-ear infection) and had it taken care of in 5 minutes. Ugh. So frustrating. And then on top of that Tom didn't get my message to pick up the medication on his way home so we'll have to wait until morning. Poor girl -- luckily Motrin seems to help the pain "enough".

Friday (tomorrow):
My first day back to work in about 2 weeks!!! I've enjoyed my time off from the YMCA but always like getting back too. I'll work every Mon-Wed-Fri morning this summer. . .the kids go with me and it works out well. We usually do our Sam's shopping on Fridays too and then it will be the last night of Mega Sports Camp. Unfortunately it's also the last night of soccer practices too. . .and I think the kids are choosing camp over practice. . .hard choice for sure. They all have soccer games Saturday -- hoping for GREAT weather for the last games this year.

I think next week will be more "boring" and routine. . .but we need that right now! We sure started summer with a BANG :) We leave for a family vacation in two weeks and are thinking about possibly, maybe, trying to put our house on the market too. Whew! No flowers were planted (yet) this year. . .I'd like to at least get some hanging baskets out. . .our bedroom *needs* to be painted. . .I haven't switched out my seasonal clothes yet this season. . .plus my school work. . .and hopefully a teaching job hunt too. Thomas wants to get his boating license. . .I'd like to find a good typing program for the kids. . .the first full day of school for the kids is August 10th. . .it will come too soon!!!!

Comments

  1. Wow! I am exhausted just reading that. As always, I miss you. Maybe we could catch up sometime? Oh, we are having a family pool party on Friday, June 25th at 5 p.m. I will send invites... soon! I hope you all can come!

    ReplyDelete

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