Just banished the wild children to the basement. They were all laying here and screaming on the floor. 2/3 of them mocking the one who was just a little bit hurt. It's amazing. They are all down there now and quiet. Probably all plugged into some sort of electronic device, but look at me... I am too...
The dog days of summer are here. What are the dog days anyways? Must investigate that. One and Two had football camp this morning for 2 hours (and every morning this week) but other than that, it's a relatively quiet week. Rugby is done. T-ball wraps up this week. No swimming lessons.
Summer continues to be H.O.T. Not enough rain; some break ahead this week, with temps in the 80's instead of 90's. Hot and steamy round the clock. We will yearn for this in January, but it's getting a little tiring.
Friday night, I got to spend time with my cousins. Cousins! I love my cousins! This family of 4 girls have been going up to a church camp their entire lives and they continue to do it as adults, now bringing their children along too. They gathered in Madison on Friday night before heading up north for the week. My cousin from New Mexico stopped over on Friday to see the boys and me. She mentioned that she and her sisters and dad were going out for fish that night, and then they were heading to the Memorial Union Terrace. I sort of invited myself along. After a dip in the pool that night, One, Two and I headed over to the Union (which One kept calling "the Onion"). It was packed with people and hot and loud but so much fun. I had a cold beer and the boys got ice cream. We people watched and chatted and laughed and walked along the lakeshore. It was fun to be out with my crew until 11 pm. They were both surprised to see the city still so alive at that hour.
We all felt very wilted after the final rugby event on Saturday. Bob has been planning on rebuilding a fence for the past month. Saturday afternoon, he was digging new post holes and I guiltily watched him from inside our cool (*tip! remind me to tell you my house-cooling tip!) house. It took him until Sunday at noon to finish digging the holes. I have backed waaaaay off the pressure to get the fence built now that I see that effort it takes just to dig the holes.
So glad I'm a woman. I (think I) pull my own share of the weight around here and I don't shy away from physical tasks, but there are definitely times where I appreciate being the farer (or is it fairer?) sex.
On Sunday, we celebrated my mom's birthday. My older brother and his family came over to my parents' house. My sis-in-law and Bob and I pulled together a great little meal, if I may say so myself. I made a Grilled Pork Tenderloin that was YUM. SIL made a chocolate cake and fruit salad. Bob made a delicious little salad he pulled together including baby bib lettuce, asparagus, toasted almonds, hard boiled eggs and a great dressing he made up. It was a really fun time together. Everyone was in a good mood. We laughed about a lot of things. We got some arrangements sorted out for our upcoming family trip to Door County, satisfying my mother's need to organize trips and travel. The kids were thrilled to be with their cousins. All in all, a great weekend.
In other news, I heard today that the sweet and frail elderly woman across the street died yesterday. I had been wondering about her and asked her daughter (who lives there too) how her mom was just last week. I asked her to tell her mom "hi" from me, and I wondered if they needed anything. I am holding this family in my heart as they mourn her passing.
Life marches along for the rest of us. Groceries are put away. Laundry needs to be folded. Children will soon need more food and diversions from electronics and each other. I am thankful for this life, here and now.
* Onto my cool house tip. I have been keeping the windows shut and running my house fan through my furnace to keep my house cool. I also use my ceiling fans (on the first floor) to keep the cool air circulating. It's as cool as if I were to use may a/c! It's amazing. We do run the a/c at night when we sleep, but we have a thermostat in the second floor, so it only cools up there. Our electric/gas bills are pretty reasonable so far, considering how comfortable the house feels.
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