Summer Break Day Nine

 

Summer Solstice. The longest day of the year. And my niece's birthday.

 

Not much else going on today. That was awesome! Nothing broke or leaked. Phew!

 

Kyle had a blast practicing tee ball in the rain. It was fun to watch him be so excited and work so hard. And what a gentleman. When he runs in front of his teammates to get the ball, he picks it up and hands it to them. So polite ;-)

 

We had dinner with Olivia and family to celebrate her birthday. It was my first trip to Mangos. It was pretty good. As good as a dinner out can be with 5 rowdy kids sitting across from a table of drunken adults. Okay, it wasn't that bad and the food was surprisingly good. Most importantly Olivia seemed to have a great time.

 

Day Nine Life Lesson:  Let your friend pick up the ball sometimes.

Summer Break Day Eight

What a day! Hot water heater has been leaking water into our family room. I guess I figured out what that smell was. Brutal on the pocketbook. We had to rip up carpet, too. Yikes, I don't know how much more I can take. Trying to stay positive.

 

On another note, my dear friend Alice visited us today with DQ in hand. What a treat. She made my day. It was so wonderful to have a bright spot appear in what has been a tough few weeks. It's only been weeks, though, right? Anyway, it was fun chatting and catching up. She set Cooper to task creating an itinerary for the Fricks as they venture off for two weeks. He has been busy creating a detailed vacation plan including hotel prices, things to see, and specific routing. Wow! Good job, Coop! Hopefully, they will note that all times listed are central time, as noted by Cooper :-)

 

Yesterday was a super fun day even though Corey didn't get to spend much of it with us. Not much of a Father's Day for him which makes me very sad.

 

Day Eight Life Lesson: Focus on the fireworks.

Summer Break Day Seven

 

Today was Coop's last day of Lego Camp. He had a super great week with his partner Cade and all the other kids and helpers. I think Coop is excited to see Mr. Paulsen again in the fall when he starts 4th grade.

 

Kyle, Cam and I ventured off to the ever exciting kiddie parade. The boys enjoyed racing to snatch up airborne tootsie rolls. We had a hot dog lunch with Tim and the kids and then trekked to the car so we could be on time to pick up Cooper.

 

Picked up the van from the shop after it got fixed. Thanks for your help Bowlin. I missed my phone delivery so I drove to the Rochester FedEx warehouse to pick it up. Finally got the phone working about 10pm. Cathy rode with us and we had dinner at her house. Super great to see everyone at the ranch.

 

More Steamboat Days activities over the weekend.

 

Day Seven Life Lesson: Hmmm... be patient, be very, very patient.

Summer Break Day Six

 

Golf Day! Nothing makes me feel better like golfing with my peeps. Such a great night. Golfing was pitiful but the company was great. Dinner exceeded my expectations - ribeye, yum.

 

I needed something fun after finding out that we were going to have to skip South Dakota. Extremely disappointing. Cooper seems to be handling it well. He asked if we could go to Lark Toys instead.

 

Kyle and Cameron chalked up the day as fun since they got to hang out with their cousin Connor while I went to find a new phone.

 

The day ended with the check engine light coming on in the van. Woohoo, can't wait to find out what that's about. In the mean time, the van is like being in a carnival ride. Shakes when it's idling. My dad and I got to spend some quality time going to Fleet Farm to get some oil to see if that would help but alas it still shakes.

 

Speaking of shakes and carnivals, we are hoping to enjoy Steamboat Days since we will be in town.

 

Day Six Life Lesson: Life goes on even if your golf game is off.

Summer Break Day Five

 

I lost my droid. The End.

 

Day Five Life Lesson: Take care of your phone.

Summer Break Day Four

 

Lots of wine, I mean, whine. Yikes. Whine, whine, whine, whine, whine. I really need to start wearing headphones during the day.

 

We took my dad out for dinner to Culver's for an early Father's Day treat. We will be out of town over the weekend so thought we'd celebrate early. His favorite place to eat is Culver's.

 

Kyle anxiously awaited tee-ball all day and was not disappointed. He left practice tonight with his purple jersey with a big #1 on the back. He was born to play ball.

 

The Twins, on the other hand, would not play ball tonight - rained out. Bummer.

 

Another fun morning of Lego camp for Cooper. He and his partner programmed their robot today to go through a maze. Very cool!

 

And then there's Cameron. He loves to proclaim to the world, at the worst possible times, "I get my muscles from my dad and my armpits from my mom." Huh? What in the world does that even mean?

 

Day Four Life Lesson: A desk job is not worth dying for.

Summer Break Day Three

 

Okay, when does school start? I'm kidding. It's not that bad. Corey has been gone so it feels like a lot of single parenting. I don't know how single parents survive, especially since most have jobs outside of the home. They must be in a constant state of exhaustion and bewilderment.

 

Coop went to Lego Camp this morning and was beaming when I picked him up. A very good sign. It was great to meet Mr. Paulsen, his teacher in the fall. Tomorrow Coop tells me they will have computers available to program their lego robots or whatever they are designing. Wish I could go.

 

My day consisted of asking Kyle to stop whining and listening to him repeat the same question over and over to me. I don't remember the question but I recall that it was very annoying to be asked it 43 times. After I mowed the lawn, we ventured off with Gramps to Bartlett Lake to try fishing. After stopping at a gate and walking along a water-covered road we decided it wasn't going to happen. However, it was a nice walk. I took some photos, which proves I have learned the most important lesson in taking good pictures; have your camera with you ALWAYS.

 

Day Three Life Lesson: Don't walk around the puddles, splash your way through them.