Summer: Day 66

Friday August 5, 2011

I think I'm starting to come to terms with the fact that summer is nearly over. Next week will be my last week off. I got my inservice schedule today for the week after next. It's not too bad, actually! I hate to see my days of getting to sleep a little later end, but we all function better when we're on a schedule, so I guess it's time to do that.

Today we finished up taking care of a friend's dogs while they have been out of town. Today's perk was that we got to stay & swim. The kids & I have been looking forward to it for a few days. We were at their house about 9am. After feeding and watering the pets, we headed out to swim. The kids had a blast. We stayed until about 11am. We had races across the pool, diving games to find the Littlest Pet Shop animals we brought over for the swim party. We played lifeguard (you know, where you "save" someone & swim them to the side of the pool). It was a lot of fun. Maybe one day we'll have a pool of our own. Or maybe not. They sure seem to require a lot of maintenance. (Note: at 10:30pm as I wrote this post, I realized that I had left the waterhose that runs into the pool on when we left this morning so I made a quick trip over there & shut it off. Oops! I did text her & fess up. Hopefully their water bill won't be a million dollars because of it!!)



After our swim, we came home for lunch & showers before heading out again. We went to another friend's house to pick up the key & get instructions on feeding their pets & watering their flowers next week. (The kids love earning a few dollars doing things like this!!!)

Then we headed to Walmart. I have been taking the kids to the grocery store with me most of the summer. It's always a challenge, but they're a little older now and I hate to leave them home alone while I run all the errands. I like hanging out with them (most of the time) and so far, none of them are embarrassed to be seen with their mother. So today they went along like usual. But I had plans for them other than just fetching the lettuce & bread as we walked the aisles. School clothes! After everyone tried on things & we got all the groceries bought, we had been in the store for something like 3 1/2 hours! Yikes! At least they weren't arguing the whole time. (thank goodness!) We still need to find Sarah some shorts or capris and a shirt or two, but otherwise we're done. I'll wait until next week & see who has some sales we can hit!

After we got home & had dinner (it was nearly 5pm before we got home from the store!!), Savannah & I had one last adventure for the night. About 9 months ago (I think?) she asked me to help her find some penpals. She wanted to have 2-3 so that in case one didn't work out, she'd still have one. She has had some email penpals over the years, but she wanted to write "real" letters & send them back and forth through the mail. Through the magic of Facebook, I was able to find a few girls around her age that she could write to. And one of them is the daughter of a friend I grew up with..... who just happens to be in town visiting her grandmother this week! So we went over & visited so they could meet face to face! I think they were both nervous because they both got incredibly silly & giggly. They laughed a lot & had fun. We only stayed about 30 minutes, but it was a fun time for them to get to see who all those letters are from.

Tomorrow is Savannah's 15th birthday. I have a few surprises up my sleeve for her....looking forward to seeing her smile a lot tomorrow! More about that tomorrow night.