This
summer has flown by like none I can ever remember. I can’t believe we are almost to the
end! Here is a quick rundown of the fun
we’ve had.
-
To
celebrate the end of the school year, Matt and I took the kids to Lake Winnepesaukah
in Chattanooga. It is a great little family friendly
amusement park. It has the kind of rides
I love most, the Tilt-a-Whirl, Spider, Scrambler… you know, all the rides that
spin you around and make you feel drunk.
They remind me of going to the fair when I was a kid. Bonnie, Will, Luke, and I rode together all
day, but Rosemary went a different speed.
She was tall enough for almost everything, but she didn’t like anything
but the kiddie coaster and the bumper cars.
I won some tickets from the radio station, so I am going to take the big
three kids again on Wednesday while my mom takes Roey out to eat and to do some
shopping.
-
Matt
went out of town with some buddies in mid-June.
There was a door in the kids’ bathroom between the vanity and the room
with the toilet and tub that has never closed.
It bumped into the toilet because the toilet was installed too close to
the door. The last thing you do when you
build a house is hang the doors, so by the time we discovered the problem, the
plumbing was done and the tile floors were finished. It would have required a lot of time and work
to fix it, and we were just ready to move in.
So the non-closing door has remained.
While Matt was gone, we decided to take down the door and place bets on
how long it would take him to realize it after he returned home. Somehow that little sneaky project turned
into a full-blown bathroom redo. They decided the fish theme was too babyish for them. We
painted the walls and bought a new shower curtain and rug, so now they have a more mature bathroom. Obviously, Matt noticed pretty fast!
- The week of July 4th, we had lots of family in town that we only get to see once a year. We celebrated my Granny Ponder’s 88th birthday at her house. It was supposed to be at my parents’ house, but a spur-of-the-moment trip to Las Vegas left my mom with a horrible stomach virus, and she ended up missing all the festivities. Still, it was wonderful seeing my cousins and their children. There were also cousins on Matt’s side of the family in town later in the week, so we kept the party going. On the evening of July 4th, we went to a party at the home of some friends. We had a great time, and their lovely outdoor space inspired me to tackle my next home project, refinishing our deck. I think I’ll do a separate post for that when it is complete. It is going very slowly thanks to pop-up summer storms, but it will get done eventually.
-
And
speaking of summer storms, we have gotten some beautiful produce from our
garden this year. We have never grown
eggplant before, so we gave it a try.
One night, Matt made ratatouille.
I had heard of it, but I didn’t exactly know what it was. It has eggplant, zucchini, onions, bell
peppers, tomatoes, and mushrooms. The
only thing we had a buy was the mushrooms, and the meal was delicious!
- Bonnie is now a full-fledged teenager. She had a boyfriend. Now I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have a boyfriend. She no longer talks to me. She spends all her time in her room or with her head phones on. I remember being a lot like that when I was her age, but up until now, Bonnie has always been very open with me. I was kinda hoping that we would skip the brooding phase. I just don’t know how to parent a teenager. I feel lost. In retrospect, I think changing diapers might have been the easy part of parenting. :-(
That's all I've got. I hope you enjoy the last sweet summer days!
