Ask For a Little Storm...(and a big vacation photo post)

Well, I finally got my awesome storm last night....on what's considered the last day of severe weather season. The lightning started a good hour before the rain and continued well after the rain slowed. The rain came down in sheets. We lost power for just a second so that wasn't so bad. We also didn't get any hail, which was good. We did, however, get some really nasty wind. Enough wind that it blew my hanging flower baskets down. And those suckers can take some wind. I thought about pulling them down but didn't want to be touching a bunch of metal in a huge lightning storm. Luckily, they don't seem injured, so that's good. I saw Jacob in his room just watching the lightning from his bed. It was cute. I joined him for a while and we 'oohhed' and 'ahhhhed' at it all. He asked me to wake him up if the storm got cooler. LOL!

While we were on vacation, they came and inspected our fence around the pool. He left us a note asking if we could get the fence just a smidge closer to the house and that otherwise, we're good. Sweet. Now I can get on with my life.

We got back from our Oklahoma trip on Sunday evening. We were barely in the garage when the kids' friends were asking if they could play. They were certainly missed while we were gone.

The trip to Tulsa was surprisingly easy. Especially since there are no interstates between here and there. We had to take 169 Hwy all of the way. Fortunately, not only was it four lane for a good chunk, it was also 65mph. Nice. We also only hit about 5 towns before Tulsa so we didn't have to slow down much. There's not much in southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma...lots of hay, wheat and little oil pumps. That was the funniest thing. We also passed signs for Independence, KS and I realized we're not that far. I'm so going before the summer's over.

In addition to the water park, aquarium, Build-A-Bear and other stuff we did, we caught up with Mike's great-aunt and two cousins, who live in Tulsa. That was really neat. Of course I took a few hundred pictures (literally)...

Daniel at the Air and Space Museum. They had a hands-on portion that they loved.
Jacob was the only one tall enough to do this. He was like an astronaut.
Hannah in a plane
Waiting for the movie at the planetarium
Okay...so on our honeymoon, we got to pet stingrays. I asked Mike to take a picture of me petting one. When the film came back, it was just my hand and the stingray. For ten years, I've been on Mike about that. Here, Mike tries to fix that wrong. Here's me petting a stingray. Of course, I wasn't paying attention to the stingrays and one of them put my hand in their mouth. It felt strange and squishy (not painful in the slightest) but it scared me enough to scream and pull my hand out abruptly and splash the heck out of Daniel, who was standing right next to me.
The kids and Mike pet the stingrays.
This was cool. They had a tunnel where the bull sharks would swim above your head.
The kids outside of the aquarium.
The Oklahoma Aquarium
At the zoo, they had a rainforest exhibit and there were tons of these little blue poison dart frogs.
There were also monkeys running around. So close we could have touched them.
The kids goof around at the lion drinking fountain.
These tigers were too cute. They had such a good time with this ball.
At the zoo.
We ate dinner at the most bizarre steakhouse. Before the steaks came hummus, pita and tabbouleh. Oh, and cabbage rolls!
Did I mention that dinner also came with a basket of ribs and smoked bologna?
Daniel in the lazy river at the water park
Jacob loved the wave pool. I have to admit that I did too.
My little Hannah was fearless. This slide emptied into a 9ft deep pool. The girl had no problem swimming to the side.
I couldn't believe Jacob went down this 7 story tall slide. Three times. That's him going down.
And at the bottom.
Here's Mike going down.
These slides were 5 stories tall. The kids loved it. Hannah comes down.
And Jacob
And Daniel. The yellow one was faster than the green one. The pink one was for the tubes...Hannah was mad because we wouldn't rent one and she really wanted to go down the pink slide.
Mike's cousin, Kenny, Mike's great-aunt Lorraine and his cousin, Robert with us in the background just after breakfast Sunday morning.
One of my favorite things from the trip. We confused the Garmin so much that it stopped telling what road we should turn on. Instead we got, "Left on road."
The kids wait for the Build-A-Bear to open. They were so excited.
Jacob stuffs his bear.
Hannah dressing hers
The kids with their finished products. Of all the things we did in Tulsa, this is the one thing they can't stop talking about.
Daniel is a happy boy.
This is the coolest sign. You'll have to click on the picture to make it bigger so you can read it. This is the border coming from Oklahoma back into Kansas. It says, "Leaving Cherokee Nation."

Adventures in Permitting

I dropped Daniel off at summer school this morning and the rest of us headed to City Hall to get our pool permit. We park and head inside. I had no idea where to go so I went into the City Clerk's office and she told me that I was in the wrong building. We had to go two buildings over. Okay. So, we head two buildings over and they tell me that I need to go back over to City Hall. I told them that I had just come from there. The guy asked me if the City Clerk people had directed me to them and I said yes. He told me that she probably heard "pool pass" and sent me there as I was in the Parks and Rec building. He told me to go past the City Clerk's office and go down a hall and I'd find a row of booths with ladies sitting there. That's where I need to go. So, we head back to City Hall.

We go in and I'm still lost. A lady stops me and asks if she can help. When I tell her what I need, she starts to send me back to Parks and Rec. I further explain what I need and she directs me to a very nice lady at a computer.

When I tell her what I need, she tells me that there's no need for a permit for the type of pool I have. Ummm...yes there is. It takes three of them to figure out what's going on and what I need. At that point, one of the guys that was at the house of Friday sees me and thanks me for coming in. The lady helping me tells me that he's the main inspector guy and the boss of everyone there. Huh.

Anyway, she gives me the permit...well, the permit number and tells me that they'll have to come out to inspect the fence. Ugh. Well, we're going out of town tomorrow...she says that's no problem as long as they can get to it, they can inspect it. Fine. They'll be out tomorrow morning.

I'm so tired of this.

Bring On The Storms!

I woke up this morning to a thunderstorm. I love daytime thunderstorms. When Jacob got up he told me that he'd been up for a while, just listening to it storm. He's being taught right! LOL! It stormed and stormed until about 1:30. Lots of thunder and lightning and a ton of rain. It's cleared up a bit...enough for the kids to go outside and play.

I got the temporary fence up, for the most part, around the pool yesterday. I thought it would take more fencing than it did so I have a whole roll that I need to take back. I had called one of the code guys with a question last Friday and he called me back this morning. I told him that we'd almost gotten the temporary fence done and he told me that that was great and that that he would stop bothering me now. Yay! I have neighbors that are really mad that someone called the city on us. One neighbor, Aimee, really hates it because the people behind her are calling on them about once a week because of their dog. Oh well, Jacob2 hasn't been in the pool since the weekend.

I was changing the filter on the pool and putting in chlorine last night when I saw Guillermo running across the backyard. He was almost at my feet when I saw he had something dangling from his mouth. I took about 5 steps back and then looked when I saw that he'd dropped it. Of course it was a baby bunny. All cute and fuzzy. He batted it a couple of times and then picked it up again and brought it closer to me again. The look on his face was like "look what I got mom!" I told him to put the poor bunny out of its misery and to put the body in a place where the kids wouldn't find it (and I actually told him that out loud!) and went back in. So far, I haven't found the bunny and hopefully I won't.

Rant and A Little Bit of Haha

About three weeks ago, we got new neighbors. The people behind our neighbors moved out and this new family moved in. Seemed nice enough...three kids (7...Jacob2, 3 and 1)...Jacob2 is kind of bizarre and annoying (see previous post) but whatever. I didn't think a whole lot about them...until today.

Around 4:30, code enforcement pulls up to the house to investigate a complaint on our pool. Interesting. I asked who it was but they wouldn't tell me. I took them to the backyard to see the pool. I look up at the house with the new family and the dad is on his deck, just a little too interested in what's going on.

The code enforcement guys were very nice. They said that I needed a permit and told me how to get one (they're free). They also told me that because the pool is (get this) less than 4 feet high, we need a fence. If it were 4 feet high, it acts as its own fence. Ours is 4 inches shy. Crap. What's funny is that our pool in the past was in bigger violation than this one! So, we went over all of the ways that we can fence that bad boy in. Since the yard itself doesn't need to be fenced, we can drag a chain link fence (another reason you have to love no HOAs) from the deck to the side of the house. Sweet. Get the permit, enclose the pool ASAP and you're good to go. We all shake hands and I walk them to their truck.

When I come back to the backyard, Jacob2 has joined the pool bunch and his dad's standing in my backyard. Paul, the 16 year old next door who mows our yard and had been edging at the time, comes over to chat with me. I told him what the code guys said and he asked why they were there. Loud enough for new neighbor to hear, I say, because someone called in a complaint. (I could NOT have planned this more perfectly) Paul says, "Who would be dumb enough to do that?" Thank you Paul. After Paul left, I walked over to new neighbor and introduced myself, being as sickeningly sweet as I could be. I don't think they're too happy with the fact that the pool's still up.

Here's why I'm pretty sure it's them. They're the only new people around. Everyone else has been here for at least as long as we've been and no one's complained before. In fact, almost everyone swims in our pool at least once a season. I can't see why they'd call on us now.

Anyway, Stephen said that he'd be willing to help us put in a temporary fence in exchange for a bottle of wine and a lasagna. LOL! So, as soon we'll be having a fence/pool/lasagna party. Stephen suggested we use the bright orange fencing material that they use at construction sites. I still think a barbed wire coil is more fitting.

Summer Time

The kids have been on break for a week now. It doesn't seem possible. Daniel starts summer school next week (Monday and Wednesdays) and he's not all that happy about it. Of course, he asks me every day when he's going to school so who knows what's going on in his little head.

We got a new pool this year. This one is 2 feet wider and 3 inches deeper than the one we had last year. We got it all set up yesterday but it takes forever for it to fill so they really didn't get to swim. Oh, and the fact that it started thunderstorming didn't help. The new kid (Jacob 2 is what the kids call him) behind us could be a problem this summer. My kids don't like him much because he just wanders over and takes their toys (literally back to his house). He's also very mean to Guillermo, which pisses me off. Anyway, we were still setting the pool up and had about 1 inch of water in it when Jacob 2 (he's 7) comes over. "I want to swim!" he tells us. I told him, "not right now. We're still getting it set up." He disappears for 2 minutes and returns in his swimsuit and a towel. Ummm...no. After 10 minutes of arguing with this kid, he finally went back to his house to play on his slip and slide. He felt the need to narrate everything he was doing...my guess is to make the kids jealous that he was doing something they weren't. Oh well.

Mikayla (a little girl that lives behind us) came knocking on our door this morning and I heard her tell Hannah, "I saw you've got your pool set up. It's HUGE!" I wish they could swim in it...it's only 60 degrees right now. It sucks because we've been in the upper 80's. Hopefully, it'll warm up like they say it will and they can freeze their butts off in the water this afternoon. They're settling for Mikaya's trampoline right now...that'll hold them over.

I've started getting to the gym in the evenings after Mike gets home from TKD. Monday, he was upset because testing is this Saturday and he still hadn't been told he could test for his recommended black belt. He's been working his butt off (at TKD 5 days a week) and was feeling really upset about it all. He'd been texting Stephen (one of the teachers, and good friend, who was going for his third degree this weekend) and Stephen told him that he just had to buckle down and be more than ready for August. I headed to the gym, where I ran into Stephen, who was finishing up his workout. We chatted for about 25 minutes (which was awesome because I didn't even notice that I'd killed 25 minutes on the elliptical) and Stephen told me that he'd been told not to test this week. I guess he was not mentally ready. He's not a happy camper but what are you going to do?

Anyway, I take the kids to TKD last night. Jacob decided to talk to Master Johnson about his own black belt testing. Jacob asked about testing in December and Master Johnson told him that sounded good but if he was ready in October, he should test then. There's another little boy who wants to test in October and his mom and I are considering sharing some private lessons to get them ready. Jacob's so excited.

The kids and I come home and eat dinner. Mike comes home after class and tells me about it. He says that they were getting their pads on for sparring when Master Johnson announces to everyone that they need to take it easy on Mike and another guy because they're testing this weekend. Needless to say, Mike's thrilled and nervous all at the same time. He's been working so hard and I know he'll do great.

Ugh

This was a strange weekend. We set up the new pool (we had to get a new one because I was too lazy to bring the old one in for the winter) on Friday. First thing Saturday morning, the kids wanted to swim. I thought they were nuts because the water was freezing. Granted, it was 85 degrees outside, but dang that water is cold. They didn't seem to care much. At one point, we had as many as 8 kids in the pool.

While the kids were in the pool, we heard F-18's going by. They must have gone by about 8 times. Just circling the house. It was really cool. They were so low that you could almost read the writing on the plane. I guess there was an air show at one of the little local airports. Nothing like two F-18's going over your house to bring out the neighbors. Literally everyone was out on their decks, staring straight up in the air.

At some point in the afternoon, I pulled a message from Mike (he'd gone to the main academy for Saturday training like he usually does) off of the phone. He said that he was at the hospital because he'd taken a kick to the ribs and was having a hard time breathing. They ran a bunch of scans and stuff and nothing's broken but he's bruised up pretty bad. They wrote him some prescriptions and sent him home. I can't even imagine the pain. He did get calls from Master Dave and Grandmaster Lee this afternoon making sure he was okay. Yet another reason I like our TKD school.

While Mike was at the hospital, a hummingbird flew into our garage. It was neat, at first. But then, it became annoying. This was probably the dumbest bird I've ever seen. He couldn't figure out how to get out. He kept flying into the ceiling and walls. He'd hang out on top of the garage door and then fly into the wall. All he had to do was fly down about two feet and then go out the big garage door. How hard is that? He finally figured it out Sunday afternoon. Daniel had walked into the garage with a light up toy and the hummingbird followed that light right out. I didn't realize hummingbirds were that dumb. LOL!

Saturday, I also did 6 loads of laundry. I hate laundry with a passion. I managed to switch out most of the kids' winter clothes for summer ones and their closets are now stuffed with warm weather gear. It doesn't seem like they've grown much so all of the clothes they wore last year are getting another go-round. The only thing I need to get is more shorts for Hannah. She only has one pair. Good thing she has a lot of little sundresses.

Sunday was the kids' last day of Sunday School for the school year. Mike was having a hard time just sitting up, so I took them by myself. After classes were over, everyone met in the time for worship area (that's what Hannah called it since the Rabbi always yells "time for worship!" every Sunday). Each grade level did a skit or song telling everyone where their tzedakah (offering) money went. I honestly can't remember where the first graders sent their money (I think it was some Israeli dog and cat organization) but the third graders actually got in touch with a unit of the Israeli Army and their money went to them. They sent photos and exchanged letters throughout the year. After that, they showed a slide show of the kids throughout the year. It was very cute.

The synagogue also held their used book fair yesterday. Like I needed more books, but at 50 cents a piece, it was hard to resist. I picked up a book called Modern Jewish Cooking that was printed in 1952. A lot of the recipes call for a pressure cooker, which must have been the big gadget at the time. Most of the recipes were familiar but there were some really strange ones. The author goes into detail about the joy of cooking with calves' brains and lungs (you have to buy the whole lungs with the heart. Just remove the esophagus.) It's fun to go through it. All in all, I picked up 16 books for $8. A few books for summer reading and several books for the kids.

This is the last full week of school for the boys. I can't tell you how excited I am about that.

Happy October

Raise your hand if you think this year's going by too fast. I know my hand is up.

I finally got around to draining the pool (okay, so it's still draining). I know...I know. They were actually in it on Saturday, so I don't feel too bad about it. It seems like every time I'd get set to drain it, it would be close to 90 degrees outside. Oh well. What's strange is that it seems to take longer to drain than it did to fill. Once it does finally drain completely and dry out, I have to figure out exactly where to store the thing for next year.

Over the weekend, a new family moved into the repo house behind us. It looks like they have some kids (around the same ages as mine)...hopefully the kids will have some new playmates. We haven't been over to introduce ourselves yet, but we will.

Hannah went to a princess dress up party last Friday, hosted by a girl at my MOPS table, and had a great time. The cool part, for me, was the fact that I was able to sit around and talk to other moms. It felt a lot like a MOMS Club event in Virginia. A bunch of us decided to start a Friday morning playgroup for the kids beginning this coming Friday. I am really looking forward to it. They have also started a MOPS Bible Study on alternate Tuesday mornings. That starts tomorrow. I'm looking forward to that as well. Here are a couple of photos from the party...



Mike and Jacob are busily getting ready for their camp out this Friday. This one is just for Jacob's den. Should be a lot of fun for the two of them. Daniel has said that he thinks it would be cool if Jacob would catch a seal while fishing (they're going to do some fishing while they're there). Daniel, Hannah and I are planning on going bowling as a special treat while they are camping. They all just love to go bowling. The following weekend, there's a Cub Scout district-wide family camp out. We're all planning on attending that one. It's been a long time since I've been camping (9 years to be exact) and I know that the kids have never been. Mike and I are hoping that we can get into the camping thing and start doing that as a family thing in the summer. I don't know if we'd ever get to the point where we'd get a camper/pop-up or anything (my nod to Deb and family...you guys are hard core campers that would put us to shame...although, if you have any tips, I'd be happy to take them) but it would be fun to be able to go out and camp now and then. Even if we just set up the tent in the backyard.

Is It Really Only Wednesday?

What a week already! The kids have been in the pool everyday and there was a little drama yesterday. Two girls from behind us have been coming in to swim and they are so annoying. Yesterday, they were fighting with each other and tattling to me about it. Sorry, but I don't care about your drama. After the third tattle, I told them that if they couldn't get along, they'd have to go home. A few minutes later, Jacob's out of the pool saying he's done because the girls are still fighting. I told them that's it - they needed to go home. They pretended to not hear me so I repeated myself. They got out and everyone (my kids included) went to Mikayla's house. Ugh.

I booked Jacob's party for his actual birthday on Monday. He wanted a bowling party so that's what we're going to do. He's really excited abot inviting all of his friends. I just hope they can make it because it's tough to get kids to come to parties in the summer.

Hannah is officially registered for preschool in the fall. The school comes highly recommended from several people and after talking with the school's director, I'm confident it's the place for Hannah. The program is three days a week which is exactly what I was looking for (many in the area are 5 days a week because of the insane kindergarten program) and is 2 1/5 hours long. Great location - right across from the kids' elementary school. The only drawback is that the only spaces left were in the afternoon. Really, it's not that big a deal, but I would have liked a morning program. Oh well. She's so excited about going to school and she'll still be able to go with me to MOPS. That's a good thing because she loves going to MOPS. I just can't believe she's going to preschool. Or that Daniel will be in 1st grade. Or that Jacob will be in 3rd!

This weekend, we're going to take a trip to Omaha, Nebraska. What's to do there you ask? Actually, a lot. They have a great zoo and museums and whatnot. The kids are so excited. I think they are more excited about staying in a hotel but I know I'm just looking forward to our first real family vacation. Not that I don't love you all, but this will be the first vacation where we're not visiting family. It'll just be us. Mike promised to leave work behind and said he won't even be bringing his cell phone. I have a feeling I'll be catching him late at night on my cell making secret calls. LOL! Seriously, it should be a blast!

Weekend Update

I haven't posted in a couple of days because the kids have me held hostage by the pool. I woke up at 8:00 Friday morning to the faces of two little boys asking if they could go in the pool. Outside temperature at the time? 63 degrees. Friday night, I had to tell them that we wouldn't even consider going in the pool on Saturday until after 10:00am. They were really good about it but once the clock hit 10, they were all about getting those suits on and heading out. Darn schools teaching the kids to tell time.

I'm not getting much done in the house with the kids outside (I'm not at all comfortable leaving them alone in this pool) but it's worth it when it comes to bedtime. All three are so worn out that they go right to sleep. It's usually not an issue for Hannah, she's all about sleep when she's in bed but the boys typically goof around for an hour or so...prompting a lot of yelling from Mike and me. The past couple of nights, I've heard them talking for a few minutes and then it's quiet. I told Mike that I'd still like to get a trampoline so that they can go back and forth between the pool and trampoline and really wear themselves out. Mike thought about it and said that we should wait a little while. Oh man. You know what would be really cool is a huge obstacle course in the backyard so they can run, jump, and climb out their massive amounts of energy. I guess I'll have to settle for the pool for a while.

I had made the mistake, earlier in the spring, of buying Coppertone sunscreen for the kids. I forgot that it gave Hannah "bonks" (bumps) on her arms and legs. I think that she's allergic to something in it. I wasn't expecting Jacob to get "bonks" as well. Anyway, I replaced it with Bullfrog spray sunscreen. No more "bonks" and it works really really well.

I finally finished House of Sand and Fog which is probably the most boring book I've ever read. Okay, so Teacher Man by Frank McCourt is probably the most boring book I've ever read but this one comes a close second. It took me three months to get through this insane story. Sue had told me that I should just stop reading it altogether. I said that after putting this much time into it, I had to finish it. And now, I'm done. I have a book written by Dan Brown that I'm not sure I want to start. I just need some good fluff, I think. Something quick and good that doesn't pretend to be more than it is. I'm not sure my Dan Brown book will fit the bill.

New Pool

The kids and I went out and got our new pool this morning. We decided to invest in one that we can use for a few years, so it's huge. I also got Hannah one of those swimsuits with the floaties sewn inside and she loves it. It took a while for it to fill but the kids didn't care. They played in it from the time it began filling up until about 5 minutes ago. They even ate sandwiches for lunch poolside. I hope that this occupies them for the summer!

Playing in the pool
More playing in the pool
Just beware of the shark in the water!