Summer!

Summer is here, the boys are out of school, soccer season is over and the heat has set in.  I was able to get the pool set up this past weekend and the boys decided they wanted to get in, despite the near freezing temperature of the water.  I had to stick my hand in the water to apply a patch and when I was done with the repair, my arm was numb.  The boys plunged in soon after that and spent the rest of the day swimming.  If I get in that water, I lose body parts that won't return until Fall.

 

The other night we took the boys to Mt Pleasant to hang with their Aunt and Uncle, cousins and grandparents.  To say they were excited, would be an understatement.  They love to spend time there, lots of things to do that we just don't have at home.  Plus, built in playmates that don't curse at them or cause any of the other issues we seem to have with neighborhood kids.  As the day went on Monday, I started to dread losing them for the week.  Yes, they drive me crazy, they are messy and loud, but I sure do love the little buggars and miss them when they are gone.  I love the fact that they get to spend time with family and build a relationship with them, which I wasn't able to do very much when I was a kid.  The distance between me and my extended family was large, physical miles that is, so getting close to them was difficult.  I hope we can continue to build the family bond that we want, despite the physical miles between us.  The other part of that sadness was that we learned this past weekend that Makiah's soccer coach of three years will no longer be coaching and his team will be disbanded.  Makiah has loved his time playing and loved his coach and team.  The team has gotten so much better over the past few years, it's sad that they will no longer be together.  I won't see the parents that I have been sitting with for the past few years, and they were some very nice and supportive parents.  They never complained about the coach, or playing time for their kids, or about any of the other kids.  It was a joy to be around them, and I will miss that.  Makiah is at the stage now where he doesn't want to play at all.  Seems he isn't big on change, especially radical change, so he wants to end on a high note and retire his stained jersey.   Marcy and I have decided to give him a little more time to consider before we push for a decision.  We have until the end of the month to either sign up or let the deadline pass.  Maybe he will take the Fall off and then be ready to go in the Spring, who knows.

 

The boys all got their report cards and next year teacher assignments.  Makiah has a new teacher to the district, so who knows how that will turn out.  She is a "Miss," so maybe that means she is young and will be fun for the kids, but she could be like other teachers we know and a task master who makes school a chore, instead of fun.  Mason, of course, is breaking new ground since he is our first 5^th grader, so we have no idea what he is getting into.  This will be his first male teacher, so it will be interesting.  Max's teacher is the same teacher that Mason had in first grade, so we know her and like her.  Max's best friend didn't make it to the same class, so that will be an issue for him, he will be extremely sad.  Might as well start learning now, life isn't always what we want it to be, but we plug on.

 

We have friggin ants again.  Damn these things drive me nuts.  We had them last year, so I had a company come out and get rid of them, once I had exhausted my attempts to rid my home of them on my own.  After a short time, they were gone.  Now that our financial situation is at the point that I need to be Joe Exterminator, I have set off to try to get rid of them on my own without spending they same amount of money I would have spent if I would have had a professional do it.  So far, Ants 2, Mark 0.  I bought some little ant feeders, which is poison, not food, (I'm well aware that if you feed them food, they will stick around) but they seem to have received the email from the head ant telling them that these little white food containers are in fact, poison.  No takers.  I also bought some spray to spray on the outside of the house, just like the pros use, but that hasn't seemed to slow them down either.  I'm going to try one more time with something I can do on the inside of the house that won't kill me, Marcy or the kids, and if that doesn't work, sell my kidney to afford the pest guy to get rid of the ants, again.  There aren't a lot of them, but just enough to annoy you and worry about leaving any food out.