Last Day

It's finally the last day of school. Wouldn't you know it, my 7 year old is sick. He has A flu (fever, chills, aches, stuffy nose, vomiting) but we have not determined if it is THE flu. We will call the doctor in an hour and a half and get him in. Then, of course, we will do our civic duty and inform the school system of the diagnosis. No reports on the county health department site of current issues with THE flu. Keep your fingers crossed.

In other news on the same child, he has successfully fulfilled his obligation to be an official member of the swim team. He swam two events at time trials, 25 Freestyle (more like dog paddle) and 25 Backstroke (with arms fluttering underwater by his side). Sorry, no pictures yet. I'll have some soon, though.

The over-achieving older brother was pretty amazing, too. He swam three events, (50 back, breast and free) then decided he could do butterfly. After he finished butterfly he informed me he thought he'd be good for the IM. ????? I was so proud of his willingness to try something so far out of his comfort zone.

My kids are amazing. And I am officially very boring.

Enjoy your day.

Peace

I usually have Monday to myself, but for the past few weeks this has not been the case. You can imagine how happy I was when I realized this morning that I would once again, have my solitary Monday. My day has been quite boring. I submitted a urine sample for a drug screening for a job. I called my son's dentist to schedule an appointment. I called a company I've been trying to get a job with to find out the status of my job. I did some laundry. I cleaned a bathroom and did the breakfast dishes and I baked some rolls.

It is now 1:45 pm. My kids will be home in an hour and a half. I am watching a movie called Bright Young Things (not doing anything for me) and lounging without bonbons. I still have to take the kids to swim practice and buy team suits for them AND attend the 1st grade end of the year program. I still consider this to be a peaceful day. Once in a while, it's nice not to have to talk to anyone.

Enjoy your day.

Digital Scrapbook II

We drove to Capital Hill on Saturday and then took the Metro to the Smithsonian stop so we could visit the Natural History Museum. Of course, we saw the gems and paid homage to the Hope Diamond. Then we visited the Butterfly Pavilion. Here are some pictures.

Only one minute left to wait for the train!

Freaky looking butterfly.

Two butterflies resting on the wall.

Too bad I didn't pay more attention to the names of these pretty things!

Hiding in the flowers. Perhaps all the little girls with cameras were too much.

In Other News...

I finished The Samaritan's Secret. I know. It's a miracle. It was an excellent little who-dunnit with the twist of providing a small amount of insight into the many Palestinian views of conflict in the Middle East. And the insight was provided without a bit of anti-Israeli rhetoric. I highly recommend it. Now I've moved onto Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. In case you've been under a rock for the past few years, Three Cups is the story of a man who wanders into a Pakistani village after failing his attempt to climb K2 and how he was so moved by the people in the village and their daily struggle to survive that he decided to build a school for them. I'm possibly the last person on earth who hasn't read this book. So far, it's pretty delightful.

Enjoy your day!

New Toys

We got wi-fi yesterday so now I can blog from anywhere in my house. If only I knew what to blog about...

Summer has really officially begun because swim practice started today. My 7 year old is making his second attempt to get on the team. The requirement is that you need to be able to swim one length of the pool. He came down with a virus the day before time trials with a fever of 102 that hung on for days. It was very tragic. I was tense for him today, but he did an excellent job! He's got two weeks of practice to hone his skills but I think he's going to do this. 

I love our swim team. It's a little neighborhood team that's very low key. It's the perfect athletic endeavor for our kids. Low emphasis on personal success. Big emphasis on fun fun fun!

We have very few other activities planned for the summer, mainly because their isn't a lot of money to pay for them but I truly enjoy having summers free. No schlepping kids to and fro from one expensive activity to another. Lots of time at the pool. Excellent tans. Time for everyone to enjoy their friends and for all of us to just be with each other. 

I do love summer.

Life on the Farm

My brother John lives north of St. Paul, MN. He and his wife, Debi have enough land that they are able to have lots of animals; including dogs, rabbits and some baby ducks that pay a brief visit each spring.

Not entirely sure what this is. This animal does not reside on John's land.

This is Simon walking his dog Tickle.
Tickle loves Simon so much he has jumped in the tub with him.

These are the ducks who have come to stay until they decide to leave.

This is a huge rabbit. He's bigger than Tickle.

This is Simon feeding a horse. I like the shadows.

Simon would absolutely love a horse of his own.