We FINALLY got our pool up and running. We kept waiting for the rain to stop and the weather to warm up, but it's not happening!
I wish I had thought of taking pictures of it so you could really appreciate how great it looks now. It was a slimy swamp. It was so gross and smelly. Apparently, our pool cover was really a giant mesh cover. It kept the leaves and twigs out, but everything else went in. Bobby did an amazing job with Gage and Mercedes, both willing and able to help and take direction.
I never wanted a pool because it's one more thing to take care of. The maintenance is not too hard, but opening and closing are time consuming; especially when the cover doesn't do its job.
But, in the end it is worth it because of the kids. They are having so much fun. I'm happy that they can swim and aren't afraid of the water. Even Caleb loves the pool! His favorite part is jumping into the water from the stairs. Of course Mami has to be there to catch him, but he's so cute!!
I was looking forward to a quiet day, but decided it would be more fun to have people around. Saturday morning my friend Lynn invited us to watch the E. Longmedow parade. I must say it was long..., cute but long:) It was nice to visit with my college friend Joanne and her family that morning. We got home around 1:00pm and I hit the kitchen to get ready for our impromptu cook out. Totally last minute. but sometimes that works out best! We had my mom and my brother, my sister and her fam, and of course Kevin. Gage had to go to work :( This was the first year we wouldn't be together for the fireworks.
You know, we pushed Gage to get a job, which he should have one, but you don't realize that is going to cut into your family time. We all missed him!!! But this is part of life I guess. Part of that depressing aging process... The part where we sit around and talk of 'remember the days when...' My friend Lynn said to me today that a friend of hers from work told her how sad he was that this summer is so rainy. He said 'It's not fair that it's been so rainy because we only have like 30 summers left.' Lynn asked what he meant. He said ' Well, we aren't getting any younger and the way I see it we really only have about 30 summers left that we will be able to enjoy with relatively decent health. I don't think it's fair that the few summers I have left should be wasted with crappy weather!' How depressing is that?
ANYWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My sister made pasta salad and deviled eggs (yum) and some awsome crusty bread. I'm still waiting for the recipe:)
SO! The kids swam and we ate and visited. For desert we had a cute patriotic cake Bobby bought and of course Coldstone! Courtesy of Kevin!
We went to the fireworks in Springfield to our traditional spot (we missed you Metzger fam!!!) We were nice and close and the display was good this year. They had smiley faces and a great finale. We also saw a dog that was colored red, white and blue with stars. He was so cute. The owner said she used food coloring and used stickers as a template for the stars. The kids enjoyed that!
When we left, we were on Main St. in traffic. Someone was celebrating a little too much because she was driving about 50 miles and hour and slammed into the back of Kevin's truck.(He drove us to the fireworks.) She had slammed on her brakes a few seconds before impact so it could have been much worse. Thank goodness for the trailer hitch and the fact that we were in a truck and the lady's car was a Maxima. Needless to say, her car was ripped up (air bags went off), front end was gone, and Kevin's car sustained some damage to the bumper with the trailer hitch taking the brunt of the impact. Unfortunately, Mercedes was not buckled so she was thrown forward and jerked back on impact. Hopefully she will now listen to us about the importance of buckling up. Bobby was wearing his seatbelt on the shoulder that he just had surgery on, so when the seatbelt locked he screamed out in pain. The person driving in front of us happened to be a paramedic so he came over to tend to Bobby. Roci and Aalyia were in the 3rd row seats so they were jerked around (they were buckled though). We are all sore. Roci even sustained bruising on her ankle because of the way she was sitting. We are waiting to hear the results of the xrays on that.She may have a hairline fracture. Mercedes neck and back hurt. So does the back of her head where she hit it on the headrest. She cries out when she sneezes or coughs because she says it hurts so much. We ended the day with a bang (Ughhhh...) but very grateful for the fact we are all alive.
I also want to thank my sister and her hubby for being able to pick Gage up from work while we were waiting for the police to show up that night. We were on our way home so I could get my car and pick him up from work. That would have been a long wait for him!
