First week of Summer 2015

First week out of school, no Summer school for Maggie and very little gymnastics for Ben. Sam and I took turns being off school with the kids.  I took them strawberry picking on Tuesday.  Eckert's was not doing pick your own, so we went out to Theiss Farms to pick strawberries.  They were very good and only $2/lb.

We also met Jason at a possible new house on Tuesday afternoon.

Ben met Julie on Wednesday afternoon and they graded papers together.  Then we met them at Bread Co because we were meeting a loan agent to sign papers to get preapproved for the house we were interested in.  We also had our house inspected on Wednesday night.  There was a very nice note from the family when we got home.  Hoping this means the inspection went well.

We looked at another house on Thursday.  Probably not what we are looking for and we all like the other one better.

We tried going to the pool after looking at the house, but it started raining and there was lightening around, so no one could get in the water.  Maggie was very disappointed.  I had bought some vegetables at Theiss Farms, so I went over to the school and planted them in the 2 beds I have this year.  Let's hope they grow into something decent.

Just not used to the melodrama....

We took the Girl Scouts horse riding last night.  It's a good idea right?  After all, all little girls love horses.  WRONG!!!!!  Out of the 7 girls we took, one had a meltdown over having to wear a helmet, two cried so much they had to be taken off the horse and one had a meltdown at Ted Drewes.  So, we had less than 50% who were happy the whole time.
The ride was supposed to start at 5:30, but it was 6:10 by the time they were ready to leave.  I'm not sure if it was me or the horses that had run out of patience before they left!!!  The ride had to be cut short because the stables closed at 7.

Here is Maggie on Yeller

Barbara ended up riding in place of one of the girls

And June took the other place.  It's a good job we had 3 adults with us!!!

So, that left me with 2 crying girls to take care of while the others were riding.  We wandered around a little bit and watched the horses.  We visited with the new baby miniature horse

Then we spent a lot of time with this 4 week old puppy.  That made Maddie very happy!!!!

We went to Ted Drewes after.  These 3 had a great time with everything.  Thank Goodness!!!!

Probably the last picture of what is left of our Girl Scout troop.

Garden update

Taking garden pictures so I can remember what it looks like after we leave.  I planted these last Fall and they are doing well.  I'm glad I added some colour to the lariope

I planted these roses last year as well and I love them!!!!  

These are always good at this time of the year, but I will NOT plant them again!!!!

Columbines....

Penstemmons and columbines

I have 3 of these cranesbill.  2 this colour and 1 white

Last week of school

This is the last week of school. Last week for Maggie at Hudson. Last week for Ben at Hixson. Possibly the last week in the school district.  I walked to school with Maggie and the miscreants on Tuesday morning.  You have no idea how long it took!!!!

Ben got his teeth cleaned and his stitches out on Tuesday.  His hand looks so much better now.

This is the last week of many things.  I deleted a bunch of folders in my email-Hudson, Hixson, Hudson PTO, Girl Scouts, Scouts and Girls on the Run!!!!  Life will be freer for the time being

Penultimate school week

Well, we are down to the last week of school.  We are saying goodbye to all kinds of things.  Ben will be saying goodbye to middle school and starting high school (who knows where!) and Maggie will be leaving Hudson and going to middle school.  I can't believe that we will be saying goodbye to Hudson after 8 years, it's a fantastic little school.

Among other goodbyes, Ben got his braces off on Wednesday.  Look at those perfect teeth!!!!  He's getting his teeth cleaned and his stitches out this Tuesday-let's hope he says goodbye to stitches then too!!!!!

Girls on the Run is now over.  We had a wrap up session at Cici's on Tuesday evening.  Girl Scouts bridging ceremony was on Thursday evening.  I don't think any of the girls are going to continue next year, but if they do, they will have to join another troop.  Barbara and I are done with it!!!!  This is the 1st grade, 3rd grade and 5th grade girls after the bridging ceremony

What is left of our 5th grade troop (actually 2 missing).  Our biggest number was 17 one year, now we are down to 7

Girls on the Run 2015

Girls on the Run was on Saturday. It was a brutal program this year, the girls were just not into it at all.  We had a practice run on Thursday in Tilles Park.  Maggie did really well and kept up with me the whole time. We lapped some of the girls though and so we walked around with them for a cool down lap.

As with every year, they did so much better on actual race day.  This is the 5th grade group lining up to run

The whole Hudson team

Maggie and Mum selfie

The coaches

Maggie at the start line

One of the great things about this run is that almost everyone wears their race shirt and you can see a sea of colour-doesn't come out as well in a photo, but it was great to see all the green and yellow both ahead and behind us

The Bubble Bus was close to the end, so much fun to run through the bubbles

Maggie looks great at the end of the run!!!  We ran in 36:11.  Not great, but I think Maggie was second on the team (Neva ran in less than 30 mins!!)

Got to get a selfie at the end of the run!!!!

Our tradition is to go to breakfast after running.  This is Maggie and Taylor sitting at First Watch

Maggie, Taylor, Anna and Riley

Ben's trip to Memphis

Ben did a quick, two day trip to Memphis with school.  They left at 5:30 am on Thursday and were back at 11 pm on Friday, so it was a full two days!!!!  They went to the National Civil Rights Museum, Stax Museum, Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum on Thursday; Sun Studios, Cotton Museum and Graceland on Friday.  He said he had a great time and he seemed to like Graceland the best.  He sent me a couple of pictures from Graceland-who doesn't take a picture of Elvis Presley's grave?

Of course, he spent the whole time with his girls!!!!

This past week-not much going on

Ben came bounding down the stairs the other morning and said "I'm a blueberry today. Take a picture"

He's also into driving the car whenever he can, so I let him drive mine in the church car park

I dug up some of Caroline's yard during our open house and planted some herbs, looks much better

This part is in the shade, so I planted some shade plants and I moved our bird bath over there

This is my little kitchen garden this year.  I'm growing some kale for salads

I bought this old coal shuttle last year and I put some herbs in it this year, they are growing well

I love these clematis.  Need to get some seeds from them before we move

My English bluebells

How Maggie sees her future....

Maggie: Mum, can I show you something? Me: Sure Maggie: This is a picture of my house. It's a box on the road. Here's my bed and here's my refrigerator Me: You're going to live in a box on the road? Maggie: Most likely, yes. If I can't afford a house, I'll just live in a box Me: Well, it's going to be a mighty fine box if it has a refrigerator!!!!

They're in, they're out, they're in again.....

I took Ben to Wash U yesterday morning so that they could take the cast off his hand and remove the stitches.  It was more swollen than I expected it to be, but it still looked pretty good.  They took his stitches out and I made an appointment for in a month's time just in case we needed it.

Well, apparently a month is a little too long because it took less than 10 hours before we needed a doctor again.  Ben fell off his bike and landed on his hand.  He came running into the house dripping blood on the floor-he busted the whole wound open again in its entirety.  Obviously, it wasn't healed enough to cope with the life of a 14 year old boy.
I had to take him to the Urgent Care Facility and they started him on i.v. antibiotics.

They have stitched his hand up again.  He has more stitches than he had before (9 vs 7).  Let's hope it holds better this time.  I felt so sorry for him.  I was so mad when it happened and he was afraid that we were very angry with him.  I told him that I had no idea that anything like that would happen, I thought it was much more healed than that.  He hasn't been that upset for a long time.

I cannot help wondering how on earth all of this seems to happen to us.  What are the odds that he would fall of his bike the same day he had his stitches out?  That has never happened before.  Friedrich Nietzsche said “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.”  Some days I wonder why on earth everything seems to be so complicated for our family.  I wish something would go smoothly once in a while.  I just keep telling myself that we have each other and everyone is safe, that's all that matters.

Quick Trip to San Diego

I did a quick trip to San Diego for an American Heart Association grant meeting.  To be honest, a little part of me only agreed to do the grant meeting because I knew it was there!!!!  I stayed at the Wyndham-first hotel I ever stayed at in San Diego years ago.  This was the view from my hotel room, wish I had been able to see the bay, but still not bad.

The meeting was the first 2 days I was there, but I stayed an extra day so I could wander around.  After the meeting, I walked down to Seaport Village and had coffee at the Upstart Crow, a great coffee and book store

I saw this ship pulling out of the bay with the sailors standing on the deck, of course I thought of Sam immediately

These strange Mexican statues were in San Diego

I love these trees down by the Midway

But, I'm still not sure about this statue at all

I just love the Midway, but it scares me more than a little.....

The Star of India, made in the Isle of Man

It was a great trip, way too short