Update

Tonight was a home swim meet. The girls look so great this year, as always. Today and the past few days have been unbelieveably hot, so I was excited to have a bit of a breeze for the meet tonight, and it wasn't miserable to be there! I took Tye swimming yesterday, and he is swimming on his own for several feet. Tonight I was wishing he was actually ON swim team because he was wearing me out, chasing him all over. He is at one of those ages...I don't think he thinks he is wandering off from me because he is rarely ever very far. When I grab him, he looks at me like...what, I'm right here! He is so independent (maybe even more than the girls, dare I say), and times like these stress me out. He is so comfortable around everyone at the meet that he is perfectly content to just roam around and visit. He wasn't really in trouble, and he wasn't really not listening...so I should be thankful I guess that he was not acting up. Even so, I look forward to the days that I can actually enjoy Rachel and Amberlea swimming, and maybe even help with a meet.

Days like this make me realize how hard it is to be an only parent. There is no tag-teaming, no sending Tye off to run around with Daddy or go fishing with Daddy or play outside with Daddy...I am so thankful that all of my kids are so much fun to be around, and at least when it is just Tye and me, he is very entertaining and makes for great company. This summer, I have found that the only times I haven't been with him have been when I was split between two kids...Rachel playing volleyball in another town while he had t-ball, stuff like that. It is both rewarding and challenging.

I did enjoy a week in Boston with some friends. We went during the 2nd week of June, and although I missed my kids so much, I needed to get away. Boston was great, and of course I loved all the historical stuff. I got to see the ocean for the first time (other than actually flying over the Gulf of Mexico when we were headed to M.D. Anderson). I hope I can go on a cruise someday, way down the road I'm sure. We got fairly cheap airfare and a friend had hotel points built up and graciously shared with us, which made our hotel bill next to nothing. I thought I better not advertise that some Catholic school teachers stayed in Boston at a cheap hotel, but I think it's ok since it wasn't cheap AND sleazy! It was a Double Tree, so we had nice accommodations. We were beat from walking from one end of Boston to the other, and were very thankful to find a harbor ferry to return us from the Freedom Trail. I didn't climb the 294 steps on Bunker Hill, although a few others did. One night we ate lobster at a great place in Plymouth, right on the water....Isaac's if you're ever in the area.

So now I am trying to figure out where to take the kids. I am open for a long several days, or a few days here and there, or even an overnighter. I am 90 miles north of Kansas City, so if anyone out there has great ideas, send them my way. I am thinking of Great Wolf Lodge, just because we have been there and I know the kids would have fun. I haven't been there since Brian thought we should go before he started his treatment in July 2006. We just went spur of the moment, and Tye was young enough that he doesn't remember. I feel like I wouldn't be stressed there, being an only/single parent with my kids the ages they are, and with Tye being able to have a lifejacket. So if you suggest anything, please remember that because I do like to be self-sufficient, and I want to feel like we are safe and that our vacation is manageable. The girls are already going to the Omaha Zoo with their dad later in the fall. I would love to hear your ideas.

Well, Tye just came in with surgical gloves on because he was needing to put neosporin on a bandaid, so I think I better figure out what he needs.

70 and Clear...or Not!

My go-to guy is fired. For now anyway. He's been a part of my life since I can't even remember when. In Maryville, many of you remember we didn't have to dial the 582 part of phone numbers, just 8-followed by the last 4 numbers. For so long, no one had a 562 number. The ONLY one I knew was my go-to guy...the time and temp guy. He's been a part of my life nearly every day, and my children could dial his number as soon as they could count.

But he let us down last night. I don't know if he is always right, but I do know that he has been relatively right enough to keep calling for 30+ years.

So Tye had begged me to sleep outside in the tent when we had our family campout. I conned him into waiting until Father's Day, and maybe we could start a tradition. He remembered!...and asked me yesterday, and so started a chain of events.

Starting with Rachel calling the time and temp guy...tonight, 70 and clear. We know what he said because we called him a few times, and Amberlea called him back in the middle of the night just to be sure Rachel had called the right guy.

Why, you might ask? Because somehow, Missouri has stolen the identity of Seattle, or maybe even the Amazon rainforest, in the fact that it rains basically E-V-E-R-Y S-I-N-G-L-E day! So once we finally settled down for a summer night's rest, in heat that was surely above 70, the events went something like this.

It is too hot to sleep.
Let's watch a movie first.
Head outside, it feels a little cooler. It is almost midnight by now.
Wow, the stars are beautiful. Definitely a clear night.
Hot, still very hot.
Fine, Tye, stop whining, I'll get a fan.
Extension cord in place, small table fan attached and rotating in the tent.
Ahh, it's the good life.
Everyone is sleeping, I am still hot.
I can see the sky through the open window screens.
I really miss Brian.
Really.
Really.
Really.
Finally I doze off.
I open my eyes to a few flashes.
That seriously can't be lightning, can it?
70 and clear, 70 and clear.
Close my eyes.
Flash.
Yep, it is definitely lightning.
But I can still see those stars. Maybe it will pass.
Doze off again.
Flash, bang, boom.
Ok, maybe not.
So do I wake them all, or take the chance of being struck by lightning?
Hmmm...
Let's see, my track record for life is not so great.
I have a target painted on my back.
Did I mention that I had to buy a $2000 air conditioner a few weeks ago.
I close my eyes, thinking that I don't remember the time and temp guy being this wrong.
I glance up at the stars. I can't see them because there are clouds coming in quickly.
Wham...it just cuts lose raining.
Snap, I'm on my feet and trying to decide just what to do.
Still 3 sleeping kids.
In a second it started to feel like an all out storm, and my common sense kicked in.
Rachel and Amberlea were up in an instant, Amberlea was scared to death.
Please God, don't let them get struck by lightning running from the tent to the house.
The tent was right beside the house.
Still, that target lurks.
So Rachel went first and kept the door open for Amberlea.
Tye came shortly after.
Then I went, and had to zip the tent closed again.
Whew, we're all in.
Kaboom, the lightning and thunder and rain is wild, the wind is blowing like crazy.
I look at the clock and it is 2:15.
Amberlea looks at Rachel and says...70 and clear, huh?!?!
So Rachel called and checked, and then so did Amberlea.
Amberlea was quite surprised that he hadn't at least said there was a 10% chance of rain or something.
We were all perplexed that our beloved time and temp guy missed this one.
Oh well, he's still on speed dial.

Rachel headed straight to bed and Amberlea and Tye crawled in bed with me. Amberlea talked 90 miles an hour for the next 30 minutes. I wish I would have had a pencil and paper to just jot down the crazy things that run through her head!

Conducting at it's Finest

Rachel has been practicing her saxaphone in preparation for music camp auditions this afternoon. She was sitting at the island, tooting her horn when Tye came running in, begging to get to play. After finally realizing she wasn't going to give up the sax, he climbed up on a bar stool across from her, clad in only his underwear, and used a bendy straw to direct Rachel. We were cracking up! Rachel was having a hard time keeping her mouth from smiling while still trying to play.

Then...he pointed the straw at her and said STOP! She stopped playing and he said...stick out your tongue! She stuck out her tongue, which was bright blue from something she had eaten. He said...your tongue is blue! Then he started conducting again!

Then tonight he told one of the preschool teachers (we saw her at the swim meet) that he lost a tooth, and the tooth fairy brought him a dinosaur. She asked if she could come see it. He said...hmm, I have to tell you, it's real! Jeez!

Great Start to the Summer

Sorry I haven't posted for so long...

The summer is off to a great start. I hosted the 4th Eickholt Campout this weekend at my house, and it made me all the more happy that I bought this house! The layout was perfect, the yard and deck are perfect...the weather and the food were both awesome. It was such a fun time...33 was the headcount, with 16 of them between the age of 9 months and 13 years...whew! Thank God for my mother-in-law for helping me overhaul this mess of disorganization I've called home for a year. Things were so out of order from Brian's illness and death, and from moving and grieving...and it feels good to have things in place. I still have lots to do, but I got such a boost to get ready for the weekend that I should be well on my way to getting some projects done this year.

I still need to finish things at school this week...sigh.

Anyway, I'll post more later on our summer adventures and the chaos of my life with three great kids!