Heat Wave

We had a strong start to the week on Monday, when I decided to finally finish up staining the fence after spending the morning on my day job stuff. We’d done the side facing the neighbors, and then ran out, so I started the side facing us. Hannah came out to help when she got home from work, and then Hakan, and then Avey came to help, too. Merritt wanted to help, but didn’t want to get in his paint clothes. Apollo wanted to help, too, but he had no idea what we were doing or how to help. Carver was away at a camp each morning this week, so he was spared. In any case, it looks so much better now, and I hope it’ll last a few years. 

Tuesday, I really wanted to get Apollo to the dog park. He’s seemed restless lately, needing some good active play, but with how hot and humid it’s been, the boys are disinclined to leave the house, and Apollo doesn’t get to play much. He likes to get chased around, keeping a ball or toy away from us, and he also likes playing tug-of-war with a rope toy. But sometimes we’re all just too busy or not in the mood when he is. Anyway, I thought he could use some interaction with some other canines. The boys, of course, did not want to go. I finally bribed them into coming along if we stopped for milkshakes on the way. We all hopped in the car, and went to the restaurant only to find that their ice cream machine was down. Great. So we found another one about a 5 minute drive from the dog park. Right as we got the milkshakes, it started to drizzle, and I found Merritt had fallen asleep. I figured we could maybe wait out the little rain, but by the time we got closer to the park, it was pouring. I knew there was no point in going by then, because there would be no other dogs, all the park equipment would be wet, and Apollo would get soaked, too. So we just drove right back home, our heads hanging in shame.

I was especially nervous that Merritt had fallen asleep, as he has had a tendency to come out of his bed 3 or 4 times after we put him to bed, just not seeming to be all that tired. A nap meant he might be up until all hours. This one was about average, at least.

While we had our fiasco car ride, Avey and Hannah had gone to see the new Spider-man movie together, and then compared notes with Kira and me when they got home.

Later in the afternoon on Tuesday, both Carver and Hakan had eye appointments. Carver got an updated prescription, and Hakan seems just on the edge of needing glasses, so we’re going to hold off for now and see if he’s having trouble in kindergarten before committing him.

Wednesday was busy again, and ended for me with my appointment with the joint specialist. I was expecting to be frustrated, because oddly I had not had any symptoms of either the shoulder pain or forearm numbness for about 4 days. I didn’t know whether to be grateful to not have symptoms, or frustrated for these months of appointments and medical bills for something that just suddenly went away. The doctor was over an hour behind, so I was pondering why I had to pay to sit in the waiting room for so long before meeting with him for 5 minutes. He said that the MRI showed there was an issue in my neck, but if I’m not experiencing any symptoms now then it is possible that it had resolved itself. Maybe next time I have a medical concern, I’ll just keep it to myself.

We had a heat wave in our forecast for Friday and Saturday, so we were not excited. I spent Friday morning taking care of some landscaping I’d had on my list while Kira took the boys to play with some friends. After lunch, we all went to pick up Carver from his day camp at the Indiana Dunes State Park where they gave a presentation summarizing what they’d done and learned over the week. Carver had a great time again, and Hakan can’t wait until he can join next year.

To deal with the heat, we went over to our neighbor’s pool while they are away on a trip (they said we could do it). The water was a glorious break from the suffocating humidity and heat, so we all had a good time, although Carver opted not to join.

We even went back and did it again on Saturday, spending almost the entire afternoon there. I took Apollo to the dog park for a good long visit in the morning so that he could have some fun. He made some good friends with some of the other dogs there, so that was a success.

We’re about halfway through our summer break, and it’s feeling like the end is coming up fast. I’ve still got plenty of projects I probably won’t get to, and I have even more school prep I need to finish. Hannah’s finished the first week of her job, and it seems to be going well as she learns more about her duties and coworkers. The kids are working hard to keep from doing anything productive, although they can often be talked into doing some cleaning, or bribed into trying new things. We’ll see if we can keep them occupied a little longer…

#Happenings