Going Through Life One Blog Post at a Time
This is Jackson, our new neighbor. Jackson, who is 3, and his family moved in next door to us this past week. John could not possibly be any more excited about having a neighbor that is a boy and about his age. I foresee some fun nights for John and Jackson in our future!
We spent the evening getting new family pictures taken on the University of Missouri Campus at Francis Quadrangle. We have been trying to take pictures since April, but the lovely rain just wouldn’t seem to stop! Well, tonight was it and, despite the heat, I think Tamara of Tamara Dee Photography got some great shots. I couldn’t resist taking this photo… Sometimes, you just *have* to take a photo of the photographer taking photos.
While contemplating the type of rum that I was going to buy for my Strawberry Daiquiris today at Hy-Vee, a man walked up and introduced himself to me. Then, he said, “I couldn’t help but notice you standing here and I was wondering if you would like to go out some time.” I said, “That’s really nice and thanks for the compliment, but I don’t really think my husband of 16 years would appreciate me dating. For that matter, I don’t think your wife would appreciate you dating either.” He looked stunned and said, “How did you…?” I said, “Your ring.” Nice. Ugh.
Laura is officially a Brownie Girl Scout! The Bridging Ceremony was today at Shelter Gardens. To say that Laura was excited is an understatement. Each girl spoke about the ten different Daisy petals. Laura spoke about “making the world a better place.” She said that the troop helped to clean up Indian Hills Park during “Clean Up Columbia” to earn the rose-colored petal.
After completing all ten petals on the Daisy flower, the bridging ceremony began. Each girl took their turn walking across the bridge to meet the Brownies on the other side. After Laura crossed the bridge, she was so excited to “finally” be a Brownie.
After the ceremony was over, we enjoyed cake pops and lemonade. Since we were at Shelter Gardens, I took the opportunity to snap a couple of photos of Laura with her bridging certificate using the beautiful flowers and scenery as a backdrop. Laura is very much looking forward to next year and earning “real” patches. Congratulations kiddo! On to Brownies!
We took our first outing to the Lake of the Woods pool today as a spur of the moment thing. Fortunately, the sun was shining because the water was cold! That didn’t stop Laura from being her little, fish self. She had a great time swimming.
John had fun and was full of smiles despite a bit of a rough start, but he was cold. His teeth were chattering and he had to get out of the water a couple of times to warm up. He was quite sad when we had to leave because the Lowerys were coming to our house for dinner. We will be going back to the pool again soon! Hopefully, it’s *slightly* warmer next time.
This is why I love you, Friday. Drinks on the back deck and nowhere to be tomorrow!
And as an aside, John figured out that he can ride his bike without our help tonight. While on a walk, John was whining and crying about riding his bike and wearing his helmet. We stopped to say hello to one of Laura’s classmates and John asked if he could take off his helmet because it was bothering him. Since he was riding right next to us and we were not going to let him fall, I let him take off his helmet on one condition. I said, “Fine, you can take off your helmet, BUT you will ride down the street first before you play with Max and his brothers.” He gave me the “look,” but took off his helmet and climbed on his bike. I went to put my hand on his back and John said, “No, Mommy, I can do it on my own,” and OFF HE WENT with a big smile. He rode up and down the street and didn’t even stop himself to make a turn. We couldn’t get him off the bike for the rest of the night. Apparently, the helmet really was bothering him.
Do I have a picture, you ask? No, because I wasn’t carrying my camera. I did take some video when we got back to the house after our ride/walk. It’s on my Facebook page if you are interested.
One of our teeny tomato plants (if it was an animal, this plant would be the runt of the litter) has a teeny tomato on it. Actually, it has *two* teeny tomatoes, which would explain why the plant’s growth is stunted. I am contemplating committing tomatocide in order to allow the plant to begin growing. Tomatocide would hurt me because throwing away two homegrown tomatoes is unheard of in this household, but I have to think of the greater good.
