Ten on Tuesday

Absolutely NO ORDER, just random musings with photos uploaded in no particular order...  We got a pool!  Yay us!  It's the kind you put up year after year, storing each winter in whatever box you have handy.  It was so inexpensive we joke that they're really disposable and one can just buy one every summer, but the reality is... it's kick-ass!  This one is bigger than the one we had years ago, though the same brand and structure, and it takes up the entire patio.  No matter, everyone is loving swimming again and it's been a great way to beat the heat.

Jack had another rugby tournament this past Saturday, and though they lost all three games again, they're getting better week by week.  It's hard, I imagine, for the three veteran players but the four newbies have gained skills and ground.  Jack loves it, and I've loved watching.  This tourney was in Marshfield on the South Shore, so only an hour or so away.  Just look at Jack's smile!

Brothers!  Loving on each other one minute.  Killing the next.  Jack is considerably larger than Will and now picks him off the ground nearly every second he can.  Not sure Will enjoys it, but what can he do?!  LOL  Video games unites them, and it's been fun seeing their relationship grow with Will maturing especially.  Though there are only three years between them (3 years, 3 months and 3 days to be precise), Will's gravitated more towards Audrey (who is 1 year, 11 months and 11 days -- not that anyone's counting).  By the way, notice the 3-3-3 for Jack and the 1-1-11 for Audrey?  Angel numbers!  Remind me to share more one of these days...

With the pool comes more responsibilities for me.  Ugh!  Along with watering the hell out of everything each morning, I now need to test the pool water!  I don't mind, mostly.  Getting everything watered and going in the wee hours when the kids are still sleeping is a great, quiet and reflective way to start the day.  Even the dogs are still asleep!

Ellie came for a visit last week, it was good having her.  Her friend Tuyen visited also, and they were wonderful to include Audrey.  The girls took the train into Boston, saw some sights and did some shopping!  Beach trips often and our pool as well.  

This boy turned 12 on the 6th!  His birthday was a good one, and I'll definitely share more later.  He deserves a post of his own.  

My gardens are going gang busters!  Just look at this hydrangea.  We've got with only a blossom or two for the past three years but this year... oh my!  I am so happy and I have cut many for the prettiest bouquets.  Our vegetable garden has been slow to take off.  A chipmunk (or 40, it felt like) got a hold of my planted seeds and alas we had no beets or green beans.  S/he also attacked some of the herbs and an eggplant but I think my dusting cayenne warded off further damage.  Right now, I'm growing six varieties of tomatoes, all the essential herbs, iceberg lettuce (which was supposed to be romaine, but somehow the seeds were packaged wrong), green beans (third planting took) and at least a dozen hot pepper plants.  I'll do a better post another day, but suffice to say, my hard work is paying off!

Charlie leaves in two days, so we're cramming fun stuff in quickly.  Beach time mostly, and pool (of course ;).  Ellie returned to St. Pete Monday but she returns in a few days for almost a month.  Eric's parents and brother Matt, with his family, come next week to celebrate Eric's 50th.  We're going to have a very full house.  It's also Audrey's 14th and Bert's 75th, so I have special ideas for them as well.

I'm trying to whip the house into shape (inside and outside gardens) so that I can kick back and relax and really enjoy their visit, but the bottom line (as always) is that we have way too much stuff.  And having stuff means managing it.  And managing it is really hard when you have too much!  First world problems.

Lastly, my Suburban is in the shop all week -- I need ball bearings worked on, among other things, but especially an inspection sticker (required in Massachusetts).  And there is so much rust on the car (it's in rough shape) that our mechanic said it wouldn't pass.  We opted to spend a couple $$$$ to fix it, since it's so much cheaper than a new car, and I'm borrowing my parents' Suburban until mine's fixed.