Vacation

The last 2 weeks of July we went on a family vacation. As we so often do, we headed to Canada. Our first night was spent in Stratford, Ontario, renowned for its theater festival. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to take in a show. The next morning dawned searingly hot, and we got on the road ASAP. We headed for Ottawa, the nation's capitol. After we'd been on the road an hour, and the very crabby 20 month old had just fallen asleep, Daryl needed to conduct a conference call for work. He wanted to stop while he talked and have the kids and I play somewhere. Due to the intense heat and the napping baby, I was unwilling to do this, so we instructed the kids to be extremely quiet, and I drove while he talked. Amazingly, they remained inaudible for a little more than an hour while he talked! Apparently there were several arguments, and tears, all conducted in whispers so quiet that even I couldn't hear them. By the time the phone call was over, we stopped for lunch. Then we decided to spend a few hours on Lake Ontario, being unable to pass by the beach at a great lake without stopping.

We arrived in Ottawa late, checked into the hotel, went for a very brief swim before the pool closed, and then had a very late dinner from room service while watching Over the Hedge. In the morning, we went out for breakfast, and upon seeing what a beautiful city Ottawa is, spent several hours walking around.

My Heart's Desire

As I mentioned in my previous post, it is my heart's desire to have another child. If any of my dear readers feel so inclined, I'd appreciate any prayers that I be blessed again.

Thanks!

Birthday

The next birthday was mine! I turned 42 on Aug. 2, which is also my 2nd blogaversary (term coined by Chris at Notes from the Trenches).

All I wanted for my birthday is another baby, and it has been several months of trying with no results, which is unusual for us. I had really wanted to be pregnant by my 42nd birthday, and I am not, so I woke up feeling sort of sad and old (and fat, for some reason I've gained about 5 lbs. this summer!)

The rest of my day went something like this. I woke up to a slightly messy house, so spent some time doing dishes, putting cushions back on couch, and picking up dh's clothes off the floor. Annoyed, I asked 6yo, who was the only on up, to wake her siblings up since I shouldn't have to do all the picking up on my bday. She returned shortly saying they refused to get up. More annoyed! About 30 minutes later they did get up and were then very helpful. I made myself a last minute appointment for a pedicure, and rushed off to do that and have lunch with a close friend.

I've never had a pedicure and my feet were horny toads, literally black in areas with very rough dead skin and tons of calluses. Now they are pink and soft and smooth!

I hate hot weather and it was about 95 and REALLY humid here. When I got to the restaurant I discovered that dh had had flowers delivered there for me! I ordered lunch, but when the waitress brought it, it was not what I ordered. I described what I'd ordered, which was the special appetizer, and that's what I said I wanted and pointed to it on the specials menu, but did not name it. It turned out that the hostess had missed one of last weeks specials menus when she changed them over, so the one I was given described last week's specials. I was brought this week's special appetizer. She suggested something else and it was prepared amazingly quickly. It was very tasty, although not exactly what I'd wanted.

After lunch I drove my friend back to her office, and as she got out of the car I realized that I'd left the flowers at the restaurant. I was totally out of gas, so I called the restaurant and they said they had the flowers set aside for me. I thought I felt the car chug a little as I raced to the nearest (expensive) gas station in the downtown shopping district. I was totally drenched with sweat by the time I finished pumping gas. I returned to the restaurant to retrieve the flowers, getting even more sweaty as I walked back to the car. I'd used the last of my cash paying to get out of the parking lot the first time, and was relieved that they would accept Canadian change since that was all I had!

My parents were waiting at my house, which was spotlessly clean (picked up by the kids) and the kids were all happy, cared for by their older siblings, and had all worked together to make me a beautiful banner. My parents had brought a large cheesecake and 42 candles, which I was able to blow out all at once! We visited for about an hour, and after they left I took a long nap.

Feeling refreshed, I did some Pilates exercises while dh, who had just returned home from work, bearing deli meats and cheeses and fresh french bread for dinner, took a short nap. Then he went to pick up D. from football conditioning while the rest of us set out the food and the table. We made our sandwiches, intending to wait for them to start eating, but they didn't return for a long time. My daughter J., concerned that there was no cake, had called dh on the sly and told him to stop at the store and get some dessert. He brought home 2 frozen pies and was astonished that they required 1 hour to bake! Mind you, this man has a PhD! We all got a laugh out of that, and decided to make mango and peach milkshakes instead. My oldest child held one lit candle up for me to blow out while they sang to me.

After dessert I received some nice gifts. Dh got me pearl earrings and the promise of shopping for a treadmill. The girls gave me cash and promised to "take me shopping." The boys gave me a sports watch that is also a heart rate monitor for exercising.

By this time it was quite late so we all went to bed.

July

Independence Day

We spent the long Independence Day weekend at home. I bought a new badminton/volleyball set, since our old one was totally destroyed, and a new tetherball. We set those up, along with horseshoes, and built real pits for the horseshoes. I bought some small prizes at the grocery story and we had a badminton tournament--double elimination so everyone got to play more than one game. I love badminton, despite the fact that I suck!

We didn't attend the fireworks party on July 3 that we usually go to because it was raining. By the time it was late enough for the fireworks, it had cleared but now it was too late to get to our friends' home in time for the show. We live very close to the fireworks, but they can't be seen from our yard due to the enormous trees. So Daryl and the kids jumped the fence and walked onto the golf course at the metropark across the road where the fireworks were being held, where they had a great view. I stayed home with the little ones, who were in bed (it doesn't get dark in our neck of the woods till 10pm at that time of year). I attempted to see the fireworks from the yard, and from a 2nd story window of our house, but couldn't.

On the 4th, we had our own fireworks show. In recent years we've purchased a small set, which our oldest has set off with Daryl's supervision, and oohed and aahed over all those bottle rockets. This year, however, we were driving through Illinos in June, which boasts warehouses full of fireworks that aren't legal in Michigan. Seriously, we shopped in a Costco sized warehouse full of fireworks. We bought 2 large sets, one of which we set off at our family reunion in late June. We also bought several individual mortars. The sets were basicallly bigger versions of what we'd done before, just a lot MORE bottle rockets. The mortars were really cool fireworks that went up high in the air! They scared the pants off poor Daryl but the rest of us loved them! We have enough bottle rockets left for several more years, we'll just need to supplement with a few mortars.

Sold!

On July 6, Daryl closed a business deal that we had been waiting for a long time. He sold a small company that he co-founded with a colleague to a much larger company. This was very exciting news for us. It means we will be able to complete some major home renovations that we have dreamed of. The next day, he left for China and Japan for a week. I spent the week completing our vacation preparations.

Reunion

The evening he returned from his trip to Asia, we hosted a gathering of some of our old college cronies. My dear friend J., one of my 2 freshmen college roommates, always comes to Michigan in the summer and she and her husband and daughters always come for a visit and spend the night. I had recently reconnected with our other roommate (see my post titled Serendipity) after 19 years, so she and her husband came over and the 3 of us (we lived in a "converted triple" which means a dorm room designed for 2 people into which they cram 3!) were all together for the first time in 20 years! Several other old friends were here also, and we had a lovely dinner.