A Ton of Fun in 2021: Week 21 Recap

 

It's officially SUMMER! ☀️ The pool is open.  Who wants to come swim in the green swamp? LOL. No takers? The winter brought plenty of algae, so we have our work cut out for us.  We dumped 10 gallons of shock in for the opening and another 4 gallons throughout the week! It was forecasted to be high 80s later in the week and we want it clean to swim. 

 

Monday and Wednesday night we went different ways (one-on-one) with the kids as they both play in opposite directions every game the rest of the league.  I went with Isaac (Jerm with Olivia) on Monday and Wednesdays I'll go with Olivia (Jerm with Isaac). Isaac played amazing on Monday at home. He got three hits and tagged a kid out trying to steal third. He played unbelievable and it was so fun to watch.  Olivia plays catcher and I think her dance flexibility of popping up and down quickly really aids her ability. She got a pop up to the pitcher and a single!

   

  
Tuesday nights are for track meets. This week we were at home hosting every single other track team. I burned up 25 shells for just the 100.  Holy smokes! We thought it would be a LONG night, but it wasn't too bad.  We got out early enough to head to Beer Barrel for dinner. I'm not cooking!

Desserts are what make the world go round right? Or at least that is my philosophy. When Isaac asked to make cupcakes, we went through Olivia's cupcake cookbook and found chocolate cupcakes with cookie dough centers. They were absolutely delicious. It only made 12 cupcakes, which is all we really needed since Jeremy isn't helping us eat sweets.  His loss!

 

This week was the perfect temperature to go get our flowers and mulch. We went with Maw and Paw over to Amhurst to pick out our flowers.  I was shocked at how picked over they were- no white geraniums. 😳Yet I still filled the pickup with flowers for both the front and the back.  We planted the front on Tuesday and the back on Wednesday. Thursday we started with one scoop of mulch, which led into doing the entire front and back with 4.5 scoops all said and done. I had two pretty good helpers for a little while until they headed to the pool. Jeremy had to finish up the back while I went to Spencerville to officiate high jump at the district meet. It's all done now and ready to withstand the summer!

Friday was Maw's birthday. The kids asked to each take $20 of their own money to head to TJMaxx to find her a gift. When we got there, I told them I'd supplement some as well to make her a beach bag full of goodies. She came over in the afternoon and we were able to surprise her with her gift.  She loved it and the kids were so excited with what they had picked out for her. 

 

Saturday morning I headed back to Spencerville for the last day of Districts. When I got home, I found some neighborhood boys hanging out in the driveway playing with Isaac.  It eventually led to some backyard pool fun before they headed home. After a few more hours of floating, Jerm asked us if we all wanted to go golfing. I enjoy taking the pictures and riding with Isaac in the cart so we all had a great evening on the golf course.

 

 

5 Days of Summer- Midnight Swim

Summer Midnight Swims

Well it wasn't quiet midnight, but 10 p.m. is pretty late and has darkness, so we'll count it. The pool has pool lights in the water, but Jeremy also ran over the box with mower and one pool light doesn't work of the two, so we choose not to turn on the lights in the pool for fear of electrocution. We have a flood light that beams from above, so we turned that on and went for a swim. 

Overall this summer hasn't been hot. When nighttime falls, many nights it was too chilly to swim. So tonight was a welcome surprise to the kids as we haven't swam in the dark all summer. So much fun because we all went out and Jeremy entertained them in the "wave" pool since he jumped up and down making waves. Some times you just have to make do with what you have!

The video is classic Isaac. Without someone showing him first, he sometimes chickens out on attempting the flip into the pool. After much talking, he finally nailed it. He was afraid he couldn't perform in the dark.  LOL. Hopefully if you focus hard enough you can see those little neon shorts flip into the water in the video!

9 Days of Summer- Rollercoaster Pool Fun

Sinking Ship

AHHHHHH, we are in single digits folks. How did that happen? Started with 88 Days and now we are down to nine? The ship is sinking folks...

Today we got out the rollercoaster from a few years back when the kids were toddlers and wanted this to play and got it from maw and paw for a Christmas gift. They loved this and we had a downward slope driveway that built up speed even more.

The internet is full of crazy stuff and we viewed a video of people putting the rollercoaster next to their pool and going in... we decided to try it out for ourselves. As you can see from the video it's pretty funny. Something different than the diving board for sure. Who sits around and thinks this stuff up? Not sure, but it was fun.

It's not nearly as hot here as it was in Florida, but it is nice to cool off by the pool. We've had lots of friends who were able to come visit throughout the summer and we absolutely love having them come and enjoy. Although today was a lazy Sunday, it was nice to have a weekend of relaxation.

45 Days of Summer- Flying Pool Tricks

Standing on the shoulders of giants

In academia, we say the phrase, 'Standing on the shoulders of giants' all the time. It means that our work is build off the wonderful foundation of those who have went before us. I can't help but say that phrase in my mind after looking at these pictures. 

We went to a family member's home to celebrate our cousin Sammy's tenth birthday. My kids are fish. We have a pool ourselves, so swimming is a must in the summer. But in a moment I see Isaac scrambling up his grandfathers back to his shoulders and his grandmother quickly moving behind him, just in case he should....gasp... fall backwards into the water.  Teehee.  Isn't funny how as a parent you're like, "they'll be fine if they fall back" but as a grandparent you worry?

At any rate, as you can see from the pictures they became pretty good at jumping or FLYING off the shoulders of giants. Grandparents who have been swimming for most of their lives, sharing and teaching them how to leap off their shoulders (because quiet frankly, they're getting too big to throw!). The kids loved it. These pictures were taken as we were just starting to do it. I should have taken some at the end when they really started to fly. 

Happy birthday to Sammy! Hope you had a super duper birthday.