Not this summer...

Before I tell what won't be this summer, let me back up and discuss what we've been doing around here lately. Friday was the last day I will be employed till Aug 13th, unless I get some sortof part-time job. That means I'll get another small paycheck in June and nothing else till Sept., which will be a small paycheck. 3 months of starvation. Oh well, we'll all lose weight! Moving on, after work on Friday, Matthew and I hustled and finally got pets dropped off with my parents and arrived at Phil's around 11pm. Ugh. We all went to bed probably around midnight. Around 7:00 we all got up and rolled out of the apartment by 8am. We drove and drove and drove and arrived in the land of 1o,ooo lakes around 3:30pm. We went to visit one of my dearest friend's, Christa, her husband Matt, and Milo. (No, I didn't name Matthew after him or after my other dear friend's husband Matt.) Milo is 2 months old and such a doll. Matthew was very concerned about him when he was napping and crying. He'd go around the back of chairs to watch while someone cuddled him. It was super cute. In typical fashion, once we were there awhile he was on his best behavior and brought on the show. He charmed people all weekend. We stayed in the land of lakes till Monday afternoon and then we drove and drove and drove and finally made it back to the apartment. It was so perfect mini vacation. Matthew and I hung out for a day and Wed. drove back to the grandparents. Once there, Matthew played while Mom did some chores for her Mom. Finally we loaded up with all the pets and made it home. I was depressed to note it had not rained at all the entire time I was gone. It rained everywhere, but on my tender plants. Sigh. Since then Mom and Dad have babysat several times, while I continued transplanting plants and stripping woodwork. I've come to the place where I've decided I've moved all the plants I can stand to move for the time being and have stripped as much as I can, till they move all the junk out. It will probably be another 2 or 3 weeks before I can continue onward. It's all good with me.

Matthew has been asking lots and lots of questions and arguing about our answers, which means we have to explain more and then he says, "OHHHHHHH" with much enthusiasm. I think it's a game. He can catch big balls as they bounce now. He is asking to go potty in the big boy toilet with more frequency. Not always with any success, but it's a start. He is getting better about letting me know he's #2'd. He can identify so many animals now, like elephants, butterflies, ladybugs, giraffes and probably tons more. He figured out how to unlock my friend's front door and tried to escape. He now tries to move our deadbolts, but ours are harder to work, thank goodness. Our outside back door he can lock and unlock on his own. Could be a problem one day...note to self: carry keys at all times...

And the thing not happening this summer is me not having a sunburn. I felt so pleased with myself for putting on the high octane sunblock all this spring and I was determined not to burn. No skin cancer for this blonde hair, blue eyed, fair skinned girl. I did all that today, only to miss some spots on my arms and edge of my back. Rats, maybe by next year I'll have perfected my technique and win my fight with the sun.