sunshine!

And puppy dogs, rainbows and roses! I am in a super good mood today. Paul's home, although he's at work. I had to drive all the way to the suburbs this morning, he had to return the rental car from his work trip. While discussing the route, he maintained the quickest way was to take the thruway to the highway, then exit right near the rental agency. I mentioned it would be just as easy to exit right after the thruway and take the town roads. Why would you do that? Well. It's where I was born and raised, that village, and if I can take a little drive through it, well, I will. So he took the highway route, and I exited and meandered on through town. Road construction! It took forever and a day! oops.

Anyhoo. He dropped off the car, joined me in the minivan, and we got to spend a little bit of time together on the road.

He's off to work now.

It's a lovely day! 70 + degrees, and sunshine! The pool is clean, although it might just be too chilly to take a swim today.

My little friends aren't coming today, so it seems rather quiet here. The princesses have been out on the swings, and are playing in their room. Jonathan: still sleeping, at noon! He has been staying up too late and getting up too early, and is catching up. That boy is turning into a teenager!

I am excited because:
We might go to the Adirondacks next week! I have those free admission tickets to the theme park/water park there, and Paul thinks he can get a few days off of work...so we may go camping. Honestly, I would rather go the hotel route, sleeping in a tent is not my cup of tea. My hip hitting the ground sleeping on an air mattress, waking up to see the spiders on the inside of the tent, mosquitoes...all the packing and setting up and taking down and putting away when we get home...blah. But wait, does this mean I am getting OLD?! The fact that I am counting the cost of the fun? uh-oh.

We will only be taking the four youngest kids, which will be strange/fun/and like we're playing We Have A Small Family. The older ones don't mind, they like nothing better than having mom and dad leave for a few days so they can eat all the junk food and watch lots of tv and play video games all night. Also they get to do tons of fun things all the time. Mirielle is taking three of the girls to Washington D.C. to visit Sam at the end of the month, and Sonja is going on a camping trip with Abigail, and the youth girls. They also do day trips and hikes and waterfall explorations. So don't feel sorry for them.

Last night the girls came home from Emily's house all excited: She is planning a trip for Evelyn and Suzanne for next March, to England and Norway. The girls said the tickets are only like $500, and I should come too. Stop my beating heart, I want to go. I just might. There is nothing I like more than going adventuring, and there is nothing I like more than traveling with Emily...put those two things together, and wow. Em is the kind of girl who doesn't get ruffled when things don't go according to plan, partially because she isn't a planner to begin with. She likes to go with the flow, and stop and smell the roses. She isn't a tourist-y type, more of an off-the-beaten-path girl. Oooh, fun.

Ah well, I have some documents to type for school, which I have been putting off, so as to retain my crown of Miss Procrastination 2015. It's sunny out, can't I do it tomorrow? Wait, tomorrow, we are going to visit our friends...and their built in pool with a diving board...no, I don't jump off the diving board. But it's the highlight of the summer for Jon, Char, and Cam...who DO jump off the diving board.