A Bad Barbecue
The missionaries came over this week (like they always do (what with me being the ward mission leader and all)), and Sara was really excited about it. She later listed it as one of the best parts of the week.
We have been discussing what to do with our front room for a while. I (Alison) wanted a table with a corner bench, and a window seat. We decided to combine the two and make a bench that wraps around two walls of the room. We put five gallon buckets of food storage around the perimeter of the room, set a piece of plywood on top, and upholstered it with two inch foam and grey vinyl cloth. Then we put white panelboard in front of it to hide the buckets. For a little over a hundred dollars and a Saturday of work, we now have seating in our front room. We're all enjoying it. We also built a shoe rack into the part closest to the door, so it's very functional.
We bought a six foot folding table this week, and with that, our benches, and our current chairs we can seat at least a dozen people at our house to eat now. Now we just have to invite eight people over and try it out.
This was the last week of swimming at our outdoor pool. On the next-to-last day, Rea swam the width of the pool twice, once on her stomach and rolling on her back to breathe, and once doing elementary backstroke. She had me (Alison) touching her head most of the time to give her confidence, but she could swim on her own. She made great progress this summer! Sara actually got in the pool and walked around away from the wall by herself on the last day. She can also blow bubbles, kick while holding on to the wall, and scoop her hands. That was pretty good too. We're trying to figure out how to keep swimming, but indoor pools are just so expensive.
Yesterday (Labor Day), Alison and Sara and Timothy were all taking naps, and Mike was building the shoe rack, so Rea got bored. Mike asked what was wrong, and she said she was bored because there was no one there. So they called and invited Max over to play. They had a good time for several hours together. Mike took them mushroom hunting, they rode in our new double stroller, and they had a good time all around.
At the end of last spring, Rea was done with her preschool for a while and was glad for a break. But it seems like she wants other kids again now, as evidenced by wanting Max to come play, so it's a good thing preschool is starting up again tomorrow. It's going to be a Tools of the Mind preschool, which is based on imaginative play, so that should be good for her. Also, Alison is still coming up with ideas for a cool front yard that will coax all the neighborhood kids to come play. There might be a mock-up in a future post.
On Labor Day we also had a barbecue which turned into one of "those" barbecues. First people started uninviting themselves, the grill was in flames, no one came, and I lost my hat. Needless to say it was a bad barbecue.
Alison's additional details:
Sunday at Church we invited some friends over for a lunchtime barbecue today. We spent the morning getting ready and were very excited. Right at noon, they called and said their baby was sick and they didn't want to give it to all our kids, so they couldn't come. That was sad. But we were going to have a barbecue anyway as a family. So Mike lit up the grill and waited for it to get hot. Then he noticed flames coming from underneath the grill and turned it off. Apparently something is broken in the connections, so it needs to be fixed or replaced. We had to cook on our George Foreman instead. It did turn out to be fun in the end, and very tasty.
We got a ton of apples from the Browns' cabin, so we'll be working all week to dry our year's supply. Yay!
We have been discussing what to do with our front room for a while. I (Alison) wanted a table with a corner bench, and a window seat. We decided to combine the two and make a bench that wraps around two walls of the room. We put five gallon buckets of food storage around the perimeter of the room, set a piece of plywood on top, and upholstered it with two inch foam and grey vinyl cloth. Then we put white panelboard in front of it to hide the buckets. For a little over a hundred dollars and a Saturday of work, we now have seating in our front room. We're all enjoying it. We also built a shoe rack into the part closest to the door, so it's very functional.We bought a six foot folding table this week, and with that, our benches, and our current chairs we can seat at least a dozen people at our house to eat now. Now we just have to invite eight people over and try it out.
This was the last week of swimming at our outdoor pool. On the next-to-last day, Rea swam the width of the pool twice, once on her stomach and rolling on her back to breathe, and once doing elementary backstroke. She had me (Alison) touching her head most of the time to give her confidence, but she could swim on her own. She made great progress this summer! Sara actually got in the pool and walked around away from the wall by herself on the last day. She can also blow bubbles, kick while holding on to the wall, and scoop her hands. That was pretty good too. We're trying to figure out how to keep swimming, but indoor pools are just so expensive.
Yesterday (Labor Day), Alison and Sara and Timothy were all taking naps, and Mike was building the shoe rack, so Rea got bored. Mike asked what was wrong, and she said she was bored because there was no one there. So they called and invited Max over to play. They had a good time for several hours together. Mike took them mushroom hunting, they rode in our new double stroller, and they had a good time all around.
At the end of last spring, Rea was done with her preschool for a while and was glad for a break. But it seems like she wants other kids again now, as evidenced by wanting Max to come play, so it's a good thing preschool is starting up again tomorrow. It's going to be a Tools of the Mind preschool, which is based on imaginative play, so that should be good for her. Also, Alison is still coming up with ideas for a cool front yard that will coax all the neighborhood kids to come play. There might be a mock-up in a future post.
On Labor Day we also had a barbecue which turned into one of "those" barbecues. First people started uninviting themselves, the grill was in flames, no one came, and I lost my hat. Needless to say it was a bad barbecue.
Alison's additional details:
Sunday at Church we invited some friends over for a lunchtime barbecue today. We spent the morning getting ready and were very excited. Right at noon, they called and said their baby was sick and they didn't want to give it to all our kids, so they couldn't come. That was sad. But we were going to have a barbecue anyway as a family. So Mike lit up the grill and waited for it to get hot. Then he noticed flames coming from underneath the grill and turned it off. Apparently something is broken in the connections, so it needs to be fixed or replaced. We had to cook on our George Foreman instead. It did turn out to be fun in the end, and very tasty.
We got a ton of apples from the Browns' cabin, so we'll be working all week to dry our year's supply. Yay!
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