• End Of Summer

    Summer is done. At least the school vacation part, that is. The girls went back to school this morning. They were excited to see their friends, find their school supplies on their desks, and get back into their routines, I think. There certainly wasn’t any grumpiness this morning. I bet that changes early next week. Sixth, fourth, and second grades…

  • Of Camps and Birthdays

    This will be a week of catch up. Before I begin diving into all the things that I’m behind on, first a confirmation that yes, I am keeping some casual notes as I watch the Olympics. There will be Olympics posts over the next couple weeks!1 But now let’s knock out the first, and biggest, piece of catch up: the…

  • Of Birth Dates And Birth Orders

    It’s a weird day in our house. Today is M’s 12th birthday, but she’s not here to celebrate. We dropped her off for her first-ever week at a summer camp yesterday. So our phones, or rather her phone, will not ring with calls from relatives looking to talk to her and wish her a happy birthday. There’s no special dinner…

  • Weekend With A Little One

    This morning I was thinking about where we were in the summer calendar. Then I took a look and realized the girls go back to school one month from today. Yikes! So much still to do. We better get cracking. This weekend was much better than last, at least weather-wise. Perfect lake weather during the days as we hosted our…

  • Holiday Weekend

    We had big plans for the holiday weekend. Unfortunately Mother Nature got in the way. The Fourth of July weekend is normally a family gathering time at our lake house. This year we had our family from Boston coming in, along with most of the locals. Which meant we added a one-year-old to the mix. Plus two babies. In a…

  • Looking For A Spark

    This is year 13 of this site.[1] That’s kind of crazy. Over the past maybe year or so I have, for the first time ever, struggled to find things to write about. It’s not because I lack time. I have plenty of that. It’s not that I don’t want to write. That’s still something I feel compelled to do at…

  • Finally On The Water

    We’ve been lucky through our first two lake weekends of the summer. Excellent weather both times: hot, but not oppressive, and free from rain. Excellent company both times, kids relatively well behaved each weekend. This past weekend was a little extra special, though. L finally went tubing. To reset, despite being our most athletic, most daring kid, L has had…

  • One Crazy Night

    I’ve written about storms a few times in this site’s history. Here are three past examples: Some New Action Storm Chasing The Lost Week Time for another entry in one of my favorite things to write about. It’s been awhile since we spent a night in the basement. We broke that drought last night. For two days the weather folks…

  • First Weekend At The Lake

    The first lake weekend of the summer was a success. It was just about a perfect weekend, weather-wise. It was up in the high 80s, low 90s both days without being too sticky. The water was still surprisingly cool, but was refreshing given the air temp. Saturday night was clear and beautiful. We had three families from St. P’s down,…

  • Summer Vacation

    Summer got off to a quick start for us. The girls wrapped up school last Wednesday. Thursday afternoon we were flying to Boston for our summer trip. This was my third trip to Boston, but first one that I would be spending most of my time in the city proper. Overall, we had a fantastic vacation filled with several firsts…