Easter/A Week in the Life

Saturday was a super busy day. Luke had a baseball game at 10 (had to be there at 9:15). He played well and his team crushed the other team. Then, I took Anna ice skating. She practiced for about an hour and then I took her home and Thomas and I went to Jack's basketball game. He scored 9 points, which is his most yet. His team was also victorious. After that, Thomas took Anna to "Stars on Ice." I had won the tickets in an auction benefitting the local high school. They were donated by a county commissioner, so the seats were in the Orange County Government's suite. Both Thomas and I wanted to go, so Anna flipped a coin and Thomas was the winner. I stayed home and watched one of my favorite movies, Hoosiers, with Jack and Kara, who both said they liked it. Thomas and Anna didn't get home until around 10:30. Thomas thought the show was slow-paced and a little boring, but he enjoyed spending time with Anna. Anna liked the show and knew who most of the skaters were. They both liked sitting in suite, which had leather reclining suites.

Sunday was Easter. We started the day with an egg hunt. Supposedly, the Easter Bunny hid 80 eggs, but only 77 were found. Kara made lemon poppyseed muffins and we cleaned the house. We invited everyone up, but only Marta and Frank were able to come. The girls helped me cook and we had deviled eggs, ham, macaroni and cheese, asparagus, rolls and a bunny dirt cake. The food was all delicious! We played Apples to Apples, which Kara won and I came in last. It was nice hanging out with Frank and Marta and we all enjoyed the day.

Monday, Luke had a baseball scrimmage at the park near our house. Thomas took him at the warm-up time and I rode my bike up a little later. It was a beautiful evening to sit outside and watch baseball. Luke's team played really well. Luke had 4 at-bats and got on base all 4 times (although two of them were a fielder's choice). Jack had basketball practice.

Tuesday: Thomas and I went out to grab something for lunch. When we came home, the pool people were here! We were told it would be around two weeks until they came back, so this was quite a surprise. They had a crew of 8 and spent about 4 hours plastering and putting finish on the pool. They said they would be back on Wednesday to finish.

After school, Luke, Kara, Thomas and I went out and played catch. It was a nice, quiet day.

Wednesday: Jack stayed home from school with a sore throat. In good news, we had a much-anticipated new washing machine delivered! In bad news, when I went to walk Luke home, I noticed water appeared to be flowing from our yard into the street. I texted Thomas to tell him to take a look and went and grabbed Luke. When we got back (less than 15 minutes later), there was a massive flow of water. I walked to where Thomas was and the ground was moving underneath me (like walking on a waterbed). I can't even imagine how many gallons of water there was just below the surface! It appeared to be coming from underneath the pool company's "holding slurry" but why that would take 24 hours to appear, I don't know. We made calls to them, the water company and sprinkler repair people. The pool people said they would be out later in the day, but never showed up and the sprinkler people did not call back either. Thomas was able to turn off the water and stop the flow, so at least it didn't feel so dire, although I am still afraid of getting a sinkhole where the ground is so saturated.

I don't think you can really see it in the picture, but the grass around the "slurry" is raised from the water underneath.

Bubbling grass is not good!

Thursday: Everyone went to school. Jack went on a field trip to see the high school perform "Something Rotten". He said it was amazing.

Someone came out to do the final step on the pool (an acid wash) but he did not have the ability to pick up the slurry. We called the company again and they sent out the project manager. She looked around the area and said she would have someone out today or tomorrow to pick up the slurry. They didn't show today. Fingers crossed they come in the morning, I can't imagine all that weight sitting on it is a good thing, and it definitely isn't helping the trapped water fully drain. After dinner, Luke, Kara, Thomas and I went to the park and played baseball. Then, Kara, Jack and I finished watching Shang-Chi (which we started last night).

Friday: The older kids got home from school around 4:30 and shortly thereafter we left for Universal. We had dinner at City Walk and rode lots of rides at Islands of Adventure. Luke, Kara and I did Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls and got absolutely soaked! Since they were already so wet, Kara and Luke also went on Bluto's Barges. It was a little chilly (surprising for Florida this time of year, but very nice) so there was no line for either ride. Everyone had a good time. We got home around 10. At some point while we were gone, they came and picked up the surry! It is too dark out to see what it looks like now, but I am hopeful that we can get the sprinklers fixed and be done with this mess. 

In honor of Earth Day, they stopped to hear the Once-Ler recite the Lorax.

More April and Some Renovation Pictures

Anyone who knows Thomas knows that he loves baseball. His favorite team is the Tigers, who happen to Spring Train about an hour from our house (with traffic, it's probably more like 90 minutes on most days). This year, the baseball season got off to an inauspicious start with the owners locking out the players over money disputes. Alas, it appeared as though Spring Training would be canceled. Then, they miraculously reached a deal and an abbreviated Spring Training season was announced! Thomas missed out on attending last year, due to Covid restrictions on attendance, so he really wanted to make it to a game this year. He finally got his chance for the very last home game of the Spring Training season. Kara and Luke skipped school to join him and a good time was had by all!

Luke also loves baseball. He loves playing on a team and practicing. We go out into the park next to our house and play catch and sometimes wiffle ball (not quite enough space for real baseball hitting). Thomas will hit him balls with a tennis racket to work on catching fly balls. Luke was breaking in his new glove and reached above his head to catch a ball and it fell out of the stiff glove and hit him on the eye. I was outside too and it really looked like nothing, but Luke collapsed to the ground, crying (unusual). He had his hand covering his face and when he removed it, there was already a huge bump under his eye. It doesn't quite rival the Jack Shiner of 2013, but it was a pretty good black eye.

Jack's band participated in a competition (MPA--but not sure what that stands for) and Thomas went as a chaperone. He said the band was amazingly good and he enjoyed the experience. They ended up getting straight superiors and Jack even had a solo in one of their songs. (We have told the kids they don't have to wear masks, but for some reason our middle-schoolers are still wearing them to school.) 

And, some pictures of the "finished" house. There is a problem with one of the thresholds that will not stay down, but hopefully we can get that taken care of. I agree with those who said we should do all wood, I was a little worried, but I am very happy with how it looks. Although, I know it will be harder to keep clean than the tile. Finished is in quotes because we already are getting estimates on a few other projects to complement the work that was done--especially in the upstairs bathroom, which is now half updated and we want it all updated. I had a contractor out here last week, the same one who fixed the roof, but he still hasn't sent me his estimate. 

And, in final news--work on the pool has begun. Another saga! I will spare you most of the details, but we signed a contract on January 6th, work was supposed to start on March 14th and take 2.5 weeks.  Work started on April 4 and they are still doing the prep work that was supposed to take 2 days (they have only been here 3 days, there are just a lot of days in between when they aren't here). In fact, the prep person (supposed to be a "team" but only 1 came to work today) got here today at 8 to finish. Then, at 10 his work called to pull him to an "emergency" situation. Emergency is in quotes because they seem to happen too frequently to really be considered emergencies. Anyway, they couldn't reach him, so they called and asked me to tell him to call the office and to let him know he was being pulled away. And, he refused to go! He said words to the effect of: "I've been pulled away from your house 3 times now and I am not leaving this half done to sit over the weekend. Plus, what emergency is one guy going to solve? I will call them when I finish if that is okay with you." Obviously, that was very okay with us and we were happy to buy that man lunch!

Drained pool with tile chipped away

New tile installed!

More birthday and other news

We have fully recovered from the cruise and everyone proclaimed it one of their favorite vacations. I asked everyone their favorite thing on the cruise and here's the answers:

Thomas: the Ultimate Abyss

Jack: Chacchoben ruins

Kara: Central Park

Anna: the Boardwalk

Luke: Coco Cay

Kori: Having dinner and a show almost every night

Now, we are back to reality. We celebrated Luke's birthday at home on Saturday, the 19th. He doesn't like frosting, so I made cupcakes, some with frosting and some without. He went to his good friend Mike's birthday party on the 20th at Defy, a trampoline park. Then Mike took him back to Defy to celebrate Luke's birthday the following week. Then, he had donuts in the park with the Cantells and Jacobsens on Sunday, the 26th. So, really he had 4 days of celebration. That's not even considering all the gifts he got. He was definitely well-loved!  

While we're talking about birthdays, I went to Winter Haven to celebrate my dad's 80th! He turned 80 on the 24th, but we celebrated the 27th. My sister and I went to lunch with him and Maggie and then back to his house to spend some time together. My family will go visit soon, but I thought it would be nice to have a quieter lunch. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures. I guess I will do it the next time he turns 80. 

The kids finished another quarter at school. Anna was on the A/B honor roll and the rest had all As. 

Jack and Luke are continuing with their sports. Anna hasn't been able to ice skate recently, as she had some problems with her foot, but I think she is better now and maybe she will be able to go to the Wednesday lesson this week.

We went to the library and Lake Eola craft show this weekend. The work on our house is almost done. There are still some finishing areas that need to get taken care of, but after 2+ months, we will officially have our kids bathroom back in use starting tonight. I will take pictures and do a post when everything is really complete.

And, I think that brings us to present day.