Birthday Week

The week of July 11th, Jack and Anna worked on their online classes and Kara spent a few days babysitting. Luke went to baseball camp. His friend Mike went too and it was nice to carpool. Then, we discovered another friend was also enrolled. So, the three boys got to go together every day. Friday was a short camp day, so they came here and had lunch and played. It was actually kind of a rough afternoon, I think trios can be problematic and the boys didn't get along as well as I would have expected. Meanwhile, Thomas escaped the chaos and took the big kids, and some of their friends to see Thor (I didn't want to go, so I told him to plan it for when we had the playdate). They all enjoyed the movie.

Anna was supposed to have special math tutoring to prepare her for Geometry. But, the teacher ended up being sick and had to cancel. Which was fine, because Anna got sick too. In fact, she was on and off sick for a few weeks. We tested for COVID and it came back negative, so we assumed it was allergies or a cold. But, she couldn't kick it. She seemed fine one day and then would wake up coughing or with a sore throat the next. Eventually, I took her to the doctor, who diagnosed her with an ear infection and maybe a sinus infection. She has been on antibiotics for about a week and is finally back to normal. 

On Sunday, the 17th, we went to Marta's house (everyone but Thomas who stayed home to do projects). Elizabeth and Travis have moved back, so it was nice to see them. We swam in the pool and had lunch and dinner and lounged around. It is always nice to visit with them, in part because I am completely comfortable in their house. After all, I have been hanging out there for about 25 years! We enjoyed our visit and had an easy drive in both directions (so rare!). 

Happily hanging out at Marta's

My birthday was Thursday. We went to lunch at Bento and picked up Jack early from band camp. That afternoon, we went to Universal. It was really crowded, but we had a good time. We rode several rides, browsed some shops, and had dinner at the Red Oven Pizzeria. And, I finally got to do the water rides! I feel like I have been trying to get on them for several visits and kept getting thwarted.  And, everyone gave me really thoughtful presents. Kara gave me a hilarious shirt that combines two of my favorites--The Office and Harry Potter (Prison Mike as a wanted wizard based on his comment about the dementors). Jack gave me Harry Potter companion books, Anna gave me a Luke's Diner apron, and Thomas gave me a Harry Potter puzzle and a Gilmore Girls t-shirt. Luke gave me 100 hugs. My family knows me well!

They have an Irish store with a countdown to St. Patrick's Day aka Luke's birthday

Anna and I got to sit in the front of the Trolley in the Sky

The Tribute Store was awesome! It had rooms for Back to the Future, Jaws, and Kong.

Dinner!

Thomas' birthday was Saturday. Unfortunately, the day was full of kids' activities. But, I tried to give him a break by taking Luke to baseball, which went from 9-1130. Then, I took Anna ice skating. Finally, Jack had a basketball game at 5, which we both went to. We planned to go to dinner after. However, the game started late and went late, so I ended up picking up pizza instead. Not a great birthday, I'm afraid. He did get some nice gifts. Kara gave him a copy of the script from the pilot episode of Community, Anna got him a Tigers bracelet, and Jack got him a book from the President's series. He was also hoping for 100 hugs, but Luke made him a card instead (he said he didn't want to give us the same thing). Like me, Thomas was happy with how thoughtful the gifts were.

Sunday, most of us went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant to make up for missing dinner the night before. We also went to Target and finished Luke's school shopping. Kara already had plans to spend the day with her friend Sophia, so she was off on her own fun adventure. 

Now, it is another work week. Jack has band camp. The days are long and he doesn't love it, but he has no regrets. He is still excited about being in band. We (mostly me) spent a lot of time trying to convince Anna to do it, but she is content with her decision. I hope she finds something she enjoys and doesn't regret this decision when she sees all the fun things Jack gets to do (and, maybe Kara in another year). As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water...

Random pictures of the week. Florida has crazy storms, one night we were standing in the kitchen during one of these storms and heard an enormous crack of thunder. Outside the window we saw a tree get struck by lightening! There was a massive ball of red light, like a small explosion. It was loud and scary.

The tree that got struck. You can see stripped bark.

I dropped Kara off to babysit and we saw another tree that had been struck. You can't see it in this picture, but it was stripped the entire length of the tree and looks like it was split.