Three happy kids tonight doing sparklers and watching the neighbor’s bigger (but still small) fireworks.
And some of the super cool pics I got with my waterproof camera on the Fireworks settings—these were just simple fireworks we did in the street. I was amazed at how cool they looked!
We went to the pool just after it opened at 10am so it would be less crowded (I like less crowded) and it gave me a chance to get some good pictures of the kids.
Tom helped set up and then man the grill for two hours.
This is more what it looks like when it gets crazy…which is the time we leave. I cannot stand the pool to be that busy and loud. 🙂
I woke up to this series of texts from Tom:
After a bunch more texts about calling roadside and having to wait and the guy going to the wrong exit first…I got this.
Yeah. Turns out the fuel evaporation line was clogged which prevented him from filling the gas tank. He ended up getting into Gurnee about 6pm instead of the 3pm as we planned. So, not a great start. It could have been worse, though, so we’re still thankful (can you imagine if the truck couldn’t have been fixed and they had to send a new truck and everything had to be unloaded and reloaded?!).
The military moves us but we know we’re overweight so we always take a load of really heavy stuff ourselves. It just so happens that this time it worked out to take it in advance so Tom can:
It’s hard to see in this picture but there’s a good 6′-8′ of stuff in the shadows there…all of the heavy-duty tool storage cabinets, all of Tom’s tools, our awesome stainless refrigerator (it’s been unplugged two days and we’re already going crazy—the house fridge is much smaller and currently has no water filter or ice capability), the grill and propane tanks, and a few random totes. Tom worked his butt off today (plus had help from a friend) and will have a long day tomorrow as he’s planning on leaving at 4am to get up there by dinner.
Getting sunscreen on…
When Owen gets the camera…
When mom gets the camera back…
And yes, I actually got in the pool. It was HUMID. And then the sun came out and I got HOT.
Our good friends…
Their toys had gotten sucked in but they were both to scared of the bugs in there to reach in. 🙂
Sitting out during the break (the last 10 minutes of every hour) plotting their next move in the water gun war with the opposing team.
A new hand-me-down suit from our neighbor Maddie.
Cuddling with Daddy
Every so often Tom will join us…
It was my friend Caitlin’s birthday and she didn’t think I knew, so we surprised her with cake and ice cream…and took them out to dinner. They just happened to have face painting that night, so three of the four kids did that (Owen stayed at the table watching Nationals baseball with Tom). The face painting lady and I even convinced Caitlin to get her face done as she didn’t think she’d ever had her face painted.
Katie picked the Ice Princess.
Tom has been cleaning and organizing the garage to get ready to take up a full U-HAUL this weekend…so in the process the garage was cleaned out just enough to pull my car in.
It only stayed long enough for the picture.
We were planning on having a going away party but long story short we ended up cancelling. Heather and Eric had RSVPd so we asked if they wanted to go out to dinner. They did, so we picked a local French place we’d all been wanting to try—Bistro L’Hermitage! You might recognize them from baseball (Eric was Owen’s coach this year) and our F*** It Friday group! Our sitter had to cancel at the last minute, and their sitter was able to watch ours, too! YAY FOR FRIENDS!
It was so hot and humid at Owen’s Field Day that we had decided to take the kids to the pool when Owen got home. Tom was home as well, so we all went down…and it started sprinkling almost immediately. It was fine for a bit and then it started raining harder. Tom stayed with the kids as they were already in the pool while I went to sit and wait in the car (it was chilly in the rain). They didn’t last too much longer. These are the pics (and video) I snapped before the rain started.
Tom brought home his whiteboard from work and left it in the living by room. He walked by later to see this—Owen had completed a bunch of addition problems:
By the time I got home, he had done more:
He kept adding sums…and did them all in his head. Once I started going through them (which I told him I had to do for it count as his nightly math homework), there were a few errors, but really still impressive. I’m not sure if you can see it, but he went all the way up to 16001664 + 16001664 = 32003128 + 32003128 (which wasn’t the right answer but it was close).
Sometimes he just blows our minds.
After watching the forecasts and worrying about the weather all week (the forecast varied from thunderstorms to 60% chance of rain to light rain all day)…we decided to go ahead with the party and it ended up absolutely perfect!! It was overcast at the start and gradually got sunnier and warmer throughout the party—enough so that I had Tom grab my suit when he went back to get the cake!
We had 60 guests (kids and adults!!) and the pool was probably the busiest it will be all season (aside from the days they have cookouts with free food or night swims with free ice cream). But it all went smoothly, everyone had a blast, and there was plenty of pizza and cake for multiple helpings (once I started cutting the serves 48 cake and realized my small pieces were still not small enough to get me close to 60 pieces, I started halving those…and then ended up having half the cake left so kids got seconds and thirds).
The gaggle of dads. They didn’t move from this spot the whole time. 😂
Us moms:
;
The kids were fairly patient about opening gifts once we got home…and they LOVED everything. They got Bop It (thank heavens I found the volume control!) and Owen picked up on it right away, Katie dug right into the glitter glue and construction paper, Owen picked out his favorite baseball cards from a new pack, Katie put together her Disney Lego, we’ve been shot multiple times by Owen’s new nerf gun, and both kids were OVER THE MOON about all the gift cards and getting to go shopping once we move! They both said it was a great birthday!
Everyone at the pool is really nice—everyone plays catch with Owen (we have no idea who this is but it wasn’t the first time he’s played with it Owen).
Owen pushing a bunch of girls around the pool. 🙂
Playing with Daddy!
Proof I’m actually there!
And tonight we surprised the kids and ordered pizza for dinner at the pool. We do it once a summer…so we had to get it in quick this year.
It was hot enough that Tom even came down and joined us for a while.
Father and son before Owen’s last at-bat (where he got a slamming base hit—watch in the video below)!! We joked that we should have taken him to a big league game earlier because it obviously affected his game play!
Sidenote: just look at his face! OMG, I didn’t even see it when I took it because their faces were in shadow. I finally saw it when I edited the photo! He is such a hoot!
During the game, the kids signed frames for all four coaches:
The coach got each player a holder for their game ball:
Swarming the food table like ants!
Tom getting his thank you:
And we got the team and player photos:
Of course we had to pick a position early in the season…had it been later, we would definitely have picked first base.
Lisa and Lori are huge baseball fans and Tom has wanted to take Owen to a professional baseball game since we’ve been here, so it seemed fitting that they all go together while Katie and I stayed home. I wouldn’t have minded going, but I know Katie would have gotten bored (she’s used to being able to run around and play with her friends during Owen’s SHORT games, so I couldn’t imagine her sitting for a three-hour game) so I kept her home and took her to the Friday Night Swim instead.
Owen even had the right cap to wear as one of his previous baseball teams was the Nationals! (He thought her had a shirt, too, except we determined that was the season they only got plain red shirts with logo caps.)
They got home about 11:30 (there was an hour metro ride home after the game) and Owen was STILL excited when he walked in the door. I’m so glad they got to go and he got to see everything!
At the halfway point, we detoured toward the new sidewalks along Lorton Road, which took us over a huge hill where the grasses were as tall as Owen!
Stopping to check out a reclaimed water pond.
Katie kept complaining that her hips hurt or her legs hurt… Until we suggested she run ahead to check out the trail and she was off like a shot!
And since we’ll likely never be right here at the sign again…
I can’t believe we have a measly five weeks left…
Owen’s neighborhood friend Maddie.
Surprise! Daddy stopped by!
Owen totally rocked first base today and earned another game ball!!
And WOW did he earn it. He was amazing to watch—he totally looked like a pro out there with one foot on the base, arm stretched out, catching a throw from third base like it was nothing and easily getting the out. Or leaving the base to catch a throw and easily making it back to base for the out. I think he got all three outs one inning! We are so proud of him!!
I really wish I could get video of him playing first base, but every time I’ve tried, nothing happens or it’s a bad play (of course, right?). And I don’t really want to record the whole inning. But we have one game left so I might try…
And this was little sister during the game—such a monkey.
When calls are impossible to tell the ruling defaults to the runner so Owen was safe, but I’d been recording so I could go back in slo-mo and check it out:
Even with video replay it was super close, but it looked like Owen had his foot on the base and the other guy was inches away from tagging him.
As a thank you to the grandparents for watching the kids, we bought four lobster—two insanely huge ones (probably 3.5# each) and two regular-sized ones.
We don’t have official lobster implements…but these worked fine.
Katie’s attempts at getting a picture of our huge lobster tails.
The lobsters were so huge that one claw was the size of a regular lobster’s tail! Neither of us could finish the whole thing.
Throwback to 2003:
Dinner at Firkin with the friends who helped us get the house!
The bacon wasn’t quite what we hoped it would be (double-fried) but it was still tasty…just not quite what we wanted.
We went to see our house and to take measurements so we can try to plan ahead where we want the movers to put things.
Guest bath—it’s going to be an adjustment only having one sink.
We talked to the landlord and he is willing to buy the materials and have Tom fix the planters.
The back yard was much smaller than we thought it was from the Google maps view—which Tom was happy about since it means less mowing. But it’s still plenty big enough for playing.
And we don’t have a community pool but this place is five minutes from the house.
Five minutes from the house, they serve alcohol, and they have reserved RECLINING seats.
We met a new friend for lunch—one of my very first internet friends Rachel (from pre-wedding days) Facebook-introduced me to Amy, a friend of hers who lives where we will be living… And she also has a 5yo girl starting kindergarten this fall! I can’t believe I forgot to take a pic of us… But I remembered the sushi!
We’re enjoying finding good places to eat!!
There were a lot of pokestops and gyms on the naval base so we took advantage.
Of course we had to check out the Sam’s Club.
