New Toy

Out with the old and in with the new…ok, that’s not quite true, since we didn’t have an old one to trade in, but here’s the NEW. A 2008 Bronc Adventure, bright yellow for nighttime visibility. More or less to say, “Watch out world, we don’t know how to drive this thing!!” Al and I went to Scottsbluff on Wednesday to pick it up. Not only was the check un-cashable, but neither driver has a motorcycle endorsement and the bike’s license plate blew off on the drive home. It’s Nebraska…..who cares about silly laws?

Anyway, on with the rest of the week.

Monday and Wednesday, Eden had private swimming lessons. Her instructor is Jessica, and she is a wonderful girl who wasn’t sure if I’d be upset if she put Eden under the water, in case Eden didn’t like it and cried. I said, “Why do you think I’m paying YOU to do it?!” No, really, she likes it and is figuring out the concept of ‘Reach and Pull’and that if you don’t blow bubbles under the water, it stings the nose and burns all the way down. I was finding that when I took both kids to the pool, I could no longer hold on to Eden, so she had to either cling to the side, or wear a life jacket so that I could hold wiggly Lars. The lessons, I thought, would teach her a bit of skill and confidence, at the same time. She goes three days next week, as well.

At the church voter’s meeting on Monday, the people approved to go ahead and accept a bid on the new building project. So, a year and $786,000.00 from now, we may have an bigger church building. The blueprints call for handicap accessability, including ramps, bathrooms, and a lift, plus a secretary & Pastor’s office in the church, more pews in the sanctuary, a cry room across the hall, extra classroom space and a new kitchen. Sounds exciting, let’s hope they don’t argue now about the color of the carpet and the design of the ceiling tile…

On Friday, Jason and Lisa came for supper. They were en-route to Scottsbluff for a wedding on Saturday. We had a choice of grilled lemon-lime chicken or beef short ribs with Al’s magic sauce, mashed potatoes, freshly frozen fruit and a green leafy salad. Eden, of course, ate the mashed potatoes and said, “I all done”.

After supper, the Dads took Tyler and Eden to the stock car races in Gering and Lisa and I took Lars & Samson for a walk around town.

Saturday, Lars was up and laughing by 0600. He went down for a nap before Eden had even rolled out of bed at 0900. When everybody was awake and (so I thought) happy, we went to the Pool, where Bridgeport was hosting this week’s traveling swim team meet. Lexi and Kyra were swimming, along with a few others we knew. I packed up a cooler with appropriate toys, drinks, snacks and sunblock. But, after about 15 mintues of our arrival to the pool, Lars was seriously unhappy and everybody around us was suffering. We watched a few heats, then came back home, where Lars happily played by himself in his crib for an hour. Argh.

I made it home just before the thermometer hit 100. It’s always good to be indoors when that happens.

Sunday is the church picnic in the park, so I made up a Farmer’s Strata casserole and packed up our picnic basket and yesterday’s cooler. It’s only 95 today, so hopefully, we can stay outside for a bit longer.

TWO weeks until Michigan!!!