Tales from the Pool Side

Orange Crush

That's what I immediately thought of as I walked into the basement this afternoon.

Why? Because it smelled like my grandparents' basement over 3 decades ago.

Drinking soda (Orange Crush was my soda of choice) was a HUGE treat as a child. And it pretty much only took place at Gammy and Bobpa's home. And their extra refrigerator storing the cans was in the basement. (Actually, it seems like it was on a landing on the way TO the basement, but I can't actually imagine that scenario as an adult. Is that accurate, siblings?)

I don't know what it takes to make the right aromatic combination, but it sure took me right back! I almost expected a Crush waiting for me instead of laundry. I wish I could bottle the smell and sniff it when I am feeling nostalgic. Or that it lingers for a few more days.

I think I'll see if Jenni can smell it . . .

conversation with my girl

Yesterday Kennah and I were in the car talking.

She starts: I am glad I am not going to spend a lot of money on my wedding cake.

(WHOA!!! Where did this come from??!! This is my little tomboy who never goes there.)

Me: What do you mean?

K: Well Grami or Meghan will make it for me. They make great cakes.

Me: You are right, I am sure they will do that for you.

(I thought the wedding planning was over. I was wrong.)

K: And you will take my pictures.

Me: Well, I might want to participate in the day. I can take part of the pictures.

K: Oh. But you'll get me a really good photographer?

Me: Of course, honey. That's an important thing to me.

K: Great. And you can pay them from the savings on the cake.

(Where is this matrimonial budgeting coming from??!!)

Me (no longer in shock, instead very much enjoying the moment with my girl): And we'll make sure you have live music. That's a priority of dad's.

K: OK

(Now I am really enjoying myself. She is accepting me advice!)

Then I told her about different ways Slade and I could celebrate our 20th anniversary, in 7 years. Big party or trip to Fiji . . . She thinks we should combine it with her sweet 16. (This is the first time she's mentioned anything about even having a sweet 16, much less that she even knows about the concept.)

K: When is your anniversary?

Me: Monday.

Her next question just shows how habits become reality.

K: Who are we staying with?

I love she knows how things are!

DANGEROUS

pie, that is.

Drum, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick was this week's book club book. The girls talked about, in my mind, very mature topics:

sibling nerves/relations (always a hot topic in our home)

cancer

life changes and being ready for them

Not so fluffy, eh?

But Reevkah's homemade "Dangerous Pie" made up for the heavy topics. As I was cutting it, Stephanie said, "4 pieces equals one for each of us." So we left the pieces over-sized.

Retirement . . .

. . . has its perks.

Grami may have retired from teaching school (too bad for the educational system), but she was willing to come teach art camp this week (so lucky for us.) It was fantastic!

Relay Wrap Up

I shared some images from our team's Relay for Life experience a couple of weeks ago. But here more are images of the entire event. The wrap up meeting was last night, so I wanted to share the others now.

color

Avy's second art class was yesterday. We talked about how color communicates. There were two crafts. The first one ended up taking a lot longer than I planned because the correct glue was lost on the way down stairs (still don't know how) and we had to use superglue as an alternative. But the girls (and I) had a lot of fun designing rings.

In the second project we took 16 colors to describe a mood, place or thing. I love how it ended up. I love that everyone has different things that are significant to them (for example, Christmas Tree, banana split, summer swimming, Great Wolf Lodge, chocolate chip cookies, etc.) And even those interpretations will vary from person to person.

Summer good times continue.