Well we are home and the house looks like our suitcases exploded. We got home late Friday night - did you know they are doing night highway paving most of the way from here to Maine?
I still have to download more pictures from the camera. I'm not so motivated though. Most of the time I can't wait to get pictures downloaded. Maybe because it usually looks more fun in the pictures than it was in real life. In the pictures, Jesse isn't whining and fighting with Jocelyn, Morgan isn't hitting them both trying to get them to stop, and Timothy is somewhere to be found. In the pictures, everyone is happy and smiling and it looks like we're having the time of our lives.
And there there's vacation, where no picture could be as good as the experience. Soon I'll look at the pictures and smile, but I will less and less remember the warm sand between my toes and the cool breakfast beer in my hand that I drink while watching Jocelyn jump up, hold her breath, and submerge her whole self under the water. The feeling of cool water against sun baked skin will fade from memory... until next year...
By the time we left Jocelyn was pretty much swimming like a fish, though only like a fish - under water. She'd jump up as high as she could, slam herself down belly flop style, then kick and paddle along. Josh bought her some goggles, or "woggle goggles" as she called them, so she hunted for rocks for hours and hours. Jesse wanted woggle goggles too, but didn't want to put his head in the water to get them.
We didn't go out much since the weather was so perfect, but did make one trip to the Thrift Store (Josh dropped me off, went down and picked up food, then picked me up on the way back - so I was trying to shop quickly). Very fruitful trip - I got 3 pairs of pants for Timothy (one pair was a brand new pair of black dress pants that still had the tags on!), 3 pairs of winter boots, 1 pair of black dress shoes for Timothy (also appeared to never have been worn), 2 pairs of snow pants, a t-shirt for Josh, and this gorgeous dress from David's Bridal for Jocelyn (I figure she'll wear it for Passover, it's a size 5) - all for $43!
So now we're home. Yesterday, to avoid unpacking, I cleaned Jocelyn and Jesse's rooms. Jesse's carpet was very dirty and I couldn't find any Resolve, so I emptied a bottle of Zout laundry stain remover onto it, then used the carpet cleaner with the Fantastic with OxiClean in it, which worked pretty well.
In additional efforts to avoid unpacking, I took Timothy back-to-school shopping. We got the letter from the school while we were gone saying that he's on the "Evergreen" team (there are 3 teams in 6th grade, 90 kids on each) and listing needed school supplies. So we went to CVS to pick up their sale items and to Walgreen's to get the rest. Not a cheap date, but we got everything. I had a $10 off $50 coupon for Old Navy so we went to get him new school clothes as well. We got a couple short sleeved polo type shirts, a couple t-shirts, a pair of cargos, and a pair of shorts. He went in to try on the dark brown cargos with the oatmeal golf shirt and it looked great. He has brown shorts here at home so will wear those if it's hot on the 2nd.
When we got home we arranged the 2 binders and dividers and pencils and pens and paper and ruler and so forth into the recommended structure per the school note. I can't believe he's going to junior high. I'm trying so hard to hide the fact that I'm terrified for him. The week after next he gets to go try out his locker and find his homeroom.
We also got a note from Morgan's teacher for the year - a man! This is particularly exciting because Morgan responds very favorably to men, and bonds with them more easily (as evidenced by any man who has visited us and found Morgan suddenly in their lap). Then Jocelyn will have Miss Dana again and we got a note from her as well. I asked Jesse if he wanted to go to school too, and he said "No, I don't go to school, I'm a boy. Girls go to school, boys go shopping." I asked him what he thinks happens at school, and he said you hug Miss Dana. Registration for classes at the rec center is Aug 26th, so we may see if we can get him signed up for something then. I think he might be ready for a parent-less class (gasp).
Well tomorrow's back to work - sigh. I did at least manage to NOT unpack the whole weekend, which means Josh will magically do everything tomorrow and I'll come home to a much cleaner house. Woo hoo!
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