lumping stuff together

i had zero time last week, so today you get a smorgasbord.

first off all, happy belated labor day. what did we do? well, marc had meetings on friday in milwaukee, so the kids and i tagged along for a cheap 36 hour mini-only break we've had since april vacation.

while marc was working, i took the kids to the little hotel pool.

they had fun ...

they practiced synchronized forward somersaults ...

and then played a little marco polo, which led to this:

sad little lip.

she got over whatever it was within moments, though, and they were soon having a water fight. which was all sorts of fun ...

until it wasn't ...

kills you, doesn't it?

so while she pouted, henry decided to try out the hot tub ...

all of his screaming and weirdness got a smile out of harper, so she then forgave henry for whatever it was he'd done and decided to experience the sensation of boiling alive, too ...

once they were both hot and melty, they decided to jump back in the pool to freeze themselves ...

which, within minutes, became this ...

(are you kidding me with this face, harper? seriously, is it that bad?!)

apparently, no, not that bad. within moments, they were trying water ballet ...

and all was well.

ding dongs.

after cleaning up, we waited for marc to come get us, then we headed to the mitchell park conservatory dome gardens.

i took many lovely pictures. all of plants. you get this one:

after that, we drove to the shore of lake michigan and took a walk. lake michigan, wherever i happen to find it, always brings me peace (see: this and this), and this was no exception. the breeze ... the water ... it was a great walk.

until the kids got into it over something, harper threw a fit, she had to sit in time-out under a tree, and i watched the boats in the marina and tried to "ohm" my way back to peace.

after that, we ate dinner, went back to the hotel, swam again, and called it a day.

saturday morning, we detoured to blue mounds, wis., on the way home so we could take the kids to the cave of the mounds park. a real, live, millions-of-years-old cave near madison.

the kids thought we were the bomb for taking them there ... score one for us.

the tour took about an hour, and both of the kids were fascinated and interested the whole time. (that never happens.)

once back in daylight, we stopped in the gift shop, where henry declared he didn't need anything (my boy is growing up!) and harper picked out a geode to crack open.

when we took it outside to clean off ...

henry spent time creating a dam system out of the quarry sluice and the sifting pans.

given that he's been doing this at every water feature he's ever found since the age of two, i told henry it seemed like his natural dream job would be a hydrologist, a dam engineer. which then became us going the whole "national lampoon's vegas vacation/hoover dam" sequence route ...

"henry, you should be a dam engineer."

"i'd have a dam job! i'd get a dam paycheck! i could use the dam bathroom!"

which caused him a great amount of pleasure, to be saying that in front of his mom. and it was not only totally okay, it was totally hilarious.

(three days later, on the first day of school, he had to write up a survey in science about how he's a scientist, and how his future would include science. and he wrote about wanting to become a hydrologist ... he even squeaked in phrases like "dam engineer" and "dam job." oh, my.)

speaking of first day of school ...

middle school. first grade.

fingers crossed.

actually, so far, so good. they both had a great first week and have started making new friends. it helps that i'm driving them out to the new neighborhood to ride the bus ... a dozen kids get on and off for middle school, and there are nearly 30 kids at our bus stop for elementary school. they basically take up the whole bus ... it's crazy. crazy good.

speaking of the house ...

we now have electrical:

and water ...

and appliances ...

(appliances that i really, really can't wait to play with ...)

yeah, baby.

oh, and remember that ikea maskros light i was going to hack?

and soon it looked kinda like this?

well, now it looks like this:

(broader spectrum of updated photos here)

so now we are TWO weeks from closing. we went out this morning and found that all the barn doors are now up, the hardware will be on soon, driveway is done, and this week should see the return of the painters, exterior paint, carpet installation, finalization of electrical and plumbing ... we're in the home stretch. to the untrained eye, it looks like an impossible list. but hey ... not my problem. we close on the 23rd ... it's up to them to meet their deadline. right?

Comments

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This dam post had me snorting with laughter. That Harper! Girls, highs and lows! Your house is totally gorgeous and I am loving every single thing you have picked. I was crestfallen when I got to the end and there were NO pictures of barn doors. Dying here!

[lisa truesdell]

heeeeeeeee. there's a whole "dam" sequence in one of the percy jackson books and it allllllllllways gets my boys rolling.

love milwaukee. we went up for one morning while we were in the area - the downtown is gorgeous! sounds like a fun mini trip.

[Michele]

Where did you get the goose-neck lighting for your garage? I love them -- but I can't find anything like it that's reasonable. :)