my state of crazy

Happy 4th of July!! 

I'm up EARLY this morning (thanks to my husband who employs some of the most annoying tactics in the world to wake me up... I am NOT a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, so he has to be spectacularly bothersome or I'll just ignore him and go back to sleep). Anyway, the point is, I'm up early and actually have time to sit at my computer and play for a bit!!  

I thought I'd share some randomness with you. Bits of daily life around here. It's been HOT, just like everywhere else in the mid-west. We've been dealing. I am super grateful for air conditioning. I am super grateful for fresh water to drink whenever we need something cold to cool us. I am super thankful for water to play in (although that has had to go by the wayside a bit, as they began fining people for watering their lawns... I guess that means they would frown upon playing in the sprinklers???  *lol*)

A few pre-sprinkler ban photos: 

I mean, really, besides just staying inside altogether, being in water is about the only way to survive this CRAZY heat! We've been anywhere from 102 to 110 on any given day. 

Last year I did a whole series of "The Kids Were Here" photos... I think 2 straight weeks worth. This year I haven't been quite so intentional or focused, but I have gotten a few shots here and there... such as flip flops abandoned on the back deck...

... and an A&W Root Beer can...

Random tidbit about this summer... the cat has taken to escaping out the back door every chance she gets. At first we yelled at her and chased her... then we decided, she's old and has very few joys in life at this point. If being outside under the deck makes her happy, then who are we to stop her. She doesn't stay out long. Just long enough to feel the freedom and the fresh air on her whiskers (and long enough to eat some grass). 

But she always comes back in of her own accord. She knows it's better inside... inside is where the food and the cuddles are.

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I guess for a while now, Lucas and Shane have been working together to pull our dinosaur jet ski out of storage and see if they can get it running. This past weekend, we made a trip to Ohio (power outage and all) to see if their efforts would pay off.  We got there L.A.T.E. on Friday night. Lucas had stayed at work until 10:30 trying to recover the plant from its own loss of power. So we left our house around 10:45. Which means, we got to Ohio sometime just before 1:00 in the morning. They were operating with a few click lights on a generator. No power, thanks to some crazy huge storm that swept this side of the country. But the kids were thrilled to be at Grandma & Grandpa's house anyway.

First chance they got, the men went to work on the jet ski. We made a trip to the license bureau for new tags, and they put the new battery in and got it all cleaned up.  Then we headed to the lake for a test drive. 

Once we knew it was up and running, Lucas couldn't wait to get the kids out on the water for a ride!! We went out first, and his parents met us at the lake with the kids. Meagan was the first to jump at the chance to hop on!  The boys were a little tentative, but tentative just isn't in that girl's vocabulary. She was ready to go!

And she LOVED it!!!  She smiled and laughed and yelled "faster Daddy" the ENTIRE time!

Since they had used their sister as the guinea pig and she survived, the boys decided it must be safe-ish. They went on together, although still with a bit of nervousness. Soon, though, we could hear them from shore, laughing and having a blast!

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Just one more random tidbit for ya... apparently this is Meagan's new pose.  She's doing the same thing in the lake photo above. I wonder if this is her supermodel pose? *eye roll*

We may be in for trouble one of these days. Even if she stays oblivious to the boys, I doubt the boys will stay oblivious to her. *Eeep*

Okay, that's all I got for ya. It's now all of 7:20am on this lovely holiday day. I think I'm going to take the next hour or so to myself, and then get started on preparing for the 4th. I started painting yesterday (yea for color on the walls!!!) so the house is a bit torn up. I would like to be able to walk through the place without tripping or shimmying past out-of-place furniture. So we'll see what I can get done.

Happy 4th!! Enjoy!!

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