June ended with pots of peonies. July began with a Thunderstorm.
We started celebrating our wedding anniversary the minute we got home from the cabin.
Katie had a day care snag that was fixed when I agreed to watch BoopityBoop on Thursday and to avoid making the whole family get up before the crack of dawn so as to drop the girls off here at my house before Katie had to be at work, I went up to their house and spent the night so as to be there when the girls woke up for breakfast. Left to their own sleep cycle, they don’t usually wake up till after 8:30 and by then, I was on my third cup of coffee.
Anyway, all that meant was that I was not going to be drinking on our actual anniversary and that I would be abandoning Jay right after dinner.
So Jay decided we’d just celebrate all week.
I thought that sounded like a good plan!
We had lovely dinners, with drinks out on the hill every night. It rained off and on during the week but it was usually nice as the sun set, even if we did have to towel off some chairs. Tuesday was perfect; the kind of day we dream about all winter when we dream of summer. We walked around the lake in the afternoon and visited the Wild Mind, a micro brewery in the neighborhood, as evening came on. We had one beer each (mine was delicious; tasted like red wine. I wish I could remember what it was) and played cribbage. I won. Jay had beaten me when we played at Loon Sh*t Bay, so I was due. We were trying to decide what to pick up for dinner when he got a text from our friend Pat, telling us there was always room for us at J.D. Hoyt’s, so we hopped on the freeway and went downtown.
Hoyt’s is definitely our favorite place in town. We ate out on the back patio and it was simply glorious! A gentleman dining alone at the table next to ours asked us if we minded if he lit up a cigar.
“Is it a good cigar?” we asked simultaneously. He assured us it was, so of course we had no issue with it. We chatted a bit with him as we all ate our dinners. As we were leaving, Jay introduced himself and wished him a good evening. He said (and I quote) “You’re Jay Pivec? Man, you’re a legend in this town!”
That’s always fun to hear, even if you aren’t celebrating your anniversary.
As we walked towards the back door of Hoyt’s, Jay caught a glimpse of someone familiar on the patio of the place next door; turned out some of his friends were eating there! We talked for a moment, then went out front to get our car from the valet. AS we waited, on the corner of Washington and 3rd, yet another card playing buddy of Jay’s came sauntering across the intersection! That’s Hoyt’s: always surrounded by friends!
WE tried watching several movies during the week. Some were good, some not so good and a few we didn’t finish. We liked The Upside, with Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston. It was funny, well done and we like both those actors. We didn’t like Hickock. It had some guys in it that we liked but the lead was terrible and it was shot in natural light which is never a good choice. It was also boring, which is really the only unforgivable sin in any form of entertainment.
Thursday, I had a blast with BoopityBoop. It poured rain through the middle of the day but cleared up in the afternoon so we spent most of it outside. They played on their new swing set, drove their pink convertibles all over the yard and each of them brought baby dolls out to push around in their strollers. The only have one actual stroller, the other had to use a toy shopping cart. We all had a beautiful afternoon with the only tiny blot being the moment I realized Boop had crawled through the hole in the bottom of the door to the utility shed. I unlocked the door and ordered her back out of the spider filled dark shed into the sunshine. She obliged. I didn’t tell her but I was impressed by her bravery. I would neverhave had the guts to crawl through a broken door into a pitch dark shed!
We had some exciting moments. Boop had had an accident while they were ‘taking a nap’ and while I was cleaning her up, Boopity used the potty and was so determined to dump the bowl into the toilet without any help that she dropped the whole thing right on the bath mat. No biggie, we got everything cleaned up and added the bath rug to the load of laundry we were going to have to do anyway. Potty training is never without its mishaps.
On Friday, I rested.
Saturday was a big family pool party at Jay’s brother’s house to celebrate Steve’s 70thbirthday. The timing was perfect, as it was the first really hot, humid day of the summer. The temps hit 90 and we all had a great time in the pool. Xena, Babalouie and Boopityboop were not perfectly sure about the pool when they first arrived at the party but when it was time to go we practically had to send for the Coast Guard to get them all out of the water. At one point in the afternoon, Xena yelled to everyone in the backyard “I wish WE had a pool like this!”
I don’t want a pool but I do love knowing people who have one.
It was a great party. We brought Xena, Babalouie and Kitten home with us. Megan was having a nice, kid free afternoon with a friend. They walked around Lake Harriet and came and got the kids around 8:30. I’m sure after spending nearly 5 hours in the pool the kids were sound asleep long before they got home. Kitten was a huge hit at the party; throw a newborn at a group of Grandmas and everyone is happy all day long.
Sunday, Jay and I went to Bunnies for Brunch after church and we scored the parking place right next to the door! We figured it was our lucky day so we bought a handful of pulltabs.
Turns out, our lucky day was getting that parking spot. And we got brunch a Bunnies; it doesn’t get much better than that. It was an overcast, very sticky day. We walked around the lake in the afternoon and ran into no less than five people we know. The sun came out just long enough to make a spectacular sunset, then a thunderstorm rolled in just after dark. I love sleeping through a thunderstorm! I did wake up in the middle of the night to discover that we’d lost our power. I think the fan over our bed, stopping, is what woke me up. I’m just glad we hadn’t turned on the air. I’d have hated waking up in a closed up house with no air conditioning. As it was, I turned toward the open window with the beautiful stormy breeze blowing on my face and fell sound asleep again.
It was a great week.