14 July 2007

Summer in the City

Summer in our city, anyway. Not the urban hub of hot weather activity are we. However, we do have great fun. Saturday nite we had a pickup frisbee game with representatives from most of the houses on that side of town either participating or spectating. It was great fun. The one bar in town was having its anniversary party in the parking lot, so we all got a free live band whether we wanted it or not. In a moment of mommy softness, I allowed the big kids to stay out for "night games." We do have a curfew in town, due to some unfortunate incidents with bored teenagers a few years back, but they can be in someone's yard. They came in tired out and slept hard.
Yesterday we cleaned out and washed the van in anticipation of the trek to camp today. When that was done, we decided to take a quick trip to the lake in the clean van and see if the dogs would swim. We haven't had them out yet. It was a moderate success; the dogs paddled about a little, but were far more interested in all the interesting smells along the shore. The water was nasty, too. Lac Qui Parle is a shallow, dam-enhanced lake full of geese and pelicans. It was like bathwater, but decidedly greener. That beach can be so nice early in the year or during a rainy summer. Unfortunately, if it's a wet year, a good part of the park stays closed and flooded, so you don't get to enjoy the beach so much. Kind of a double-edged sword, that. Since I had the good sense to wander around gravel roads after washing the car for the first time in ages, I pulled back up to the hose and rinsed the dust off. I also got out the power washer and had my semi-annual fun of hosing off the area rugs. Nothing says "clean" to me like 1300 PSI! (Yes, I know, it's just a little weenie household model.)
Well, I'm off to try to weasel out of work so I can ride along to camp, and maybe sneak in a trip to home depot on the way by. This time it's church camp. It's old hat for Things 1 and 2, but this is Thing 3's first year, and she's pretty excited. All the old cliches about how quickly time passes pop to mind. While we played frisbee the other night, I was startled to see all these little boys who are suddenly young men. I've been watching them grow for years, but it seems like baby fat has melted off, jawlines have appeared, and they've added several cumulative feet to their height overnight. I'm already having apoplectic fits about the curves appearing in all the appropriate places on Thing 1, and the evidence that Thing 2 is not too far behind. Now Thing 3 is old enough for sleep-away camp. Yikes.

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