What a weekend……
Well, for me my holiday weekend started last Thursday when my Mom arrived for the long weekend. But it didn’t start off on the greatest note. On the way down here the transmission on her Suburban started acting up. So when she got here she had me call my mechanic who said to bring it in immediately. They tested it and all that and found that the tranny was about gone and he said he wouldn’t guarantee her that she would even make it back home with it. 🙁 So he immediately ordered a new tranny from the dealership and it was supposed to arrive on Friday so they could get started on it. Apparently it didn’t get done because it’s still there so it should be done tomorrow. So she’s rented a car to be able to get back home tonight and then come back down to get her car when it is done. What an expensive way to have to start a holiday weekend! the worst part is this is the 2nd time the tranny has been fixed on it now since she bought it in March. Ugghh.
Friday we ran around and did some shopping and stuff. then spent the rest of the day playing out in the yard wiht the kiddos until DH got home. At which time they decided we were going to go out for fish. so we loaded up and headed out. Came home and watched a movie.
Saturday we got everyone loaded up and ready to go and headed out to the Sunfish Days parade in the next town over from us. My DH is always such a grump about that. He thinks we should be down there like 2 hours before the parade starts to get a place to sit and we usually end up rolling in there about a half hour before it starts and then try to find a place to sit. Not on purpose, but because my Dh can’t seem to get his butt in gear to get anything loaded in the van and ready to actually go. I loaded the van, got the kids stuff ready, got the kids ready, and was getting them loaded and he’s still aimlessly wandering around grumping about everything. Ugggh, men. lol But we got there, got a decently close place to park and got headed towards the parade route. Of course the place I spotted when we were driving through and where DH refused to stop to let me out so I could hold the spot was filled when we got back there. Grrrr… So we walked the length of the town again in the opposite direction and found a corner that wasn’t filled and a cop was standing right there. So my Mom went and asked the cop if it was ok to sit in the street and he said absolutely, he was going to move his squad in behind us but we could surely sit there. So that’s what we did, sit right in the street and we had a great view of everything. So all was good.
My son LOVED the parade. Especially once people started walking by and handing him candy. lol He wasn’t sure you were supposed to have the candy they were throwing until we told him it was ok to pick it up and/or take it when it came his way. So then he was excited. He’s not one of those kids that stands there acting like a greedy little pig trying to push others out of the way to get a lousy Tootsie Roll. He just calmly waits and if something comes his way he gets that. It’s amazing how many people in the parade route identified him that way and would make a special effort to come over and give him stuff. lol I think the thing he got that excited him the most was when the local Infantry Battlion that just returned from Iraq came through. They were handing out little American flags, my son LOVES those little flags for some reason. and one of the soldiers that just came back came over to K, squatted down in front of him and gave him a flag and then my son shook his hand and thanked him. I have to say I think that was the sweetest moment I have ever seen. It actually kind of brought a tear to my eye to see that. Later on K was standing waving a flag in each hand and a guy from the VFW came through handing out something else and came over and told K he was doing a great job with flag waving and patted him on the head. My little guy was beaming from ear to ear having those little flags. 🙂
Sunday we spent the majority of the afternoon working in the backyard. See, when we bought this house there had been alot of profressionally landscaped gardens around the house and in the backyard. We did our best to keep them up and take care of them. They weren’t in the best shape when we bought this house but still ok. But I’ve had lofty ideas on how to make them better and something I can manage. Well one of the corner gardens in the backyard is near my sons’ swingset. their sandbox is in that corner too. So yesterday we went and bought all the retaining wall bricks and rubber mulch. And about 4 hours later we had it all done and it looks great. So it’s nice to have one done finally. Now the kids have a nice soft, safe place to play, their sandbox is back there, the teeter totter and then I put my swing back there so I can sit and watch them. So it’s great and now I have a nice looking landscaped corner and a nice big old yucky blood blister on my finger from smashing it between some retaining wall blocks. 🙁
Last night when I was coming back from my second trip from Menard’s they broke in on the radio with severe weather warnings for our area. It was getting darker looking in the sky to the south of us and the wind was blowing quite a bit but that was about it at the time. But then they said tornado warnings were out and it was possible that we could expect some of the severe weather to arrive within the next hour or so. I got home around 5 and it was cooling down a little then. And we could see that to the south of us it was pretty black in the sky. Just before 6 it started to rain. Thankfully we were finished so we just grabbed the few thigns we had left out there and took them back to the garage. and by the time we got in the house the rain pretty much had stopped and the sun came back out. That was all the we had for any kind of weather at all. Very strange. But to the south of us into Iowa a little bit is where some severe storms did hit that killed 7 people. 🙁
And today is Memorial Day. So I think the plan is just to hang out and relax. Do some grilling out. Have the kids enjoy their last day of Grandma visiting. Later tonight we have to go and pick up my Mom’s rental car so she can head back tonight. And I think that’s about all there is on the agenda for today.
But for now I’m done with this I think. Typing is really bugging my poor blistered finger since its on the pad of my index finger. 🙁 Makes it a little more difficult to do just about everything. But I’ll live. lol