Summer of Flaherty, Update Two

Activity 5: Makah Visits for Her Birthday. My mom decided that for her landmark birthday (30, right?) she wanted to fly down to North Carolina and spend it with her kids and grandkids. She arrived on her birthday, last Thursday, and we all convened at Daniel's on Main in Fuquay Varina for an Italian birthday dinner, complete with a Foster's key lime pie. Then the kids and I (Kevin hard at work back in Durham) stayed on at my sister's for the long weekend, having a rollicking family time. On Friday, a grill-out, time in the blow-up pool, and s'mores over a backyard bonfire. Saturday, we spent no less than six hours straight at the Fuquay Clubworx outdoor pool, and on Sunday the grandparents and kids went to the movies while Lindsay and I spent a mom's afternoon off at the stores around the theater. I bought a "little black dress" and some uncharacteristic tie-up wedge heels with my weekly allowance. (Yes, we now have weekly allowances for ourselves, and we firmly believe this concession keeps us from spending more.) Little Baby (almost three months old! and who was baptized Sunday morning) had us all on less-than-a-perfect night's sleep, and I was glad to return home to my own bed and the deadbolts that keep Boy inside when he should be inside.

Activity 3, Part 2: Summer Camp. Beginning yesterday morning, both kids are now in their respective summer day camps. Boy is going to a VBS at our church, and is loving it. Today was Slip 'N' Slide Tuesday. Meanwhile, Girl continues to learn pseudo-Japanese songs and make fish kites and paper cranes at Japanese Art Camp. Yesterday was busy with mom and Eric leaving, but today I experienced the weird moment when both kids were busy and I was needed nowhere, by no one. Although the schedule said I should be scrubbing toilets and throwing on laundry, I took the time to finish off my allowance with a post-vacation, cleansing breakfast at WholeFoods (tofu and kombucha) and then walk around Duke Gardens (one of my favorite places in the world) for two hours. It was such a beautiful day and the garden was, as always, full of beautiful vistas and magnificent details. I was reminded that nature does heal. And it was bizarre to choose my own way and have both my eyes and my hands to myself to look at and touch whatever it is I wanted to.

Activity 6, Part 1: Buck-Fifty Movies. Kevin finished his summer class this morning with his final exam. He came home and slept, and then off we went to our first summer activity as a whole family: the cheap movie theater in Raleigh. Not only is it just a dollar-fifty to enter, but Tuesdays are "Stimulus Tuesday," where concessions are on deep discount. We saw Rio and shared a giant popcorn and a frozen Coke. Drove home in a summer storm which still rages this evening, throwing rain at the window next to me and preventing me from taking a shower (because, believe it or not, it has been proven that lightning does run through pipes and strike people taking showers. Check MythBusters.) My movie snack has now caught up with me and I feel dizzy and like vomiting.

Tomorrow we start on the Goals, but not before we have our only "Grown-Ups Only" Activity; the Breakfast Date. Congratulations to Kevin, who has finished Microbiology with another A, and who is just now snorfling (we won't say snoring, exactly) on the couch, waiting for me to watch a RedBox movie and welcome the summer. Sweet dreams.