Struck by lightning and other July updates

Okay, time to do the update for July before we go to the beach and get a ton of cute pics (that's my plan anyway!).

Yes, our house was struck by lightning on July 1st. It was a pretty bad storm that night. The boys had been out riding scooters and bikes when the clouds started to get dark so I sent them inside to get showers or baths.

I was helping the kids while Mike and his dad were looking at the hot water heater trying to figure out why the pilot light had stopped working. I had mentioned how much I enjoy watching thunderstorms to the kids as the storm got closer and the thunder louder. Then as Connor was getting out of the tub, there was an enormous bang-so loud it hurt my ears. It freaked us all out a little and I started looking out the windows to see where the lightning had hit (I thought it hit the Fairgrounds somewhere). Mike came running up the stairs and said "our chimney blew up." I ran outside in the pouring rain to see this...

bricks strewn across our yard- I kept saying "What happened, what happened?!" Meanwhile Connor was starting to get really freaked out so I decided to stay calm and sit on the couch with all the kids. After talking with some neighbors who actually saw it happen, we still couldn't believe our house was struck by lightning. In fact, it never occured to us to call the police or the fire department. I only thought to call insurance right away and take lots of pictures. Thank goodness a fire never started.

Afterwards I talked to Mike about what he heard down in the basement, and he said he thought he was dead. He thought somehow gas had leaked and blew up the house, but in reality what had happened was he was right at the base of the chimney (the point where the furnace and hot water heater are connected to release carbon monoxide)when the lightning hit and blasted part of the wall out.

Point of impact, the chimney. Most of the damage was the chimney, roof-because the force blew bricks right through the roof, gutter, the wall in the basement, our TV in our bedroom, and a part to the fridge. I am grateful that it was only that-it could have been so much worse. Now hopefully we will never go through that again and the kids will have a cool story to tell for the rest of their lives!

July 4th

In the past, the 4th of July has been one of my favorite holidays. However working retail (at A.C. Moore) has turned me a little-I have had to work the past two years. I refuse to work next year or I will quit (if I haven't already!).

The kids and Daddy had a fun day at my parents picnic and then having lots of family and friends over for fireworks (we live right by the Fairgrounds). This will probably be the last year for front row fireworks as long as we can sell our house.

Pool Days

We ran out of Swimmer diapers so I just used a regular one since she sometimes doesn't even get in the pool. She looks like she is wearing a bustle!

Remembering a good summer day

I want to write about yesterday because I just had so much fun spending the whole day with the family. Neither Mike nor I exercised all day (which rarely happens these days), and we had two of Hayden's friends here from a sleepover. We had a campout the night before and all the kids and daddy slept in the tent. Yesterday morning Mike got up and made pancakes for everyone, then we went and picked blueberries. This is one of my favorite days of the year, and this year was perfect. The weather was perfect, the kids loved it, and the blueberries were fantastic! (I was a little worried due to the very wet spring we had.) Serena had so much fun she picked until her little basket was full, and carried that bucket around snacking on them till we cut her off at dinnertime (which was probably a little too late based on the diapers!). When we felt like we had picked enough, we all went and got each of our buckets weighed. Mike and I had each filled 2 ice cream buckets full, plus each of the 5 kids had his or her own bucket. As the check-out lady started to add up the pounds, I started to sweat. We had picked 29 lbs.! And they wouldn't accept any donations to sell the berries themselves either. We normally like to have about 20 lbs. to get us through the year, so we'll be living off blueberries this year!

After that we drove to a nearby park to do a rubbing from the summer reading club. It reminded me of Rocky Ridge and was very pleasant to walk. After stopping at McD's for a lunch snack, we came home and Serena, Hayden and I ended up getting into a water fight. We had a lot of fun. We then drove up to Dover library to pick up some books and collect some reading prizes, home to eat dinner outside, and top off the day with the movie Horton Hears a Who. It was a wonderful family fun day from start to finish. It wasn't all that special, just that we set aside common things that we normally do on a summer day like park program, exercise, house repairs, pool, and did other things together instead. That's a real summer vacation.

Father's Day 09

Father's Day was a little different this year due to a family reunion. So we made Daddy breakfast in bed on Monday morning. Eggs benedict and a strawberry yogurt parfait...yum! Hayden loved the eggs so much he ate the leftovers for lunch and asked the next morning if I could make them again!

Hayden made Mike a surprise building out of Legos. It was very cool with lots of different working parts.

And at the top he spelled the word "DAD" in Legos-very clever Hayden!I wanted to get him a new grill but didn't have the funds this year, so I bought him a Grilling cookbook instead!

Half Marathon and Fun Run

Mike ran the Double Creek half marathon with some other friends last weekend and Hayden felt inspired to run the kids' 1-mile fun run. My Mike and Mike Ashton came in close to their PR time, just about a minute over, which was excellent considering the conditions they ran in. It was pouring down raining most of the time, thunder and lightning, strong winds, it was just BAD. Jess Ashton came in just after them, followed closely by Andy. He mentioned he had a rough day because he didn't eat breakfast. I don't know, I think when his wife is gone, he forgets to eat!

After the runners rested for a while, it was time to take Hayden out for his run. He was very excited and anxious. Luckily by then the rain had stopped. I ran it with him and helped keep him going. He did a great job and came in around 11:25. I am very proud of him, I never wanted to run a mile when I was his age!

Becoming a Pilates Instructor

I can't believe that I am teaching a Pilates class. I never imagined or pictured myself doing it, but I love it. My friend Jess started teaching Pilates about a year ago and convinced me to start going. I fell in love with it and have continued ever since. Now I am trying to recruit others to do it. It's so good for the body. I think it is essential for women to keep our bodies strong as we get older, and it's excellent cross-training for others like my husband that just like running. I am also taking other fun cardio and strength classes at the Y that Jess teaches and does a very good job. That's become part of our lives in the morning. The kids in the Child Watch are all friends and they love playing together. They also get exercise too. Fun for everyone! And now that I am an employee, my family gets their membership at a great price. I am also hoping to participate in some volunteer opportunities as well. I love the mission of the Y and the good that they do for the community. I'm even hoping in the distant future once I get my Masters in nutrition to continue working there in a different capacity. Who knows what the future holds!

Serena is 18 months old

My baby is growing up...fast! She is in nursery at church now and I miss her! I love the age she is at now though. She does the funniest,cutest things, she is learning so quickly and understands so much. I'm trying to get some good video of her that I can post. The only thing that's not cute is when she screams, either because she is frustrated because she can't get her way, or because she doesn't have something to eat. Seriously, she eats ALL THE TIME! If I didn't know better I would worry about her eating habits later in life, but I know it won't last.

I bought her a set of princess figurines to play with since I realized she doesn't have many girl toys to play with! She loves playing trucks with Connor. Now her princesses can ride in the back of the truck!

I love you Serena!

Decompression

Thursday evening I taught a gardening class at the church for the ladies which I was very excited about. I don't claim to be an expert gardener, in fact, don't use my garden this summer as an example of my gardening skills, but in preparing to teach, I learned a lot. I'm excited to now use those things I learned to plant lots of veggies for fall. I started composting a little while ago and am learning the importance of rich soil (and less stinky garbage!). I came home after teaching and decompressed. Since the beginning of May I have had one thing after another to do and not much time in between. There has been a lot of time also spent on home projects because a few times within the past two months we have found houses that we love and thought we would try and buy. But we have come to the realization that it is not our time yet, and we still have lots to do here. The beginning of June is always a busy time for me because our anniversary is on the 10th, Mike's mom's birthday is the 11th, my dad's birthday is the 13th, then Father's Day is the following Sunday. Plus this year we had a family reunion on Father's Day that my dad and I were in charge of. So now it is summer and all I have to do are my regular activities and home projects. Right now I am sanding and painting the windows in our bedroom-I hate that job! THat's why I haven't done it in the past 7 years! There is a lot of sanding and painting of trim around the house that we have to do this summer. At least it will look good when it is done. And I have to give so much credit to my husband. Since school has ended he has worked his tail off around the house. Our back porch is nearing completion, our front porch is finished and looks great. In fact, we spend a lot more time out there. We got a roofer to fix a leak so that Mike was able to put up dry wall this past week on our landing-something I have anxiously awaited for 2 months now! Once that project is done then we can move on to the kitchen-the BIG project! We may not finish that until next spring depending on resources and how extensive our renovation will be. I am grateful for all the events of these past two months, but I am also grateful to not be so busy right now! Happy summer!