Tuesday and Wednesday: Birthday!

I had a wonderful birthday this year. Tuesday our Bible study got together and someone brought donuts! Yay donuts! We also played games and that was fun.

Wednesday was pretty much a normal day, but Ben was extra nice to me and I got lots of phone calls. And a few presents! Even Flurry sent me a card.

Sunday and Monday: hot!

Well, it is hot out now! I'm glad for our deck, but that is about the only reason. It is supposed to start raining again tomorrow, which will be nice.

Yesterday was really too hot to do anything, although we did get some groceries. Then we went swimming with some friends...it was very nice to cool off in the water. We continued keeping cool by playing a game in the basement (and the boys won for the first time). By evening it had cooled down enough outside that we stopped by a bonfire for a bit.

This was a very fun day, but of course meant that none of the "normal" chores got done. We aren't quite out of socks yet though, so I have a few days to get it done. :)

Today I had a hard time getting motivated. The morning was rather frustrating, although went by quickly.

Saturday: my busy day with pictures!

First I went to Jess' baby shower.

Jess opening the gifts from Heidi and I.

Then Ben and I stained the deck. Please note that about 30 minutes into the project (when we were working on the vertical slats but hadn't done any horizontal surfaces) it started sprinkling. We put drop cloths on the deck hoping it would blow over quickly. Then it started sprinkling hard and it almost got called off. Luckily, the rain then stopped. The next two days still look rain free.

In the evening, Ben and I made some Dungeons and Dragons characters. (We're both blue Dragonborn, but we can't fly. I'm a sorcerer and Ben is a Warlord.) That took about three hours, so than we played just a quick round against some skeletons. We won! Phew.


The people helping us with D&D had some cat mint in their backyard, so we brought some home for Flurry.

And then we crashed into bed, exhausted. It was a great day, but I didn't get my nap in. :)

Thursday!

Nothing special happened today. We hoping for another 5 days without rain, so Ben cleaned the deck again. I finished watching "So you think you can dance" (thanks to Dusty for the recording). I'm happy that Jeanine won. She ended up being one of my favorites.

Oh, my toes are doing much better. I've started taking the band-aids off whenever I don't have to wear shoes. Even when they're in shoes they don't leak too much, but if they did the sock would just soak it up and that's rather gross.

Weekend: Niagra!

This past weekend we went to Niagra with some friends. Here are the highlights...

We went on the Maid of the Mist and all got blue ponchos. It is a short boat tour that brings you around to both of the falls and gets you in the spray. It was kind of a rainy weekend, so the ponchos came in handy after the boat ride too.

The view from Canada...

A quick stop at the Hershey store

The next day we went to the American side to go to the cave of the winds. It was by far the best part of the trip. It (again) started raining while we were by the falls, which made them even wilder. Here is the bottom of the falls.

And here the falls are coming over the deck, so Ben and I stood in them a bit. After this we went to the "Hurricane Deck" where we got to stand under the falls and where water was pouring over the deck. The yellow ponchos did not hold up as well as the blue ones and almost everyone's got at least a little tear by the end. (I.e., we all got wet.)

Some people were smart enough to have kept the blue ponchos, so some of those were put on and some of us double bagged.

Friday: friends

Some out-of-town friends are here for a long weekend, so there's been lots of laughter since last night! Last night Laura made a delicious dinner and we all got caught up and played a bit of rock band. Ben and I took today off which was wonderful. Everyone was coming to our house, so the house got almost completely cleaned. It's nice to have people come over so that it does get cleaned well. After lunch we played ultimate/hit a ball around/played a quick round of frisbee golf. We wanted to go for a swim, but the pool was closed for constuction. Then a good dinner, poker, and some delicious pie.

I'm not in charge of taking pictures (so I don't have any), but I'll probably have some up in a few days.

Tuesday: Bible study / ultimate

Tonight we celebrated Aaron and Heather, as they will only be with us for about another week. Julie made a wonderful cake with lots of fun and meaningful things on it.

We also played more ultimate Frisbee. I think we're getting quite a bit better because the time between TDs is getting longer and longer. Although we've also been adding interesting challenges such as the dark.