Cramming Our Summer In

School starts so soon and we are still trying to do our "summer stuff." Yesterday we went to the zoo, a playground, rode the paddle swan boats, got ice creams, played at another playground and roasted s'mores at a backyard fire. Phew.....

Olympics

We brought a TV out so we could watch the Olympics. I quickly learned that the sports we want to watch are best found on-line. But Logan introduced the babies to Sesame Street. Finley is an Elmo fan. See the zoned out look? She actually was sick and sat for about 10 minutes like that. She's got her two favorite things with her- her pacifier and her silky. The only thing missing was "miaw miaw" the stuffed cat that Robert gave to Avery for Christmas that she has taken as her own. She will be a loyal kid.

Here is Meryl with the best seat in the house. A Harry Potter book is the perfect height chair for the babies.

More Photos of Our Yard

Meryl

This was when the water had receded about 3 or 4'.

Meryl checking out the depth and temperature.

Yesterday they were able to boogie board the waves coming down off the street. Today it is just playing in the pond.

She played for about 45 minutes in the water before she got too cold.

Finley investigating the sump pump hose.

Both pools are floating.

Weather

While we were busy watching the hail come down-

we somehow managed to miss the fact that water was pouring into the basement! I listened for our sump pump but it wasn't going, so I didn't worry. Then I went downstairs and found about 8" of water. It came in through the door that only has a lip of about 5". The kids thought it was a grand adventure being able to use pails to scoop the water and pour it into larger buckets that we brought outside.

We were quite lucky and had minimal damage, other than sore backs and newly cleaned basement floors. A small section of carpet got wet but we've got the dehumidifier on it going full force.

Our backyard was fully flooded right up to the deck stairs. Giant plastic pieces of climbing structures, slides, ride on toys, etc floating around the yard wily nily. I couldn't get photos in the dark but this is a video from 12 hours after the storm passed.

Breaking News

So I recently stumbled across this. And my first thought was "They had to conduct a study to find this out?" They could have just asked me. I'd have been happy to tell them what I know.

A Busy Morning

Meryl is exploring the house even more now. Checking all the important things like the toilet-Playing with the Pokemon Pikachus-
A little cleaning up-
Emptying the dishwasher-
Then a quick snack-
Nothing is safe in this house!

We have committed to a contractor and will start the permitting as soon as we can make a final decision on the floor plan. It is a little scary to know that Cathy is about to start commuting to work (JFK) and I'm going to be handling this big project alone. But now I just want it done!

I'll post before photos before the roof gets torn off!

Mid-Afternoon Thunderstorm