End of swimming season

Blurry picture, but it was getting dark when I took it. Tonight we finally covered our pool for the season. We haven't swam in it since the first week of September. The nights are especially cool which means the heater just can't get it warm enough to swim in during the day, and the leaves are another story. Even though the leaves in our yard haven't changed yet, they're starting to fall and it's not fun fishing them out of the pool every day. Oh well... we had an AWESOME summer and the pool got lots of use!

Back to normal

This is the mansion at Three Springs, where Steven and Michael went on their retreat. I think Steven slept here, while Michael slept in a cabin. There is quite a bit of land here where they ride horses and go mountain biking. We got our boys back at 3:00pm on Sunday. They had a great time, beautiful weather, and had many stories to tell. Michael said they had about 7 Bible studies while they were there, which he didn't seem to mind. I think they're already looking forward to the winter retreat, but they both say they're still not ready to be gone to camp for a whole week in the summer. It's been nice having them back. The house has been filled with lots of activity and noise again.
It looks like this year we get a longer summer which is kinda nice. Yesterday's high was 92 degrees. That's very unusual for the end of September here. In the middle of the night we had quite the loud thunderstorm. Poor Dave was awake for 2 hours afterward...just couldn't get back to sleep. Today he had to travel to Ithaca. I hope he has a good day!

We're childless

Tonight we took the boys to church to go on the fall retreat (although it's been VERY summerlike for the last few days). We stopped at Tom Wahl's first for a quick bite to eat. They were pretty excited to go on this retreat, I think. Now it's just me and Dave...all alone. It's kind of strange, but kind of nice because I know the kids are in good hands and they'll have a great time. Boy, it sure is quiet here!

Cleaning the basement

Yesterday I decided to venture into the basement to search for my Madela breast pump for Bethany. Can you believe that we've been in our house for 4 years now and still have a few unpacked boxes in the basement?! In the process of looking for the pump I cleaned out some of the boxes. I did find some old diary's from when I was 14 yrs old. I read some parts to Michael and gave him some good laughs, then I ripped them up and threw them away (mostly...way too embarrassing!) I also found some old pictures that were fun to look at! Lots of junk... I don't know why we save so much junk, but it felt great to get rid of it! The messy section is just a small corner of the basement that has doors we can close on it. The rest of the basement has pretty much been finished,( aside from the ceiling) and it looks pretty neat and clean. Unfortunately I still haven't located the pump, but I am getting something accomplished in the process of searching for it.

Decorating for Autumn

Today we're only supposed to have a high of 60 degrees. The cooler weather gets me in the mood to decorate for autumn.( Did you notice my blog colors?) Maybe I'll even bake a pumpkin pie or something else yummy and fattening!

Today was a cool day in the upper 60's, a good day for a walk in Mendon Ponds Park, so Martha, Ben, Hannah, Troy, Bethany, Shelly and Jesse, and I did just that. The chickadees will eat right out of your hand there, although Troy thought that was a little bit "scary". We saw lots of wildlife including deer, squirrels, and chipmunks. The squirrels were very bold and pretty much came right up to us to eat. It was pretty neat!

Irondequoit Bay Bridge

I just drove over this bridge today, and will admit that I do think about the Minnesota bridge collapse every time I go over it. When I got home I was reading our local newspaper and there was an article in it that said...

"(September 11, 2007) — Five of the 49 deck truss bridges in New York, including the Irondequoit Bay Bridge, were found to have some minor structural defects after recent inspections triggered by the Minneapolis bridge collapse on Aug. 1.

None of the defects was serious enough to close the bridges, state officials said.

The New York State Bridge Task Force was asked to inspect the state's 49 truss bridges and report to Gov. Eliot Spitzer within 30 days.

Among the findings:

The Irondequoit Bay Bridge received a "yellow flag" for single, hairline cracks in two concrete pedestals on top of the bridge piers and a "safety flag" because of damage to a concrete barrier that probably was caused by a vehicle hitting it. Both issues are being reviewed for future repair."

We go over this bridge quite often as it is very close to our home. Knowing there is some damage to it makes me a wee bit nervous.

Nice Shirt!

The other day Michael made himself a shirt out of a shopping bag. Isn't he creative?

A good day for a popsicle!

Today the temperature reached 95 degrees here. My poor kids were dying at school where there is 3 floors and no air conditioning. Michael said that in one of his classes on the 3rd floor, they were handing out ice cold water to all the kids. As soon as they came in the door, they ran upstairs to get their swimsuits on. They couldn't get in that pool fast enough! Me? I worked in air condition all day.

1st day of school

Well, the kids have gotten on the bus and gone off to their 1st day of school. It seems strangely quiet around here. They were a little concerned about not having gotten their locker assignments in the mail, but I'm sure they'll find out that info. I miss them already... some of you might find this strange, but I feel like I need to get used to this again.

School Stubbies

Today I shopped for school supplies for the boys, as tomorrow is their first day of school. When I got home I asked the boys to label their things and put them in their backpacks. These are last year's pencils that were still in Michael's backpack. Holy cow, how did he write with these little stubs?

Dave's new do

Tonight we went to visit Priscilla and her family. Alicia has so much fun playing with her Uncle Dave's hair. Here is the new do she gave him. How do you like it?

Lego Life

My kids love to watch this video with all the legos. I like the song too!