Making Lemonade Out Of A Whole Lot Of Lemons

We got a call from Cassie early in the week saying that she and the kids were going to drop Trevor at CVG and head to our house.  His grandmother had passed in OK and he was headed to the funeral. Super!  So we started birthday morning with a Wammy donut tower.  The kids all thought it was the greatest things on earth!

And notice there was fruit that was offered also.

And orange juice.

And then a little stick sword fighting practice.

And the yahoos of Wammyville wanted to take Cassie and her yahoos to our new most fun park.

First on the agenda....a little stump climbing with a side of picture posing.

Some stump hopping and jumping.

The girls were making themselves part of the forest by acting like trees.

Carter upgraded from stick gathering to a little bark gathering.

Did you guess bushes when you saw this shot?

We got bubble bottles at the Dollar Store before we left but they were lame.  The sticks were so short that their little fingers couldn't  reach them.  So Cassie improvised with jumping-jacks on each 'bridge'.  Which were done in slow motion so we could all get the hang of it.

Somewhere in this last few days...they all are kinda blurred together... Ellis once again as he does almost every time he comes here...got strep throat.  A trip to the doctor was involved.  Also during this time we got a little sewage backup in the basement...clear into the storage closet and into the carpet in the playroom.  We had planned to go to a nice restaurant to celebrate the girls birthday but ended up at O'Chaley's in Eastgate because we had no running water.  Wammyville cancelled for the next day.  And we headed for the Holiday Inn...all nine of us.  The dogs stayed here in their kennels under the watchful eye of Luke.

Ellis borrowed swimming trunks from Luke and Allyson shared a suit with Alaire.  We get to the room and then headed to the pool.  The boys jumped right in and so did Alaire.  Only she can't swim in the deep end so Cassie had to jump in to save in her clothes...the only ones that she had with her.

I know that they are probably going to kill me for sharing this pic but it is priceless.  Look at the size of that tub!  They had a ball in it.  Only problem...I had been looking forward to a good long soak.  And I but you guessed it...no hot water!

We had a little bit of a conflict.  Well, maybe just a tough decision.  Since we weren't allowed to used any water in the house we had no way to cook or anything else.  We stayed in Eastgate which is only a few minutes down the Interstate, but getting up and ready for school was going to be a challenge.  But we gave Michael the option go or not go.  He immediately said that he wanted to go to school (which is a far cry from what I get almost every morning) because of the OAA's.  So when he went to bed we had plans for the morning.  When the alarm went off at 6AM I went in to get him up and he said that he though about it in the night and he was now going to decide to stay home.  That suited me just fine...I was exhausted.  With that announcement he rolled over and didn't wake up until around 9:30 or 10AM...which is highly unusual.

Mark and I left to go take care  of the dogs and wait for the guys from Septic Solutions (yes, we have a nasty septic system).  Cassie and the kids stayed until checkout...swimming the time away.

And then it was time to pack up and head back to the house.

But first the treasures had to be counted to see who had the most money found on the bottom of the pool.

This is our before they tear up the front yard and kill the ivy at is just starting to green up and grow.  

It doesn't look like a big machine but it can definitely do some damage!

Before they started to tear up the front yard, they were kind enough to move two bushes and a clump of hosta.

Over the next day or so Mark and I have to figure out where we are going to plant all these.

Checking the clean out and they found root balls...not a good thing!

Seven feet down they found a tank and just beyond that the completely collapsed cast iron pipe.

The replacement PVC pipe

If you are the 'digger' you can sit and rest while the guys with the shovels do their thing.

All covered up and we are back in business.  Now to wait about a month for the dirt to settle and then we can plant more ivy and getting it look nice again.  We were all glad to be home and to be able to sleep in our own beds.  But we did miss the pool and gigantic tub.

We couldn't play in the basement today because there are machines blowing air and machines sucking the moisture out of everything, so we rode bikes all morning long....up in the cul-de-sac.

Carter loves our new-to-us-wagon.

And of course every puddle that he saw.

Carter found a sitting rock. 

After playing all morning we went back to the house for some lunch and lots of good-byes because Cassie, Ellis and Alaire were headed back to the airport to pick up Trevor and head for their house.

It sure was stressful while all the little things were happening but in the big picture what we are dealing  with is nothing compared to what others are dealing with.  So I just gotta suck it up and more on. So I am headed to a hot shower and bed while no one is here.  Tomorrow will be better and things should be back to 'normal'.  Think we might just have some lemonade for lunch!