Five Things for Friday

1. I wasn't going to do a Five Things post today because my plan was to do an updated post about the Cape house for "advertising" purposes for friends and family who might be interested in staying there. I've been meaning to put that post together for a few months but I've been dragging my feet about it. Why, you may ask? On the one hand, I want people who I know to use our house and enjoy the Cape and get a good deal, and it's also great for us to make some money from renting it out. But on the other hand, I like to keep it private and have it be our vacation home and not a rental property, so I don't exactly enjoy putting it out there on Facebook and the like. But renting it does help pay its bills and I'm happy to share the house with friends and family (most of the time 😄). So my new goal is to have the updated post about the house done next week. We'll see if procrastination once again gets the better of me, but I feel more resolved this time, at the very least because then I can finally get it crossed off my to-do list, and maybe get some more renters to fill in the still-available weeks this summer and beyond. 

2. When I was checking the pool filter baskets a few days ago a dead frog floated to the top of one of them and its eyes had rolled back in its head so it had blank white eyeballs. I was pretty horrified and the image has haunted me all week. Plus I feel bad for the poor thing; how horrible it must be to get trapped and drown like that. Thankfully John was with me and that intrepid young man plucked it out with his bare hands and tossed it into the woods without thinking twice about it. I'm serious when I say I only could have done that if my life or my kids' lives depended on it. I did buy a Frog Log to help the little creatures get out of the pool but I haven't set it up yet. I'll add it to my to-do list (and won't procrastinate on it!).

3. The Downton Abbey movie trailer was released this week and it looks good! Except for a certain storyline involving a certain gay butler (Thomas!!)--there is a kissing scene with him in the trailer that makes me uncomfortable (and no, that doesn't make me a homophobe!). Barring anything more than that, I plan on seeing the movie when it comes out in September. There will always be a special place in my heart for Downton Abbey. 💖

Edith is one of my favorite characters. How lucky she finally turned out to be to make a good love match with a marquess!  

The aforementioned Thomas!

I still wish Matthew hadn't died. He and Mary were a great couple. Her new husband is okay but I liked Matthew better. 

I'm not sure who this is, but he cleans up nicely (literally!). 

4. My friend posted this on Facebook a few weeks ago and it literally makes me LOL because it's true! 

The dino lady's expression nails it! 😂

5. In a follow-up to last Friday's mention of yard problems: the pool is looking a lot better this week but isn't ready to swim in yet (which is fine because it's not that warm out yet) and the water is still very cold because I haven't turned the heater on; the fire pit set is assembled and ready to use (maybe we'll makes s'mores this weekend!); and the new storm door for the front door was installed. I still have to call the tree company, and now I have to call a plumber for two water problems in the master bath, one with the shower and one with the jacuzzi tub. The "fun" really does never end! 

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

The Glorious Slip 'n Slide Days of Early Summer

Technically it wasn't summer yet, but close enough. Just about every year at around the time that school got out at the end of May we'd get the slip 'n slide out and set it up on the little hill on the side of the house. I'd have to get a new one almost every year because they're cheap and rip easily. Last year I bought a double-sided one where supposedly you can race down with another person. But really it was too small for that. In any case, the boys had fun with it. Even when it ripped down the middle after a few days.

There are more pictures of Sam because he was more into it than John was last year.

Look at that rip! Sam was getting grass all over him from that!

John had to read in order to earn some screen time, so he went outside to do it while Sam played.

It's a rare photo op to get John reading in a nice setting like this!  

To end on a common theme of late, I loved my yard, and I miss it!

Last Day of School Photos, 2018

It was a bittersweet day for sentimental me, but the last day of school has never been an occasion for sentimentality for my boys, even with an upcoming move! 

 

 

Sam is such a ham sometimes 😄

Minneapolis!

For Memorial Day weekend last year we drove four hours north to Minneapolis, where we hadn't been before (except for Peter, who'd been there on business). We went twice to a fun ninja gym that the boys had been wanting to try out, and we spent a day at the colossal Mall of America, mostly in the indoor theme park. 

They had the gym to themselves!

 

The Nickelodeon theme park at the Mall of America was a lot of fun. The rides were good!

 

 

The area where the theme park is used to be a major league ball park! 

Sam coveted this huge rollercoaster set at the Lego store. Lucky him--he ended up getting it last Christmas from my dad! 

While Sam and I were at the Lego store, John spotted Drew Drechsel of American Ninja Warrior fame wandering around in the theme park. ANW happened to be taping in Minneapolis that weekend. Drew was super nice! 

John ended up doing competitions at both of Drew's gyms in Connecticut last fall, and the boys both got to meet him (again for John) and get autographed shirts at one of those competitions. We're looking forward to seeing him on the new season of the show (which starts next week!).

I shopped a little in the mall but didn't come close to covering all of it. I discovered a sleep lotion at Lush that I've been using ever since that I really like, so that's my claim to fame from the Mall of America. 

On Monday morning (Memorial Day), I drove the boys and I the four hours home while Peter flew to his next business destination from Minneapolis. I was a little anxious about driving out of Minneapolis alone (city driving makes me nervous!) but it was fine. It was a fun little trip!

Ode to My Beautiful Yard!

Our yard in Iowa was one of the reasons we chose the house we bought. The property was ideally situated at the bottom of a long cul-de-sac and it was almost completely bordered by fields and woods. It was one of the first houses in the neighborhood to be built and it got the prime spot. The backyard especially had so much space and privacy and there were beautiful blooming flowers and trees throughout the year, but especially in the spring. Our last full month there was in May when the yard tends to be at its very best. It felt like it was saying to me, "Are you really going to leave me? Really?" Sadly, the answer was yes. 

Prepare for yard pictures overload! And in the interest of being a good editor, I deleted a lot of them!

The bright green sweep of the backyard

"Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa!" (from Field of Dreams)

In the front yard overlooking the field on the left side of the house

The side yard going down into the backyard sometimes resembled a park. Our yard guys were good.

 
I took this picture at the very back of the backyard, looking toward the house (stating the obvious).

When we moved here in the summer of 2010, Sam was only ten months old and I remember him crawling around in the grass in the backyard on his chubby little legs and arms, and John was my cute little soon-to-be kindergartener who'd run and play around him. How much they grew in eight years, and how much they played in this yard as they grew!

This was one of my favorite views from the backyard looking into the side field.

We had the swingset and big sandbox put in in the summer of 2011. It was totally worth it! It got used A LOT!

More clean green sweeps of lawn 😍

 

Okay, I'm now officially homesick for Iowa once again!