Water

This may well be the most boring post I will ever write, but I am writing it anyway.

When we returned from New Hampshire, our water stopped working. We have had trouble with our well, on and off, since we went to London in January 2002. I could tell you a long, involved, boring story about my theory on what happened, but I will abstain. Anyhow, Kevin replaced a switch on our well troll and all was good. For a month.

One night in early July (maybe the 5th?), Nora went to brush her teeth. She turned the bathroom faucet on and nothing happened. And so Kevin replaced the pressure switch again, but there was still no water. And so he replaced another part, but there was still no water. And so he replaced the breaker switch, as a last resort, but there was still no water. Which only left one thing: the pump.

I called the well pump guy, who answered his phone at 7:30pm (I intended to leave a message), and said he would come over in the morning. Which he did. I have never been happier for immediate service in my life. Remember, we had already been without water for a couple of days in early June. I was not interested in more water-free time.

So Jim came over, along with his dog Inga. He drove his boom truck through our yard to get to the well, and then he pulled up all 180 feet of well pipe and, finally, the pump. Turns out our galvanized piping had corroded, and the resulting leak burned out the pump. He replaced the piping with some type of plastic piping and replaced the pump. He also adjusted the flow to slow it down. And you know what? THERE IS NO MORE SEDIMENT IN OUR WATER! After more than 8 years, our water is just regular old water. Apparently the flow was set too high and the well couldn't replenish fast enough.

The one and only problem (other than the $1,300 bill):

The boom truck is really heavy. We have maybe 4 of these awesome ruts in the yard.

If you live in Northern MN and need a well guy, email me. Jim is fantastic! He was nice to my kids, he called the next day and again a week later to make sure things were working smoothly, and he took the time to explain everything to me and Kevin so we understood what he was doing and why. We had 5 days of unusable water while we purged the well of any bacteria that may have entered with the new piping or pump, but now we have clear, clean water that doesn't make me look like the world's worst housekeeper. And we should be good for the next decade or two.

Camping

In June, right after school let out for the summer, we went camping. We rented a camper cabin at Wild River State Park and it was fantastic!

The girls were absolutely thrilled to sleep in bunk beds, and even more thrilled that there were TWO top bunks!

There was a beautiful trail leading down a very long stairway to the river. It was infested with more mosquitoes than we had ever seen in one place, but the view was worth it.

Some of us were disappointed that there was nowhere to swim. The current was pretty strong, but there were people boating and fishing.

Dana honed her marshmallow-roasting skills. She still likes to light them on fire and then blow them out rather than gently browning them. Something about being 5 and impatient I guess.

Campfire coffee is pretty awesome, too.

We're hoping to get out again before summer ends. We'll see. As you can probably guess from my lack of posting, we've been really busy.

I also have some really sad news. After ten days with our puppy, we could no longer ignore the fact that Kevin is allergic to dogs. He had never lived with one before, so he had no idea. His eyes were fire-engine red and swollen nearly shut by day 9. We had a very sad family meeting and, on day 10, my lovely sister agreed to take her. They had been looking for a small dog for Keenan, my nephew, for about 18 months, but never had any luck at the local shelter. She is doing great, is still the cutest little monster ever, and is now named Charlotte. And we still see her often.

Family Vacation

Our family flew out east over Memorial Day to spend a week with my good friend Jessica and her family. Jessy lives in New Hampshire, about an hour out of Boston.

While Nora had flown before, she was so young that she couldn't remember it. It was Dana's first flight. We were thrilled to learn that both girls are awesome travelers!

We arrived at Jessica's house on Wednesday evening. It was about 94 degrees, and the four kids started an impromptu water fight with Justin, Jessica's husband. It was probably Nora's favorite memory of our trip.

We got up early Thursday morning and took the Downeaster to Boston. A normal person would have taken plenty of photos of our day in the city, but I was too busy having fun. We visited the New England Aquarium, Feneuil Hall, Boston Common, etc. We even rode the subway, which was not as exciting as the children had envisioned. At the end of the day, we were all happy to hop back on the train for a lazy ride back to NH.

The next day, Nora told us her stomach hurt. We figured that, between the excitement, the early hours, the late nights, and the weird food, she was just out of sorts. Travel tummy, you know? And so we headed out for the ocean.

We went to York Beach in Maine so the girls could dip their toes in the Atlantic and play in the sand.

Oh, man! This one brings a tear to my eye.

And really, would it be a trip to Maine without a photo of a lighthouse? We found a geocache here, which was pretty sweet.

Nora was feeling pretty crummy by this point, so we went back to Jessica's house, where she promptly threw up. Then we took it really easy for a couple of days. We took a long drive along the coast, through New Hampshire and Mass. We ate a lot of noodle soup and popsicles. We wandered around Portsmouth.

On our last full day, we took the long way to Boston, stopping in Concord and Salem.

Here are Nora and Dana at the Salem Witch Trial Memorial, very near another geocache. Which is a funny story. Kevin thought he found the cache, as he pulled a blue plastic bag with some stuff in it out of a little nook in a rock wall. I was voicing skepticism over it being the cache, despite the trinkets inside, as there was no official geocaching info, when Dana walked over with a container and said, "Daddy, is THIS a geocache?" Which, of course, it was. Leave it to the five year-old to find the real one. She was so proud!

And here's the requisite airplane photo.

We ended our trip with a 4-hour visit to urgent care, where we learned that poor Nora had strep throat. According to the ER doc, vomiting is a common symptom of strep. Since nobody in our household had ever had it before, we had no idea. Luckily, after taking only two doses of the Penicillin, she was feeling significantly better.

Despite the illness, it was a pretty great trip. Nora was such a trooper! And I learned that I need to make a bigger effort with the camera. And maybe take more than 30 photos. Jeez.

Poster

Nora's second grade teacher assigned several projects over the course of the year. One of them was a poster for health class. Nora was assigned "Cover Your Cough and Sneeze".

Using glitter glue, tissue, and strategically posed photographs, this is what she came up with:

Her teacher liked it so much that she saved it for six months so she could put it in the school district-wide showcase of student work at the mall.

Nora and Dana both thought it was pretty cool to see the poster up at the mall. Particularly since their photos were on it demonstrating the right and wrong way to cough or sneeze.

Gotta love the creative mind of a second grader!

Visiting Traveller

Kevin and I drove out to visit the pup on Saturday.

And I have to say-right now, she looks exactly like a guinea pig. Same size, nice and chubby, teeny little legs. I might be in love.

Kevin might be, too. He is really looking forward to having another girl in the house. Actually, maybe he had a picture in his head of a nice, big dog who could hang out in the garage with him.

She is a sweet little girl who gives lots of smoochies. I wasn't prepared for that. But I can get used to it.

Mama is very gentle but also very protective. She's sending a strong message here, just with her eyes. Too bad she's so adorable-it's hard to take her message seriously. Particularly since I will be taking her baby home with me soon. Hmmm....

Oh, man! What can I even say?!

Running

Hello.

I bought new shoes yesterday.

You're asking yourself, right this moment, why I am telling you something so boring.

Well...here's why.

I signed up for this race. And no, a 5K does not warrant new shoes.

But then I signed up for this race. And a half marathon totally warrants new shoes.

On Monday I went on a 3 mile run in my 3 year-old shoes, and when I got home, my feet were on fire. Bad sign. So yesterday, while Dana was at school, I went here and spent almost an hour selecting my new shoes. I know that sounds excessive, but it went like this: the nice man on duty (Tony) made me walk around in my socks and hop on one foot while he watched my feet and ankles. Then he put me in a neutral shoe and filmed me running on a treadmill. He analyzed the movement and then switched me to a slightly more supportive shoe. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. I worked up kind of a sweat. It was a little embarrassing.

Once we found the right type of shoe, I spent another 15 minutes trying it on in different brands. And we finally agreed that this was the perfect shoe for me, at least for right now. Tony says that knowledge and understanding come with experience, and that I may learn from these shoes. Or something like that.

Anyhoo, I really love this running gig. I always thought I hated running but it turns out I had it all wrong. I just wish it would get above 42 degrees.

It's a Girl!

Friends, meet Traveller.

She is a Boston Terrier and was born on April 1. We get to take her home in early June, and we couldn't be more excited!

Dana's been carrying around a dog encyclopedia for over a year. She's become known to my friends as "The Dog Whisperer" because every time she sees a dog, whether at the playground, at someone's house, or on the street, she runs over to ask the owner if she can pet it. Much cooing and giggling follows. She's been begging for a puppy for as long as she could speak. She's finally getting her wish and she is over the moon.

Our little girl is named after General Robert E. Lee's favorite horse. Kevin's a bit of a history buff and, since we're adding yet another girl to the household, we figured it was only fair to let him choose the name.

Expect silly puppy posts throughout the summer.