Brad the Ironman & Ramblings

And there he is...Handsome devil, no? He had to be in order not to be totally outshone by his big sister. Brad's a little sore at day #2 after his Ironman. He's pretty sure he's done something to his one foot so he's on crutches until he's feeling a little better and can differentiate lactic acid from injury. Great form, though, don't you think? You'd almost believe he knew what he was doing on that bike. I'll have to ask him if he enjoyed his race enough to do it again. Some other time, though.

Summer is puttering along in our house. Raiden is spending a lot of time outside and Kori is spending her time reading and pouring over the special features of all our DVDs. She's had enough think-space to consider going to camp again next summer. I'm glad I have lots of notice this time. Camp's not cheap, you know!

Both kids are happily working through their library activities nearly without reminders. M, the summer student facilitating the activities is a great girl whom Kori does her best to spend time with. Kori is fascinated by M's bilingualism (English & Polish). She's also pretty taken with M's Polish cousin, O, who tags along to the library with M. The language barrier only comes up maybe 25% of the time. Kori prattles away to O in English. O babbles back in Polish. If either of them think something crucial has been missed, M is found to translate. Raiden is happily reading books independently for the book report portion of the Summer Reading Club. He is dictating what he wants to write on his report and then copying it after I write it out from him. Not once have I heard about his hand being sore, there being too much to write or how boring it all is. It's like I'm in the Twilight Zone.

Swimming on Thursdays has been popular and we will continue with that activity. Raiden's confidence and ability in the water has soared in only three swims. Kori is enjoying the freedom that lessons have provided. Her endurance and skill let her flit from one area of the pool to the other. She's enjoying her independence.

This week the kids and I split the Playmobil into thirds and bought a bin for storage. African Safari and Pirate Island were packed away and suddenly there is much more playing going on with the 'Modern Life' that was left out. I knew the toy rotation principle that has been stuck in my brain since Kori's short stint in daycare would come in handy one day.

Brian's hot pepper plants have begun to flower. I've been scared to mention our meagre planters for fear of Murphy's Law. But, at this late date of the growing season, I'm feeling a little braver. For Mother's Day, the kids and Brian bought me a few tiny herbs: peppermint, chives, chamomile and licorice root. After planting, there was still a planter left, so we planted some grocery store jalapeno seeds. They're doing very well. Pics later this week, maybe.

I'm feeling a little restless and it's noone's fault but my own. I've been drinking coffee again and I haven't been accomplishing any of the very realistic tasks that are floating around in my head. I'm very frustrated with myself. So. As my dad always told me, tomorrow is a new day and it's going to be a great day if I want it to be. Yeah. Ok. We'll see.