Poindexter

No more toys for tots!

Scrooge might have been on to something.  Not the hardhearted lonely part of him, but the frugal, thrifty stingy side.  

My child is an 'only'.  She's a much loved, very sweet almost three year old who will not be having any siblings. She is the only grandchild on both sides of her family.  This kid is connected to six adults who think she's pretty amazing. At two and three, gifts for her are easy to come by and of course, always appreciated.

In addition to the influx of gifts at birthdays and the holidays random things are picked up from time to time.  Meet Edgar the 5 foot tall teddy bear that had to come home with us from Costco.  Lucy has a kitchen with a microwave, cook top, oven complete with a roasted chicken, all the fruits and vegetables one could think of cooking with, stir fry equipment, a wooden birthday cake and for Christmas she received a toaster, espresso maker and a percolating coffee pot.

Edgar N. Bear

The added kitchen gear was not her main Christmas present, for that she received a 4 foot by 6 foot barbie doll house with a toilet that flushes, a piano that plays, a working elevator and a swimming pool. 

She loves these toys and does in fact play with them.  She also sleeps with characters from Toy Story (Buzz, Woody, Jessie and Hopalong), Nemo and Mike Wyzouski from Monster's inc.  

Before Christmas we did a weeding of the baby toys to cull down the clutter and to eliminate the items she no longer plays with.  I'm of the opinion less is more, and yet as hard as I try it turns out that more is more.  

I worry that without moderation, Lucy will end up a spoiled brat who has little to no appreciation for all the wonderful things in her life.   We just finished Christmas and her birthday is coming right up - so there is a new round of gifts that are winging their way to our home.   Savvy Disney has rock bottom prices on the remaining characters from Monster's University and I don't know how we'll ever live without a Terry & Terri doll.

Terry & Terri Perry

I feel like the horrid mom when we (my beloved and I) discuss what to buy the kid and he's so very excited about all the deals and how much she loves these things when they first arrive.  Some things are popular and then get put in a corner for a long time.  The Boo doll from last Christmas didn't really find her groove in the play rotation until this fall.  Now, she's everywhere - or was until Woody and Buzz arrived on the scene.

Don't get me wrong, Woody and Buzz are helpful friends to have.  When Lucy is acting up, or not wanting to transition from one thing to another a quick talk with them clears things right up.  

"So boys, would you like to come up stairs and take a bath?"

"Yes ma'am, we'd be delighted!"

The next thing we know, Lucy is holding hands with Buzz and Woody and upstairs we go.  If only all the toys were that helpful.   It would be even better if the toys would spring to life and put themselves away à la Mary Poppins.  That lady had a gift. 

In every family, people take on certain roles.  Jason is the fun dad who manages to find all the wonderful toys that a girl could want.  I'm picturing that amazing moment when Shirley Temple awakes in the attic to discover that it has been magically adorned with Indian silks, warm clothes and bacon.   My role it seems, is more of the stingy Miss Minchen, whose sole desire it is to rob the child of all wealth and joy by keeping the tide of gifts to a reasonable flow.

For me, it is not about preventing Lucy from having a wonderful childhood and plenty of wonderful things - I mean come on, she's a great kid who deserves the best, but rather about moderation.  I fear the day that she counts the holiday gifts and is disappointed because last year she got more.

Someday, mark my words - if we're not careful this will be Lucy's Christmas haul:

Christmas Elf

Pancake helper

Vashon

Happy Halloween from Tinkerbell

New Videos

Uh oh..my new phone has a slow-motion video feature.

This kid...

Holy batman, does she have her own ideas about personal space.

Terri

Dear you,

From a recent letter I sent to a friend who still does snail mail:

The summer is almost over and while it was fun I’m enjoying the cooler evenings and the shorter days.  It’s a lot easier to get that kid to bed when it’s not sunny outside.  We were busy all summer with everything, and nothing monumental, just life, a happy little life.

We invested in our tiny yard and built a raised garden bed along the back fence and extended the retention wall along the right side of the house.  We gained some much needed extra footage for our bocce tournaments.  Actually, due to the need for good drainage, the field, while nicely sized, is sloped in such a way that there is an unfortunate dip at one end.  If only we didn’t care about the foundation of our house so much…   

The raised flower bed is the perfect size for the amount of effort I want to put into gardening.  I love it, but don’t have the time or patience to get out there every night and weed, prune, dead head and all those wonderfully “relaxing” tasks that a garden is supposed to yield.   We planted some fun perennials, some of which got much larger than the expert at Molbaks said they would, and some annuals for color.  The gerberas (those remind me of you too) did remarkably well and I am happy to invite them back for next year too.  Sadly, the yard is too minute for fruit trees, so you’ll have to harvest from your orchard and know that I am envious.

We took time off in August and went to Denver.  Visiting family is not really the kind of vacation that I prefer, but dragging a 2 year old to Spain is probably not wise.  Plus, she doesn’t have a passport yet and it would be horrific if we couldn’t get her back into the country.  I think the grandparents would revolt.

While in Colorado, we took advantage of the grandparents and Jason and I escaped to Vail for a few days.  We dined in real restaurants, slept in past 6:30 am, and hiked on the mountain.  It was a mini-vacation within a vacation. 

Looking ahead we’ll probably go on an extended camping trip next year and save our pennies for a lengthy trip in 2015.  We’re thinking about a couple weeks in Hawaii.   I get a 4 week sabbatical in my 5^th year of employment, and I want to do something memorable.  I’d love to pack it up and go to Europe for three weeks, but we’ll see what finances, the kid and family stuff does to that dream.  Part of the allure of Hawaii is the ability to invite the grandparents to come for a week.  I will return to Italy, but I don’t want to pass up opportunities for grandparent/Lucy events.  If we were younger it would be a different story, but I think it’s safe and polite to say that they might not be up for, or fun on trips forever.   

Work is going well.  I’m far more engaged than I was a year ago and while I’m still working at home I’m more productive and feel like I’m really contributing.  For a while there I was very distracted.  I do miss the office thing from time to time.  Yesterday I took the bus into Seattle for an all-day meeting, and it really was fun to be “in it”.  However, I hated how early we all had to get up and how rushed our morning was, so I’m acutely aware of how lucky I am to work at home.  Lucy and I have time to cuddle and play in the morning and I’m still “at work” before many of the folks in San Jose.

As for Lucy, she’s so great.  What a crazy ride this parenting thing is.  It’s amazing and frustrating and exhausting and fun all in the same day, sometimes within minutes. 

I love her school, and can tell that they really are teaching her things.  Last night we were reading a book before bed and usually she tells me who the characters are “that’s a teacher mama” but last night, she points to the teacher and says “that’s a zebra mommy”.   We’ve been to the zoo a few times, but they recently spent a week talking about animals and it just sunk in.   I’m not saying she’s a genius or anything, she seems to be of average kid brightness, but it is fun to see her world expand.   My mom thinks she’s the smartest kid on earth, but I think every kid knows how to work grandma for treats – Lucy just knows her audience.

She’s quite the chatterbox too.  I am the most fluent in Lucyese, but there are times when things just simply don’t compute.  When we’re at home I can ask her to show me what she’s talking about, but when we’re in the car visual references can be gone in a flash.  She’s got some kid words that I love, but I know they’ll be gone before too long.  We already lost “lala” for Banana and “I You You“ for “I love you” and “milp” for milk.   Yesterday, Jason corrected her on “pee-pop” for lollipop and I asked him to let it be.  It’s not like she’s not going to get into kindergarten or Yale because she doesn’t know how to ask for a lollipop correctly.  I think pee-pop is CUTE, and we can have it for another month or more.

I am sad to report that my child is a nudist.  She was naked in the back yard from May until the rain started just recently.  I’m thankful that we have a good fence and that the Lee’s next door don’t allow their children outside.  No one needs to see that much bum.  Even with religious sunscreen application, combining back yard nudity and swim lessons Lucy changed ethnicity sometime in July.   Come October, she’ll fade back to pasty and rejoin the rest of us vitamin D deficient north westerners.

In the world of Renton, SMLC is undergoing big change.  Kirby was elected Bishop for the ELCA and has left St. Matts.  We’re on the hunt for a new head and associate pastor.  Pastor Maynard signed on for a 2 year stint to get us through it and I was relieved to see him.  As much as some of the more conservative congregations are worried that Kirby is going to race in and breathe ‘grace, love and acceptance’ all over them, I’m equally worried that we’re going to end up with one of those “Christians are better than everyone, especially gays, democrats and women” type pastors.  Not that I really think that guy would get past the committee, but there’s still fear of change.   If they are looking for that guy, I did go to high school with him and he is a Lutheran pastor.  I don’t get his point of view on many (most) things.

So, what else… in other worlds, my parents are good.  Not perfect, but their bouts of getting along seem to be more frequent than the times when they are in their separate corners.  They put their house up for sale after investing in some needed maintenance.  They put on a new roof, painted and put new flooring in the entire house.  It’s a TINY house, but cute.   If they sell, they will move to a townhouse with two bathrooms which I hear is a must when living with a grumpy grandpa.

You can find the house on Zillow.  The only really sad thing is that in the last picture by the barn you can see the burned chicken coup, site of the 2012 Inferno where eight of the best chickens lost their lives to a faulty heat lamp.  “Gee, it’s getting kind of hot in here.”  “Oooh, does someone smell bbq?”

I hope they are able to sell. The yard and adjacent property are a bit too much for them to handle.   Plus, all those chicken ghosts can be really noisy at night.

Jason and I just celebrated our 4^th wedding anniversary.  It was a no gifts year, so I of course violated the agreement and bought us tickets to see Michael Buble’ in November.   He bought me 2 gift cards to el Gaucho and we’re going tomorrow to dine on some MEAT.  Happy continued love, but now that the gays can marry in Washington, I’m worried about our family.  I’m not sure how long we’ll be able to hold out.  So far, we’re hunkered down and watching shows like the Walking Dead to learn how to protect ourselves should the hordes of gay people decide to come around to hurt our marriage.  Actually, I’m pretty ticked that my one close set of gay friends haven’t set a date.  I mean, come on, they’ve been together for 15 years, I need a wedding.  Wait… not about me.  That’s right, I keep forgetting.

I hope you both are happy, busy and good.  I hope your mom is in good health and spending time with her friends.   Call and let us know when you’re in town next, we’d love to see you and catch up.  I know it’s hard because you want to see everyone and we’re saddled with this small person who is no fun at a pub, but I do miss you.

Date Night

To celebrate our 4 years of wedded bliss (and those few moments of "we had better work this out") Jason and I planned to have an adult only dinner at el Gaucho.  We lined up a very reliable and fun babysitter for Lucy and made our reservations.  Friday night around 8pm, a text came in from said babysitter informing us that she had a fever of 102 and wouldn't be coming Saturday.

I must say that as disappointing as it is to have a babysitter cancel at the last minute, I really appreciate that she didn't want to bring whatever plague she was exposed to into our home.   I made a series of phonecalls to the primary babysitter - voicemail, "Aunt Ninny" - voicemail, and finally Cousin JoJo's go-to emergency caregiver - voicemail.

Then we pulled out the big guns and called "Bama" (grandma) .  It is a lot to ask to have her drive over from Yakima to hang out with the kid while we get dressed up and go on a date with each other.  We were resigned to having to reschedule our date - after all, we do live together, it's not as though it was a life or death once in a lifetime event.  However lucky us, Bama came through for us and drove over the next morning.

Bama arrived during Lucy's nap.  Lucy squealed with delight when Bama opened the door to rescue Lucy from the dreaded nap.  Normally, after naps Lucy likes to sit and snuggle with me, but not when Bama is in the house.

With Lucy safely entertained, we proceeded with our date night plans.  We hit happy hour at Pearl, then went over to dinner.  Dinner was, as expected spectacular.  We were there from 7pm until well after 10.   There are times when I worry that we'll run out of stuff to talk about, but I think that worry is misplaced.

We talked about the evolution of the last four years, established the thing that is causing the most stress in our lives (we refinanced the house into a 15 year mortgage - which we can totally afford, but in doing so sucked up about 85% of our disposable income, so now we're having to focus more on what we spend) and then we moved on to other things that interest us.  We talked about the kid, vacations we want to take, work, current events, popular culture stuff and everything in between.  I guess, it's safe to say that we'll continue this marriage thing for another year.

Oh and we did establish that he's not really very serious about an 80" tv.  Whew.

This morning we got up and made breakfast while Lucy and Bama colored and then went for a walk.  Today has that lazy Sunday kind of feel to it.  There will be football on downstairs at 1:30, and at the moment, I'm catching up on laundry while Lucy watches her weekend movie.

I"m off to San Jose in the morning, so in addition to hanging out, football and laundry I have to pack.

Last night was great, but we're back to real life and that's good too!

Bama

Life, shoes and hap-PEE-ness

hello love!

 What's been going on around here?  Not much and everything.  Yes, nothing and everything.

Let's get the big news out of the way so we can focus on other things.  Lucy is semi-regularly using the loo to make a tinkie.  She's covered in temporary tattoos and for the most part is waking up in the morning semi-dry.  Of course, having said that I have to state for the record that she did have a tiny pee blow out in the bed this morning, but accidents are part of the process.  By no means is she spending any significant time without the diaper.  

She has worked out a #2 or two at school, but we have not seen any of that action at home.  I look forward to it and dread it all at the same time.  There is a lot of convenience in just being able to zip around town and know that potty breaks are contained.  I'm sure we'll adapt to having to use every public restroom in the state of Washington.  

Our girl also just attended her first official Sunday School class.  I was trying to dump her into the nursery and she wasn't having it, but she saw a gaggle of kids her size in the room next door and asked to go in.  She had a grand time making arts and crafts, singing and of course snacks.  I'm sure there was a church message in there somewhere too.  I was surprised that she wanted to go because she didn't know the teacher or the kids (except one.)  Sadly, we got an email from the coordinator yesterday to kindly say that Lucy needs to be 3 to be in the class.  Sure, that is the rule and I can't blame the coordinator for doing what she needed to to keep her volunteer teacher happy, but I feel badly for Lucy.  She has been talking about Sunday School ever since.  It made a huge impact and she can't wait to go back.  This morning, I told her that we were lucky to get to visit the class early and that she could go back the day after her birthday.    Jason told me it was wrong to tell her that Jesus won't want her until she's 3.  I guess I understand that sarcasm might be lost on a 2 year old.  Whatevs.

Guess what we just did?

In other news, Thursday is the 4th anniversary for these wacky people.  To celebrate they will be cooking a take and bake pizza and giving thoughtful cards to each other.  They have a strict 'no fart joke' anniversary card policy that will be enforced.   Just so you know, fart joke cards are allowed for non-marquee birthdays.

I keep sending Jason a hint for the 5 year anniversary (Round Brilliant Diamond Double Strand Eternity Necklace) but he keeps saying the link opens to an 80" tv.  Strange.  I tried to tell him that for the price of the 80" tv he could buy the necklace and a 32" tv and have $500 in cash in his pocket.  I don't think my argument is going over well.  I think we're both being silly.  Everyone knows that next year we're going to finish the retention wall in the front.  Yup, there's my diamond necklace.  It will look a lot like 12 feet of concrete blocks and dirt fill.   Hang that around your neck.

But, lest you think that I'm free of the shopping bug.  I found a stunning red dress for a party in October and it will be used quite heavily during the holidays.  I can think of at least three other outings for it already.  I love it so.

Speaking of love. I found a supplier for boots made especially for the "wide calved" ladies.  I ordered a pair and I am filled with hope that I will love how they look.  I am also filled with worry that I will love how they look.  If they are nice, that is the end of my shoe (or any shopping) budget for the rest of the year...and then some.  Ouch, but aren't they pretty?  Now I just have to tell Jason, as they do eclipse the agreed upon spending limits for our little organization.  However, so far they are just on loan and can be returned if we don't love them.

Ok, on that bit of "how TP helps the economy" information, I'm going to sign off. 

just...

Raaar!

That's all, thank you.

This is my life

Little Girl, Big Bed

There are times when we are fortunate to transfer a tired girl from the car to her bed for a nap. Sunday, I brought her upstairs hoping to extend the much needed nap but found that her toddler bed was unmade. We had experienced a minor accident and all the sheets, protective covers and blankets were in the washing machine, I was thankful that we have the queen sized bed in her room. The bed is there because I was (am) too cheap to get rid of a relatively new bed, and it's nice to have options for more than one set of adults to sleep over at the same time. (Christmas?)

Because of the state of the toddler bed I decided to put Lucy on the queen. She rolled over, grabbed a friend (stuffed animal) and resumed the nap. The nap was a success, in fact we had to wake her up for dinner. Tired girl! She liked the big bed. Now, she won't sleep in the toddler bed. I asked her if she was going to want to sleep in that bed again and she replied, "Lucy in the big bed."

We'll keep the toddler bed around a while in case this is a phase, but based on all of our other developmental milestones, once a transition is made she does not revert. We have rails on the big bed and today I'll be remaking the bed with the moisture resistant cover in the event of accidents. Later if we need to use her room for guests (Christmas?) we can boot her out. Kids all over the earth have given up their beds when the grandparents come to visit. Lucy should enjoy this tradition too. When I asked Lucy where Grandma should sleep when she comes to visit Lucy said "Grandma with Lucy." This sounds sweet, but I wouldn't want to sleep with that kid unless she was already in deep deep REM when I went to bed.

Ah....days gone by.

Bwahaha

Otter pop Wednesday

Room to play

The old shelves

In an effort to get our adult stuff into a storage solution that:

• holds more stuff
• holds more stuff out of sight
• takes up a lot of room
• encourage the kid to play upstairs

We picked white wardrobe units from Ikea and the saga of re-configuring the loft area began.  I packed all the items that were on the lean-to shelves from the single girl condo and moved them out.  They will flank the tv at the front of the room.  They will again hold our family photos, but now also kid toys.

The wardrobes will hold our table cloths, music, games,  and other random things including my stealthy box of Christmas gifts that I gather throughout the year.  The fact that I need a ladder to reach the top shelf gives me comfort that I can hide things from Lucy for a while.  I don't hide things from Jason, and can't shop too far in advance for him.  He's tricky.

Building the massive wardrobes was a Herculean task that required multiple trips to Ikea due to a faulty designer selection and a break-fix.  These units are 93 inches tall and 80 inches wide - they are now part of our lives permanently.  When we die, we can be stowed on the bottom shelf with room to spare.

After they were expertly assembled (I LOVE YOU JASON!), the next task was to stow all the music CDs into binders.  This allowed us to eliminate an entire bookshelf of cd's.  Sounds easy, but it was a tedious task and the desire for alphabetization was strong, but mostly the music grouped in alphabetical sections - not order.

Once that one shelf of music was moved we were able to bring one of the lean shelves back in and then start the move of the DVD library into the office.

  This 'small' project has thus far impacted the loft, the living room downstairs, the office, the guest bedroom and the closets in our bedroom and the hall.   Oh, and about 6 weekends and no less than 16 nap-work sessions.

This past Sunday, we made amazing progress and managed to move all the big furniture pieces that will be impacted.

Yesterday during my lunch break, I decided that the room needed more color and so I pulled out the wool carpet that we had been storing behind Lucy's bed and dragged it into the room.

When you see movies and some schlub rolls up a dead body into a carpet and then puts it in the back of their car to dump somewhere you should know that it is made-up bullshit.  The carpet alone is hardly manageable by one person, let alone adding the weight of a lifeless thug.    My plans of disposing of unwanted house guests in this manner are dead and require retooling.  Oooh..tools.  There's an idea.

Anywhooo.... I restocked the lean shelves with our trinkets and loaded the bottom levels with things like the lego bin, a tub of stuffed animals and when Lucy came home she ran into the room, stopped looked around and immediately understood that this was a zone to play in.  My heart soared when she grabbed the legos and the dolls and plopped herself on the floor.  

I hoped that if we got rid of the towering shelves of dvds and cd's that she knew she wasn't supposed to touch that she would feel like this was her space.  Mission accomplished.

We still have a few tasks left.  We'll be installing a wire curtain rod along the blank wall (at a safe height) to hang current art work and colorful play things and I'm still moving things around from packed drawers to the wardrobe.  We need to move some of the downstairs toys "up".

like this!

The toy kitchen will remain downstairs, but the bins of dolls and trains will come to the upper play room.   Lucy is welcome in every corner of the house (not the home office), but her toys need containment.  And if I'm too lazy to pick up everything at nights end, I don't want it in the downstairs area.

Our office actually looks more polished with the removal of the frilly Pottery Barn desk and the addition of the DVD towers, as well as the console piece that was behind our couch fits very nicely under the window and I've managed to clear out some drawers to give Jason more storage.

I'm delighted with our work.

Crossing the lines

Sometimes the technology demands of others force you to change your ways.  

I admit that I'm the last person on earth that is still using the Blogger platform to share my witty and amazing view of the world.  I am on Facebook and use YouTube to house short videos of the kid doing kid-like things.

I have a Google+ account, but don't really see the value.

I "Twitter", but it feels a lot like standing on my back porch and yelling very short statements to the universe.

I do not rededit.  When I see screenshots of other people's discussions I wonder why...

I do not instagram.  I think the filtered pictures are nice, but if you want to see my pictures, come to the blog or facebook.

Today...in order to post something on a blog I admire, I had to sign up for Tumbler.  I don't know if I'll be spending loads of time over there, but we'll see.  

I linked this blog to that account to "expand" my audience.  We'll see about that.

In reviewing past blog posts it's clear that I use to be funny.  However, mostly my humor was bitching about other stuff.  There's not too much time these days for bitching, so I have turned into the dreaded "Mommy Blogger."'

Soon all posts will be about potty training, cheerios and Elmo.

FML.

Ah vacation

What a whirlwind two weeks.

I had a trip to San Jose on the books and because of the (work) event didn't get home until 7pm on the Friday before flying out to Denver for our summer vacation.  It was a long two days and I was thankful that Lucy mustered a nap on the day we arrived in Denver.  For me it was a return to the early days of "nap when the baby naps."  that only lasted a day, but I like to invoke it when I need it.

Getting everything (most everything) ready before I left for SJ was prudent.  As it was Jason had to repack Lucy's suit case and distribute other items in our suitcases.  We always pack too much when going to Denver, but our excuse this time was the need for bike helmets and a variety of clothing options for our mini-excursion to Vail in the midst of our family time with Grandma, Papa and Grandmama (my mom.)

I swear that next time we do the Denver trip I'll leave half of the clothes at home.  (Don't hold me to it.)

We spent our time doing a wide variety of things, visiting family and friends, taking Lucy to the various kid locations like the pool, a kiddy amusement park, the Children's Museum and around the neighborhood to visit all the wonderful people who send cards and tokens on her milestones.

One afternoon, we traded Lucy in for a 10 year old and went to a real amusement park to ride the rides.  We promised the trusting grandma, whom he was visiting, that we wouldn't do any upside down rides.  We lied about that one, but fessed up and certainly didn't force him into it.  Frankly, I was more nervous but Jason was super excited.   He was a great kid and I know he had a blast.  Visiting grandma is great when you're ten, but getting an outing to roller coasters clearly made his day.

In the midst of our grandparent palooza, Jason and I grabbed a rental car and headed up to Vail for two nights. (Thank you Marriott frequent customer points).  The weather was questionable, but once we purchased an umbrella we didn't experience anymore rain.  Funny how that tends to work out.   Vail in the summer is about hiking, biking, walking and dining.  The first day we found a pub and made "friends" with the bartender.   He guided us to a place for dinner and we enjoyed our rainy afternoon.

We forgot the bike helmets, which ended up being a good thing as Jason had sprained his ankle on Monday and I think the planned bike excursion was going to hurt it even more.   However, I still insisted on purchasing the lift ticket to head to the top of the ski slope to take in the view.  We hiked from one gondola to the other and funny how at 10k feet that will kick your bum, even on a 'flat' walk.  gasp, gasp.

Our dinner the second night was superb!  The weather cleared up and we sat on the deck overlooking the creek.  As our dinner slowly progressed other patrons finished up and at the end of the evening it was just Jason and I in the quiet outdoors.  The inside of the restaurant was super busy and energetic but we loved the peaceful end to our evening.  Yeah Sweet Basil!

Vail has an amazing feature to make their hamlet more enjoyable.  Architectural standards... kidding.  They do have them and the whole village feels very "Swiss Chalet", but what I'm talking about is a free shuttle bus that circulates through the town to eliminate the need for a car.   It ran all day in late into the evening.  We parked the rental and didn't retrieve it until time to check out.  Well played Vail... well played.

We returned to a sweet kid Thursday before naps and were thankful for our time away, but equally happy to be back together.  Friday we played during the day and went to dinner to celebrate the Forty-Fifthing of TPgal.  

We returned home Sunday, but Monday was still a vacation day for us.  Lucy went to school and Jason and I spend time unpacking and putting our vacation stuff away.  It was a smart plan that allowed us to see a matinee before retrieving our happy but tired girl Monday afternoon.

We're back to real life.  We feel rested and are looking forward to the remainder of our summer activities.