Summer'o'Fun Day 3

The first day of summer vacation we held Dex's 12th birthday party at a local climbing gym. Wow - the kids had such a great time and so much fun!  Even Cars, who is a big chicken, climbed up the ropes.  And all was well until he climbed a bit without the ropes and fell off and hurt his foot.  He is still limping around but claims it does not hurt much so I did not take him to the doctor.  I will if it is still hurting him after the weekend.

The second day of summer vacation was just spent doing work around the yard, Jax went to the skatepark and then to the beach (it got above 70 degrees!) and Dex walked around with some friends and hung out (read loitered) at the nearby plaza.  I love that Cars has the kids next door to play with but their summer camps will start soon so the build-in playmates will end.

Today we are going to Ash's house a little later to do tie dye.  Normally, I have big party and invite quite a few people over to do it but I was just not feeling it this year.  We were just going to do it alone until Ash invited us over and we talked about doing it together. 

I am in a bit of a funk.  The weather is a HUGE part of it.  Record cool temperatures this spring and while we did have a few nice weekends in a row, the cool temperatures and rain after that have depressed me.  While I complain a lot about the weather, I am at a point where I would love to move away from here to actually experience a real summer.  And I would not even care about snow because no doubt we'd move to a place that is prepared to deal with snow.  Anyway, just something to think about.

I am also in a funk about my friend's passing.  Yes, she had a chronic illness but not that you imagine you would die from.  If she had cancer, this would be more expected, I think.  And even though I knew she was having a flare up from Crohns and I knew she was scared, and I even *knew* she was scared of dying and I thought she might be dying, it was still a shock.  Lynn is was 3 weeks older than I am.  Maybe it is also my own mortality that is coming into play here.  It is all a bit frightening.

Ok, off to enjoy a bit of this sunshine before it disappears behind the clouds.  Maybe it will lift my spirits as well.

Rest In Peace, Lynn

DURHAM: Lynn Parks lost her long time battle with Crohn’s disease at UNC Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill on June 25th, 2012. Lynn was born on March 6, 1965 in Roanoke Rapids, NC. She grew up in Seaboard, NC, and had been a resident of Durham for many years.

Left to cherish her memory are her husband, Andy and son, Adam of the home. She is also survived by her mother, Claire, her sister, Sheri,  a sister in law, Dawn; brother in law, Julian of New York; nieces, Allison , Michelle and Hannah ; a nephew, Ben ; and many aunts and uncles and cousins and dear friends.

It has been a rough week.  Lynn was in the hospital for a week before she passed away so the emotional rollercoaster to waiting to hear information on her condition and then, when finding out that she would not get better, waiting to hear of her passing, certainly took an emotional toll on so many of Lynn's dear friends. 

I am having a hard time even expressing my thoughts and feelings in words.  All I can say is that I am sorry and I will miss her.

Today, both Jax and Dex stayed home from school because they were sick.  Dex actually missed yesterday too but hopefully he'll be going back tomorrow.  They both have (had) fevers and Jax woke up this morning and started vomitting.  Ugh.  This is the first day of school that Jax has missed in nearly 2 years!  Anyway, we'll see how he feels tomorrow and if he can go back to school.

I will be taking them out of class early tomorrow anyway so if he misses it is ok (with me).  I have to take them to have their passports renewed and the children and both parents must be present so we are heading to City Hall to submit the passports.  By the time we are done, no doubt it will be just about time for them to leave school (early dismissal Wednesday).

They still have another 9 days left of school.  Well, the 9th is the last day and it is a 1/2 day so Jax gets out at 10:30 and the other two get out at 11:30.  Also, Dex gets to take a day off next week to go to a water park with the safety patrol team and there is field day and then 6th grade promotion so really they are just passing the time until they hit 180 days of school.  Kind of a waste of time it seems to me.  No more homework for the rest of the year for any of them either.

And one more thing to complain about...

The school is rearranging all of the classrooms to try to get all of the classes together (all of the 2nd, 3rds, etc).  Because of this, they need to paint every classroom back to neutral colours (each teacher had personalized their classrooms).  So the teachers took down all of the art work, posters, notices, etc and bunched all of the desks into the middle of the room and they've been painting the classrooms during the past two weeks while the kids are in class!!  WTF?!  Nevermind the huge distraction but my kids are in there inhailing paint fumes?  You know what the principal said when a parent contacted her to complain?  "Thanks for your input".  I really dislike that woman!