Summer finally arrived. And a lot has gone on in the past few months since I last blogged. I just haven't been able to face it. But it's time. We are moving on, which is a good thing.
Let's see. I graduated with my Associate's degree in May. With honors and everything! Gumby realized that he graduated with higher honors than me (which I had immediately realized, being much too competitive! I just chose to not mention it ;)
We bought a house. It's super-cute and very much a fixer-upper. I'm not even sure how we're going to fix it up by the time we move in at the end of July. We are in the process of getting a grant from the city of Milwaukee to help with the rehabilitation. Hopefully by this week we'll be set with that as it's going to pay for our new windows and roof. There's a lot of other putzy stuff that needs to be done, but it will be great when it's finally done. And it's OURS. No more rent. No more landlords. It's very exciting. A tad smaller than where we currently live, but we'll survive (though, the 1 bathroom situation may kill me!)
The children had their birthday's and Baby Girl graduated from K5. Next year they will both be in school full-time, which is hard to imagine. I'm not ready to not have a child home with me. But I guess with all the work the house needs, it's not the worst thing in the world!
My hours will be cut next week at the Pharmacy. Well, not just me. The entire Pharmacy lost almost 40 hours per week, so a lot needs to be cut. Unfortunately, I think I shall be hit hard. Eventually it will turn around, but in the meantime, it will be a touch brutal.
We have started swim classes again. They are both doing amazingly well. And I love the time at the park to just read a book and enjoy the summer sun (which I did get yelled at last week by my doctor for...oh well).
Yesterday we went up to the Dells. We had free coupon books from the radio station. As we arrived at the Ducks I heard my name and knew I was being yelled at by a family member, but didn't know who. Suddenly I saw my Aunt in the van that had just pulled in, waving and laughing. So we met up with a good chunk of family, completely unintentionally, but had a blast. We did the Ducks, the Robot Exploratory and the Jet Boat tour with the family and had a blast.
They headed home and we headed for dinner (curse my weak stomach...it had been a few hours since we'd eaten and I normally get sick on boats. I seem to do OK on the calm Wisconsin River, but the lack of food, I was getting ill). We were going to go home, but the children were set on going mini-golfing, so we did. I actually did well and kicked Gumby's butt for once at it. I got a hole in 1 on the last hole. Baby Girl got a hole in 1 on her first hole and Little Man also had one somewhere in there.
It was a long drive back (2 hours). Baby Girl made it the majority of the way before she passed out. Little Man didn't even make it out of the county before he was asleep.
I realized on the way home that it was almost 15 years to the day of our fateful first date (and nearly our last) to Noah's Ark in the Dells. It's interesting to think of where we started and where we are now and Lord only knows where we're headed.
We ended last night's adventure by coming across a drunk driver. We called 911 and followed them. The operator had us and the car that he nearly hit kind of corral him to help the Sheriff's Deputy find him. He was arrested almost immediately. Gumby said to the Sheriff, "I didn't know you could fail a field sobriety test that quickly."
"Oh yeah." was simply the response from the Deputy. We gave a statement and headed home. Trying not to ponder it all too much. Because really, that was not something I wanted to ponder last night.
I still miss Patrick. But I don't find myself in a crippling depression anymore. Which is a good thing. I know Mother's Day and Father's Day were the worst for my in-laws. We celebrated the days on the Saturday before this year (as I had to work on both days and then hang with my family). That seemed to make it easier on them to not have to pretend on the actual day that everything was OK and they aren't missing 1/3rd of their children. My MIL shared this with me a few days after Father's day. I think we will do this in the future so they can have their day's to mourn, which is inevitable.
So we continue to try to side-step the pain that will sometimes sneak up on us, but all in all, we're doing quite well. I'm sure Patrick is very proud of us, wherever he is stirring up trouble now. ;) But at least he knows he is loved and remembered.
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