Expansions

Carolyn is expanding her chiropractic offices. They have taken some space from their very large garage. There's still ample room to park both of their cars in the garage as well as all the riding toys, tools, lawnmowers, etc. So, they have made two smaller rooms in which Carolyn can do therapy or acupuncture while still having a client in the main adjusting room. After starting therapy or acupuncture, the client sits or lies quietly for up to about 30 minutes. She has a growing clientele. One of her (very satisfied) patients has passed out about 150 business cards!

Brent recently expanded the playset by building a sandbox for the girls in the playset area. I've included a few photos taken there a few days ago while they played outside.

I got the cold shoulder

After picking up her kids from school, Carolyn stopped by my house to pick up the dressing I had baked for her. (See the Free Form blog if you really want the long version.) She left the kids buckled in the car, car running and hurried in the house to get the food. It couldn't have taken more than a minute or so, but when we got back to the car we could tell that Kate was very upset. She probably thought that she was going to get out at Cookie's house and play for awhile and she didn't like it a bit that it didn't happen. She wouldn't even look at me. I kept talking to her and trying to get her to settle down (no crying, just no other response, either) but she kept hear head turned the other way. Finally, after several minutes, she reluctantly smiled briefly. Then more ignoring, then another smile. She can be tough when she wants to. At last, a hug, and then they were on their way.

Labor Day Weekend at Port Alto

Labor Day is another one of the big 3 holidays at the bay...Memorial Day Weekend, 4th of July Weekend, and Labor Day Weekend. After Labor Day you don't usually see many of us there for the weekend, so this is the last hurrah. Wendy, Kelly & the boys weren't able to come to the bay for the holiday weekend. They had a long list of things they needed to take care of at home.

I went by Carolyn's house on Thursday and picked up the waterslide and the baby gates. On Friday I packed everything else I was taking from home and headed to El Campo to buy groceries. We had meals planned and I made an Excel spreadsheet with the menus and the supplies needed...sorted by categories, of course! So, it didn't take long to boogie through the store and be on my way. Thanks to Chris for installing the thermostat that is connected by phone line. I had called the thermostat earlier in the morning to turn the system on and the house was cooled to about 75 degrees by the time I got there. In and out numerous times to unload the car and the temperature had risen a bit, but, omigosh, it's so much better than the days when we would arrive in a house that was 90+ degrees. It would take it 8 or more hours to cool down.

I just had time to unload everything and eat my lunch when Carolyn and the girls arrived. Brent wasn't too far behind them. He had been in Corpus Christi and came from there. We put Carlee and some toys inside the baby gates. She immediately started fussing...so, we popped the Barney DVD in the player and she was happy.

The mosquitos were pretty bad. Kate is very sensitive to their bites as you can tell by one of the photos. A mosquito bit her just under her eye. It didn't look so bad at first, but the next morning it was very swollen and almost looked like a black eye.

On Saturday morning Carlee and Kate both enjoyed being down in the sand and water in front of the Rioux house. In fact, we just didn't even bother getting the waterslide out of the car. Carlee had sand everywhere, so I eventually took her back to the house and Brent bathed her in the kitchen sink. She had her lunch and watched Barney and played until naptime.

When Carolyn and Kate got to the house, Kate had a shower and then lunch. Then she and Brent headed to the bed for a story and a nap. Carolyn called me to go look at them. The were both asleep...Kate holding on to one book and Brent, looking like he fell asleep as he was turning the page. You can see the photo somewhere in this post. By the way, clicking on a photo in a post will enlarge it.

Carlee was being kind of a toot...cutting back teeth...so, Brent decided he would take her home after her nap on Saturday afternoon. He had things he needed to do (they are expanding Carolyn's offices) and he needed to get a better night's sleep. Kate had coughed all night on Friday night...allergies. She coughed all night Saturday night, too. In fact, I think she coughed more Saturday night. By then, Wayne was at the bay, too. He got there in time for tacos on Saturday and left after breakfast on Sunday.

We took down the baby gates, slathered sun screen on and went to the beach again for some floating with Virgie. Janie was there as well as Hannah and Scott. They had pictures with them, but I never went in to see them. I hope they'll bring them again.

At this point, while I'm typing, I know all these things happened...I'm just not sure when. I know milk punch was poured and we had a good time. This much I know!