7/18/2009 - Dad got Poison Ivy.

He battled with it for a week, itching all day and all night, unable to get more than a couple hours of sleep at a time, for 6 nights straight. He worked from home, and tried very hard to concentrate, but they told him he had to do his work all over again.

Actually it was poison Sumac, and there are some gross yet informational pictures in the following gallery: http://howland.smugmug.com/gallery/9025150_JUx6X

7/25/2009 - Saturday was a good day. Dad took Chloe on a ride in the Miata -this time a real ride, on a real road, real safe in her car seat from the van. It fit nicely in the bucket seat, and allowed her to see out the windshield and out her door window (which was rolled down). I'll post a picture sometime.

Dad drove her to Joshua and Abigail's old elementary school, that now has a nice public playground out in front of it. Dad didn't take his camera, so no pictures. Sorry.

After playing slide, climb, echo, castle and horse, we went to McDonald's for dinner, and Chloe played in that outdoor McPlayPlace with 7 other little kids her age. She had so much fun going down the slide -and up it when everyone left. She loved it when Dad layed down at the bottom of the slide, his head into the tunnell, and she slid down onto his head.

Chloe fell right asleep at 6:30, when we got home from our 2 hour excursion. It was the most fun Dad has had with Chloe in a long time.

BTW, this is not dad's actual car, but his looks just like it. Or does when it's wet. ;-)

7/26/2009 - Sunday was a good day. But because dad's Miata's roof leaks when it rains, and because he backs into our slanted driveway to minimize the leaking, and because mom doesn't back into the driveway but drives straight in -so the cars were side by side facing opposite directions- and because dad didn't back up as far as he usually does -and so his car was lower in the driveway than mom's van- and because dad didn't take Chloe's car seat out of the Miata the night before, and because mom had to go to Wal-Mart and so dad was rushed to move Chloe's car seat from the Miata to the Van, and because after pulling out the car seat, putting it into the van, and putting Chloe into the van, and going on and on about how cool that car seat's safety features are, dad forgot he hadn't closed his miata door, and because the Miata was now hidden by the van as he waved his entire family off and headed back into the house -well, because of all those circumstances coming together, mom's van backed into dad's miata door that was.. -dad never even saw this when he opened it- was hanging out beyond and behind the van bumper.

Fortunately mom stops quickly when she hears a crunch, and it wasn't torn completely off, just far enough to break the metal that keeps the door from opening that wide, and bend the door out and down a little so it just doesn't close at all right now -not by 8 inches. Nor does it open but 12 inches, now that dad popped it back to some resemblance of closed.

But it was a good day because no one got run over. And because we all horsed around in the kitchen that night, and played Blokus after Chloe went to bed.

BTW, this is not dad's actual car, but his looks just like it. Or does when it's wet, and the only from this side now. ;-)

7/27/2009 - Monday was an OK day for dad and mom, and a great day for Josh and Abby. (Chloe had a very good day if not stated otherwise.) It was a tough day for dad, because he was still very tired from few hours of sleep last week -and because we all had to get up extra early this morning, to drive downtown ... to… what made Josh & Abby's day great: their 1st day of D.A.R.E Summer Day Camp offered by the Metro Police.

Josh & Abby earned their attendance by good behavior and grades in school last year. They also attended last summer, and very much enjoy all the games and activities and food –and the police officers themselves, all ones who work at Metro School Campuses. Mom and dad are happy they get to go again this year. It’s every day this week, through Friday, 8:00 am to 2:30 pm.

Tonight around dinner time, Joshua and 4 other boys came busting into our kitchen hollering about bee stings. Two of the boys –not Joshua- had walked on a bee hive and gotten bitten multiple times as the ran madly across field and fence. It’s a fun neighborhood. Certainly more exciting than the last one.

07/28/2009 - Tuesday was a good day. Mom woke up extra early and by 6:30 had a big breakfast ready for us: eggs, sausage, bagels, jellies, and coffee.

Near the end of breakfast, Chloe surprised us all by running back into the kitchen, from the living room she had disappeared to for a few minutes, yelling "I went in the potty! Wanna see? You wanna see?"

Of course, we all wanted to see. This would be the first time she used the potty at all, never mind all by herself. And it was.

Joshua and Abigail had fun at camp. They visited the State Capitol Building. Good outing for a rainy day.

Speaking of rain, dad and mom put a tarp over dad's Miata just as it started to sprinkle. Dad has no energy to even think about how or where to get the door fixed.

7/28/09 - Wednesday was a good day. Although extreme exhaustion kept me awake until 2 am, and heartburn until 5 am, and although I felt ill every minute of every hour -until just about now- my project at work is heading in the right direction, and mom made a great dinner tonight.

Joshua and Abigail got to play with real fire hoses at camp today. Today's funniest moment: Chloe has become accustomed to my daily conference calls into work, and always asks afterward "Are you off the phone? Yay!". Well, today, when my phone disconnected during a conference call, Chloe saw me a little upset about it, and minutes after I had redialed and talked and hung up again, she came to me and asked. "Is the phone not working? Did I break it?"