Busy, busy, busy! But in a good way.

This has been a very busy but fun week. And it's not going to get any less busy!

On Sunday we went to a park/splash pad with my parents, my sister Jackie and her family, and my niece and nephew. It was pouring in the morning, and when we woke up, i was certain that we'd have to go somewhere else, but then it cleared up just in time. It wasn't super warm, but the kids totally played in the water anyhow and had lots of fun.

Katrina had a birthday party on Sunday afternoon, so we left the family earlier than we usually do and went to drop her off at her friend's (grandma's) house, where they apparently swam in the pool for 4 hours before quick eating cake. It was exactly the kind of party that Katrina loves - swimming, swimming, and more swimming.

On Monday, Juanito and Houston left for a quick trip to Kentucky. Juanito is staying with his mum, spending most of their time doing zumba, from what i can tell, and Houston is staying with his uncle JJ and his grandpa on their farm.

Tuesday morning Katrina, Zane, and i went to my parents' house for a sleepover! We've often said that the one downside of living so close is that we don't get to do the whole "visit for an entire week and get to spend lots and lots of time together, just hanging out," so my mom invited us over while half of the family was missing anyhow. Yay!

And that's what we did! We hung out and talked. I went shopping with my dad. All of the kids and i went to my sister's house to swim for half an hour. After the kids went to bed, Jackie came over and she, my sister Chellie, my mom, and i played cards for a few hours. And then the next day we spent hours at Jackie's house, swimming again. (The kids were thrilled!)

We took Emma with us, since we'd be gone nearly 2 days, and she completely exhausted herself, and i'm not even sure how. She was on her leash the entire time. It wasn't always being held, but i wanted to be able to grab her when she started chasing my parents' dog around. Their dog (Lily) is a tiny little fluff-ball, and she's a bit intimidated by Emma, so every once in a while she'll just randomly start barking at Emma. Emma takes that as in invitation to play, so she's all, "OKAY!" and then Lily is all, "Scared! Must run away!" except that as soon as she starts running, Emma gleefully chases her. And since Emma is about 10 times Lily's size, Lily's not a fan of the playing. (She's not always super good at not encouraging the playing, though. One time i actually watched her run straight under Emma from back to front. Emma was all, "What the?!")

While we were setting up our bed in the camper, where Katrina, Zane, and i slept, it was about 2:00 in the afternoon and my mom and i were boiling. It felt like the center of the earth, and we were all, "Geez. We might need to come sleep on the floor in the air conditioning instead!" My mom asked, "Will you need blankets? Or is a sheet good enough?" and i was all, "NO! A sheet is plenty! It's SO HOT!" Cut to the middle of the night, and the temperature has dropped by about 30 degrees, and Katrina (who was sharing the bed with me) and i were shivering. I finally woke up enough to stagger out of bed, half asleep, undoubtedly looking like a completely drunken sailor, across the camper to where the blankets were kept. But in my sleep-addled brain, i grabbed the smallest, thinnest blanket, which barely covered one of us and didn't offer much warmth, and we continued to shiver until about 6:30. We were huddled together to share body heat, and i finally asked, "Uh, hey. Should i get another blanket?" I grabbed one of the big, heavy blankets, threw it on the bed, and we both immediately relaxed and fell into a deep sleep. Lesson: Always have a blanket handy! I should know this already!

While we were swimming on Wednesday, i spent a while teaching Zane to swim again, and he did SO WELL. He can now swim the width of the pool, and he's all, "I LOVE swimming! Can we go swimming again soon? And you can teach me more?!" Success!!!

And then, Wednesday night, Beth came over and hung out with us for the night. We ate dinner and watched an episode of Cupcake Wars and then sent the kids to bed and sat and talked and talked and talked. Fun!