Monday, August 31, 2009

My little throwers


While entertaining a neighbor for ten minutes, LOOK at what the girls did. They threw everything they could find - and then went up to their rooms to gather more - and flung it over the living room railing to the entryway a story below. Oh my. They were in hog heaven, squealing with laughter the entire time. I should have known they were up to no good. =>

Then, buzzkill that I am, I made them drag it all back upstairs, bit by bit.

Last day @ the pool

Yesterday was the last pool day of the summer - sigh. Some of us are freckled (Laura), some of us are as white as ever (Rory), and some of us have gained a slight tan (Fiona). We spent nearly every Saturday and Sunday morning there from June through August, and it made the summer extra fun. Friends often joined us, and sometimes we even went twice in one day!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Girl screaming!



Brace yourselves!

Humidity Sucks

I acknowledge that by D.C. standards, 2009 has been a relatively humidity-free summer. Slightly cold and rainy in June, meek and mild in July - both very rare for these parts. And I have been so happy. In mid-July, I proclaimed this my favorite D.C. summer ever.

But these past few days have been horribly sticky. And to top it off, we have lost power in our house three times during this stretch - last night's episode lasted for 12 hours. The third level of our townhouse was super steamy, and the girls were both sweating like pigs by bedtime.

We tend to make the most of such power outages. We read books by flashlight, wear glow stick bracelets, and make fun shapes on the walls. But the high moisture level inside the house last night sucked the fun out of everything. I was so hot that I could only stand to read one book to the girls - mostly because I couldn't bear having them sit on my body.

By 9:00 pm, the power had been our for seven hours and the house was damp and lifeless. The power roared on with a jolt at 2:00 am (finally). Because we had set our fans to "low" before hitting the (sweaty) hay, the powering up was actually quite startling. But it was also immediately relieving, trust me.

Fiona cried much of the night, sweaty as a hog and unable to rest comfortably, so I kept her home from daycare with me. We had a lovely day, and she took a nice, long, 3-hour nap. =)

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Brother Pat & Gordie Roberts

Gordie, way back in the day, played defense for the New England/Hartford Whalers. The Whale drafted him when he was 17, and my dad became friends with him soon thereafter (my dad was friends with most guys on the team back then, which was downright magical to my sister and me). Their friendship has continued through Gordie's career: being traded away, retiring, coaching, and now, scouting for Montreal. His playing career was long, and he won the Stanley Cup while a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins back in the early 1990s.

Gordie was in Connecticut this past week, and spent the night with my dad and Patrick. The three of them had a blast. Gordie made my dad make him spaghetti & meatballs, begged him to play the guitar so they could sing together, and the next day, Pat & Gordie shot 9 holes of golf. They tied, 37 each. A great time was has by all!