Summer Days 52-58

Summer Day 52: Monday, 7/30: Over the weekend we went to Auntie Angela's and it was so much fun! She was so sweet and bought us a fun little dancing sunshine flower. It's the cutest thing ever! Today we spent the day cleaning up the house and playroom. There was a lot of toy sorting going on because tomorrow we have a house appraisal and friends are coming over to play. It should be lots of fun... and well worth the hours of cleaning!

Summer Day 53: Tuesday, 7/31: Today we had our friends over! Shawni came over at 10 a.m. and we picked up Grace at well... we were supposed to be there at 11 but mommy got lost and we finally found her house at about 11:45. On our way back to our house we decided to go check out the new playground equipment that Central School has installed! The girls played for about an hour then we had to go because a worker-type-person was in need of moving woodchips... so off to Spalding Su Casa we go! The girlies played in the playroom while I made lunch, no a feast! After lunch they played and watched a little movie (Gnomeo & Juliet) ; since it was rainy I figured it would be okay. After the rain let up; we took our party porch side! These little hoolies spent 2 hours coloring with markers on their bird houses & masks! (Kk was a super hero!) Then they all played outside for a bit. We had dinner about 5:30'ish and then decided the only perfect way to end a day is with ICECREAM -- good bye house, hello Corner Scoops! Everyone was safely home by 7:30 p.m. It was a perfect day with friends! Now... when we arrived at home we noticed the garage door was closed... we opened it and then seen a HUGE WRAPPED ITEM in the middle of the garage floor. Attached was a note that read:

Ho Ho Ho Happy Summer Spalding Girls!

This Christmas Diego Sparkle and I were trying to decide what would be best for you.... well, Diego Sparkle heard you mention that you would like a pool. So, your BIG Christmas gift this year is going to be THIS! Your daddy has agreed to help by situating the things that need to be done, so you better be extra good for your parents. 

We hope you enjoy this extra special BIG gift... it's something that you can use during the the Summer months and we think you will get a lot of use out of this instead of a lot of little presents. We hope you ENJOY THIS!! 

Love, 

Santa (the signature was all fancy too!)

Needless to say you were both SO GIDDY! Well, okay we were ALL GIDDY with excitement! I cannot believe Santa brought us all a pool! It's so cool!!! So began a 5 day project....

Summer Day 54: Wednesday, August 1:  We woke up a little later today... it was so nice to sleep until 7:30! It doesn't seem "Later" but it is compared to the normal 6:30 wake up! We cleaned up the toys from our friend party yesterday... things were put away but not away enough to be considered clean. We spent the morning talking about the pool that daddy is now going to situate for us! At 11 a.m. mommy got a phone call from Best Buy saying her camera was unable to be repaired so we picked up Grandma Debbie and went to Traverse City for the afternoon!! (After bringing the camera home I quickly realized it is not working properly so back to Best Buy we will go another day.) Today was officially the start of Project Pool! Daddy came home with lumber and started digging immediately! He wanted to honor Santa's request and make this pool happen soon because the Summer days are slipping away fast. Daddy got a good start on getting half the boards in! Mommy is SO EXCITED because Auntie Tab and Uncle Joe are coming up today! They are staying with Auntie Tab's Grandma Chris tonight and then tomorrow they will go to their condo at Boyne Mountain.(Auntie Tab text me at 11:30 saying they arrived at 11 p.m.)

Summer Day 55: Thursday, August 2: This morning I got a text from Auntie Tab at 10 a.m. inviting us over to her Grandma Chris' for a little visit. So, we got dressed and went over to see them all! It has been 2 years since mommy last seen Auntie Tab! It's been TOO LONG! My little Sassy Spalding's, Auntie Tab and mommy have been best friends for 25 years! That's a LONG LONG TIME! We have grown, changed, and become parents in those years...we remain besties still and I cannot believe it's been that long! Anyway- playing immediately commenced when we arrived at Grandma Chris'. You played tea party (even though Kk was a little reluctant), ate doughnuts, colored and all the while I got to visit with Auntie Tab. I miss her so much! After visiting with them for bit, we went over to Grandma Deb & Grandpa Lou's. We ate lunch and dinner with them! We picked green beans and snap peas from Grandpa's bean stalks! (Pretty soon we are certain he'll be able to climb them!) Abby Doo came over to Grandma's with Uncle Josh too. You all played so nicely! Then when Jordy got off the bus Uncle Josh brought him down to Grandma's too! After dinner you hoolies put on your swim suits and we went to Auntie Tab's condo and went swimming!! Update on Project Pool, Phase 1 has been completed! 

Summer Day 56: Friday, August 3: Today daddy decided to take the day off; the sand for phase 2 of project pool is being dropped today! He spent the morning figuring out the details of how he will do this. After the sand arrived about 1 p.m. Around 4'ish we had shoveled more than a dozen tractor bucket fulls.... daddy and mommy needed a break! Just as we were discussing this much needed break; Auntie Tab called and invited us to come swimming! Naturally we jumped in our suits and drove down there! It was so nice to cool off in a pool! (Cannot wait until we can do it in our own!) We played for a couple hours, then everyone headed home. We came home and mommy realized that a birthday outfit that I bought for Makenna had arrived as I text Aunt Gina; she was knocking at our door! Daddy started with the sand again at about 6:30 p.m. Aunt Gina ended up staying and then Grandma Sandee & Grandpa Bob came over. While mommy, daddy and Grandpa Bob shoveled sand; you visited with Kenna, Grandma Sandee and Auntie Gina. We finished the last load of sand at around 9'ish and it was very relieving to do so because phase 2 was then complete!

Summer Day 57: Saturday, August 4:  Up and at'em early this morning again!! Daddy went and rented a compactor and in only a matter of an hour or so he had phase 3 - leveling the sand - complete! We went over to visit Auntie Tab again today! It was a scorcher outside - 92 degrees and very humid!! We went in our swim suits and swam from 2 until 3:30! It was nice to cool off!! We spent the afternoon and early evening with them too! Mommy & Daddy made dinner and everyone enjoyed some good food and nice conversation. You hoolies played nicely together with Veda & Grayson. Everyone loved baby Grant, well because he's a sweet baby!! Daddy got a call from work and we ended up having to leave at about 7 because daddy had to go to Gaylord. So, we came home and got showered and in our cozies! You both were sleeping by 8!! It was a fun, long, beautiful day with friends!

Summer Day 58: Sunday, August 5: Today mommy was very sad. :( Auntie Tab had to leave today, but before they did  -- they came up to the fire hall so Grayson and Veda could see the fire truck! Auntie Tab took lots of pictures of them in the fire truck, putting on daddy's gear and even one with the fire hose! Grayson never stopped smiling the entire time he was in the fire truck! It was very cool to watch you all enjoy the passion that daddy has for the fire department. I cannot even write about it because it's making me all teary.  After everyone left, we went to Home Depot and Walmart to get a few things; we were looking for pool stuff mostly. It was super windy out but when we came home from the store, daddy started putting up the pool! So, he put it up, and filled it a couple inches with the fire hose...tomorrow he's hoping to get a fire truck and fill it up completely so we can actually use the NEW POOL!!