Summer, days 14-17

While it's been lovely to have rain showers contained to mostly evenings and overnight so that we can enjoy the outdoors as much as possible this summer, they have been wreaking havoc on our sleep schedules. While Reece can sleep through Dan doing the dishes at any hour, the slightest hint of a storm sends him scrambling for our bed. And half the time neither of us notices until we've been woken up by a foot to the face or nearly rolling out of bed from lack of space, so then our sleep is essentially interrupted twice, with the second one enough to render us totally awake because then we have to move the child back to his bed. All this is to say that I've been too tired to blog the last few days. But I have been taking pictures (a bit).

Last Thursday will from now on be known as the day I tested the gas tank capacity of the van. Most of the driving I do is very short distances, so I go long periods of time between fill-ups. I realized earlier in the week that I was on 1/4 tank and stored that in the back of my brain until Thursday morning, when upon arrival at work I noticed the low gas light was on. So I checked my DTE (distance to empty), which said 14 miles. PLENTY of time left before panic. On the way home, I planned my route which involved picking up Reece, hitting the gas station closest to us, then heading home so the boys and I could walk to Wendy's for dinner (that's how I justify allowing the fast food - walking to and from it). However, the BP near us (not my first choice, thanks to the situation in the Gulf, but by then I was on 7 DTE) was COMPLETELY out of gas. I've never seen that happen before! So I did a few more calculations, realized I could probably make it to the Get Go and use my cents off per gallon to save a chunk of money, then called Greyson and told him to hang on at home a bit longer and Reece and I would bring food home. Here's where we were by the time I hit the gas station:

The good news was, I saved $0.60 per gallon, so putting 18.9 gallons did not quite break the bank.

Friday, Dan and I went to the Melting Pot for a special MP/Great Lakes Brewing Co. dinner with some friends, and we had a great time. The kids also enjoyed having a babysitter who was willing to play pretty much anything they wanted. Saturday and Sunday were baseball, again. Greyson had practice Sat. morning at 9, then Reece had a game at 12 and Greyson had a game Sunday at 1. I spent most of my time this weekend organizing the garage now that I've put up the peg boards and some Rubbermaid FastTrack items:

Notice the bike trailer in the far right of the 2nd photo. I bought it at our community garage sale last weekend, and after Reece got over his initial fear of it, he said he LOVES it and keeps asking me when we can take a bike ride. On Saturday, we biked to his t-ball game and then to his friend Cameron's house so he could have a playdate (total distance, after I got back home, was 5.5 miles). I am quickly learning where the hills are around us, and I feel every one even more when pulling 40+ lbs behind me. All I can say is, I'd better be seeing the benefits of this increased exercise soon!

What Reece did while I worked in the garage (in 90+ degree heat, no less). He also applied his expert watering technique to the van, which was parked in the driveway, and now I'm kicking myself that I didn't give him a sponge and a bucket of sudsy water. Of course, only the bottom half of the van got washed, but even that is an improvement.