We are finally out of the sickness woods. I have never been more ready for summer. Between the sickness and the flooding rains we’ve had, I am so excited to be outdoors. We have been outside every evening since the rain stopped. Unfortunately the rain and floods have wiped out several roads and bridges in the area, making travel difficult, especially when we have to get the kids to my parent’s house to babysit. The main road has been closed since mid-May and they haven’t been able to fix the road due to the floods. They’re currently saying by the end of June they will have it up to one lane traffic, but I doubt it unless they pull some weekend shifts.

Unfortunately, our local pool will not open for the summer season this year because they are building us a brand new one, right on top of where the current one sits. So that took out one of our quick summer entertainment ideas. We have a couple wading pools in town, but they’re usually busy even with the public pool open. We may have to take a drive and go to the nearest pool in another town. In the mean time, the kids have been playing bubbles and squirt guns and water balloons to pass the time and keep cool. Sylas gives Amalia rides in their power wheel, and Ivan has been loving his balance bike. Its the first thing he gets out of the garage when we are out to play. Since we have no fence in our back yard, we can’t have a big pool – I mean, we could but it would need emptied every night and I don’t want to triple the water bill. We have a tiny kiddie pool that I bought last summer that doesn’t hold much water, so we can put that up on super hot days, and we have a sprinkler/splash pad thing too. I bought a bigger inflatable pool for my parent’s back yard so that the kids have somewhere to go swimming. They are usually there a couple days a week, so hopefully that will be a way to stave off boredom – though papa’s house is rarely ever boring in the summer.

We are inching ever closer to our beach vacation, and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve been having fun shopping for things just to take to the beach. I’ve also been busy making lists for packing everyone’s bags, and getting some odds and ends that we need. The boys are excited, but I don’t think they have any idea what is truly in store for them when we get there.

Back in February, we had several bouts of ice storms, and Javier hit a curb coming home once. Our car has been making a noise since then, and it is getting progressively worse. We have replaced two different things on it already hoping that that was the problem, but alas it was not. We are thinking that the noise is unrelated to hitting the curb because the broken part has since been replaced and everything else seems in order. So this weekend, my dad is going to take it all apart and try a couple more things. We’ve spent over $700 in parts alone – an A-arm, two rotors, new brakes, new wheel, and two ball bearing assemblies, so I am very grateful that my dad is a car guru, and is able to fix it for us. Fingers crossed that we will have no more noise coming from the car after this weekend.

I find myself feeling content in pregnancy right now. I’m not sore most of the time, pretty comfortable actually. I kind of felt this way when I was pregnant with Ivan. Content to be pregnant, and not overly anxious to get it over with. I foresee that coming after our vacation is over, and there isn’t anything to distract my mind from the arrival of baby girl. I am glad though, that I’ve been able to soak it in and enjoy her and this last pregnancy. I was worried that I would be uncomfortable like last time and just be desperate for it to be over. I really wanted to enjoy this for the last time. She will be here before we know it, and we will be a family of six! This will be a bitter sweet ending to the baby chapter of our lives, but I am so excited for what is in store for us too.