New Neighbors

Our neighbor, Betty, moved out yesterday. She's been in that house since I was little and lived in this neighborhood. It was sad to see her go. We found out recently that the people that bought her house are about our age and have 3 boys. One of them is going to college this fall, but the other two are 12 and 9 years old. We are very excited that Isaac will now have someone to play with. He is surrounded by girls - not that he minds all that much (and I'm sure he won't mind at all when he's a little older). He really needs some boys to hang around with. I remember growing up in this small town and having a ton of friends. We were always busy and always having fun. I want that for Isaac too. It will be great for Roy and I as well. We could use some neighbors our own age too. I'm looking forward to getting to know them later this week.

Thanks for checking in.
Diann

The End of Summer

Tonight is sort of the end of summer for us. Tomorrow is new teacher training at school, and then Monday both Isaac and I start for real. Tonight is Meet the Teacher Night for Isaac. There's no turning back once you meet the teacher!

I can't believe that summer has gone by so quickly. We accomplished a lot: vacation, Ecuador, deck, new windows, picnic, lots of swimming, and lots of company. It was good, if short.

I'm looking forward to the beginning of the school year. Isaac is definitely not. He and Roy are taking a day tomorrow and have one last adventure. They're going to the mall and to the movies in Williamsport. With Roy's work schedule, they don't get a lot of time together. It will be good for both of them.

Well. I wanted to close the chapter on summer officially so that I can start blogging about school. I'm sure I'll have a lot to say. It's going to be a good year!

Thanks for checking in.
Diann

Deck - Completed

The deck is done! It looks great. We've used it once. Yes, once. The day after it was completed, the temperature went down into the 70's with nighttime lows in the 50's. The water temp. of the pool dove to 72. It rained. It thundered. We would just sort of look at our beautiful deck from inside the house. We put the solar cover on the pool and we managed to get the water up to around 76 degrees in time for Dee and Garrett to come swim. The weather was great that day. The boys had a blast christening the deck by jumping from it.

After swimming, the boys decided to play outside while Dee and I had some "couch time" (which was long overdue). When we checked on the boys (which was long overdue) we found them building a ladder - with power tools. Ahhh. I can't tell you how many times we have found those two doing something ... let's say surprising. Dee and I take it all in stride. We've learned to just shake our heads and go back to the couch. Ignorance is bliss. There was no blood, so it's all good - and we have a lovely ladder for the tree now.

This is our last week of summer. Yep. School starts Aug. 25. Expect more updates on that subject...

Thanks for checking in.

Diann

Deck interrupted - for picnic

Once again we had our annual special ed. picnic at the cabin. We had a great time. The day started out with a downpour and had me very worried that we would all be huddled in the cabin or under the porch trying to contain a lot of kids. But, the sun came out and it turned out to be a perfect day for a picnic. The kids played in the ever-popular pink sand, had a little gun battle, and found a dead porcupine (it is the woods, you know). The adults sat in our usual lawn chair circle and gabbed. It was a very relaxing time. (we only lost 1 child for a short time) A few times I looked around and thought, "I work with the best bunch of people." I'm already looking forward to next year!

Deck Part I

Things have been silent in blog land for the Veras lately. Sorry. We're just doing summer things - swimming, washing beach towels, making iced tea, eating cool pops, and mowing the lawn. However, now deck construction has begun and things are a little more exciting around here.

A good friend of ours, Gary, is helping Roy build the deck. Gary and another one of our friends, Scott, are in the parttime contracting business. So, when we have a bigger job around the house, we call on them to help. Gary is on his own on this job though because Scott is having a little difficulty with one of his eyes (get well soon, Scott).

These pictures show 3 days of progress. Keep in mind that Roy gets home at 9 AM, goes to sleep for about 3-4 hours and gets up to meet Gary in the backyard. Gary is coming to our house after working at his real job all day. So, this progress has been made in about 12 hours all together. They're doing a great job. It's been hot, hot, hot. I think the final picture should be the guys sitting on the deck in lounge chairs drinking a cold iced tea. I'm getting really good at making it. Or, maybe they would like a cool pop. We'll see. More pictures to follow.

Thanks for checking in.

Diann