What Do You Do All Summer?

That's usually one of the first questions that's asked when I tell someone I'm a teacher. Sometimes I tell them that I teach summer school classes or that I'm taking classes myself, but this summer I just say, "We do family stuff."

Like this.

We play at parks.

Reading books in the backyard "tent" is fun.

We went downtown to watch Char's Aunt Phaedra run the Dam to Dam 5K. This was a bit of a challenge for me. I've run the Dam to Dam 20K nine times, but I've gave up running a few years ago, and I wasn't sure if I could handle watching others run. I eventually decided that if I was strong enough to run, then I was now strong enough to spectate.

Besides, I know how much it means to you when family comes to support your run.



Isn't Where the Skywalk Ends a book by Shel Silverstein?

We also take family trips to Casey's to get ice cream. Maggie comes, too.

Char scored this House of Blues tee at the Salvation Army. She picked it out to be a pajama top. A thrift rock shirt? Dad is so proud.

I scored another pinball machine from Craigslist. I picked up a Williams machine from 1966. 

It has a terrible paint job, it's filthy, and some of the wiring is all jacked up, but I wanted a project to work on. I'm not sure if I'm in over my head or not. Right now I kind of feel like this guy on the playfield.

Daphne wanted some metal patio furniture for the cement pad under our deck. You'd be surprised how fast patio furniture sells right now on Craigslist. More than once I'd contacted a seller who posted their stuff an hour ago, and it was already gone. This set was posted at 10:10 PM, and I caught it at 10:20 PM right before I went to bed.

White wasn't going to cut it, though.

Reminds me of an ice cream shop.

Before the day of spray painting, we added some paving stones to finish off the outside edge of the cement pad. Maggie approves.

Rainbow Play Systems in Urbandale has a display room for all their playground equipment.

We still had a free pass to play in their display room, and Char was tired of waiting for a rainy day to use it. Despite the beautiful weather, we drove over to play inside. Go figure.

When the heat does crank up, we like to break out the lawn sprinkler.

If the water gets too cold, then Charlotte has a "solution."

We also rode our bikes to the local library so Char could get her first library card.

That's a big deal. I remember when I got my first library card back in Rock Valley. My number was 555. Sigh. I'm so old.

Speaking of libraries, it was Mo Williams day at the Johnston Library, and the popular characters Elephant and Piggy made an appearance.

After a few craft projects...

...and posing for a picture...

...Char was brave enough to pose with the stars of the day.

No, I'm not embarrassed that I'm not taking or teaching classes this summer. Look how much I would be missing.