Pics and grass.

Hmph. My photohost company has apparently gone down due to fixing something. As a result, all of my images have been inaccessible since yesterday afternoon. I'm sorry, Annie, beanpop and takarakanashi - I know that your journals aren't loading properly either because of it. Hopefully, it will be fixed very soon.

Also, I've got a circus re-cap coming, but I want to wait until I can add the pictures in. I plan on posting a pic and the recipe for the Strawberry Margarita Squares, too. And there will be fun pool pics from yesterday's party... as soon as I can put pics up, that is. ;-)

My neck is a little stiff this morning. I'm not sleeping any differently than I have been for years, but lately it seems that my neck hurts a bit each morning. I think I'm in desperate need for a massage. I've only ever had two, and those were the 5-minute freebie ones. I can't imagine what a real, 60-minute one would feel like, but I'm sure it must be amazing.

Phil Tackett just came by to grab my gas can and go fill it up. He and Jeff McHart have been alternating weeks and mowing my lawn for about 2 months now. I am still shocked at this. Two men from my church, neither of which knew me before, take the time to take care of my lawn each week. They won't let me pay them, they won't let me reimburse them for gas. They play with the boys if we're here (though often, they mow on Saturdays and we're gone). I've kidded with Philip and told him that he's going to have a LOT of mowing to do for other people, to make up for the wonderfulness that has been done for us in his absence. I think I'm going to surprise these two men with some very nice gift cards at the end of the summer - surely they won't say no to that, right?

Recipe by request.

For those of you who have requested this recipe, it is from the Pampered Chef's Delightful Desserts cookbook. I've made it several times, and it always goes over very well.


Strawberry Margarita Squares

( the recipe )

Pool party.

So, Saturday was Patrick's real birthday, but his cookout/party wasn't until yesterday. After church, I made the dessert that I've already talked about. The boys were excited to go because I'd explained that Annie's apartment had a big pool to play in. Even though the weather seemed a bit chilly to me (we were barely cracking 70* at the time of the church service), the boys were determined to swim. They dressed in their swim trunks and wore their shirts over them, and we headed out.

We arrived just after 3pm. Patrick and Annie were grilling brats and hot dogs, and there was also yummy (and hot!) baked beans and other goodies. I'd brought my tea and dessert, too. Another family was there, and they had two boys and a girl. The boys were in the pool when we arrived, and that only made my kids want to get in right that second.

I managed to stave them off the pool until I had a chance to eat something. Of course, with the pool in their line of sight, neither of them were hungry AT ALL. Finally, finally, I agreed that they could get in the pool.

I left the picnic table and settled myself in the lounge chair nearest to the pool with my camera. I found that I couldn't get comfortable or relax in the chair; it was the boys' first time in a real swimming pool in nearly 3 years, and I was too nervous to allow myself to be the 4 feet further away from them by stretching out on the chair.


A.J. realizes that the water *is* kinda cold.

My reflexes were needed within a minute or two. A.J. entered the pool by the steps and immediately began playing and splashing. Jack managed the first two steps without incident, and I think he thought he was done then; he completely missed the third step, and this miss sent him tumbling into the water with a lack of footing.

In that second he went down, I jumped up, camera in hand and grabbed his arms out of the water (he was just near enough to the edge that I could still grab him). He spluttered and coughed, but he regained composure quickly. Just before, the dad in the other family (his name was Jerry) had entered the pool area with his two boys. I noticed then that he also had poised to 'rescue' Jack - he'd even gotten his feet wet at the steps. How nice. :-) I had Jack stand still in the water to double-check that he was tall enough to be in by himself, and then I let him go to play.

I settled back on the edge of the chair again. Jerry stationed himself on the edge of a chair on the other side of the pool. There were markings of 3ft, 6ft and 9ft in the pool, and there was a rope/buoy barrier strung halfway between the 3ft and 6ft sections. A.J. and Jerry's two boys romped and splashed and had great fun. Jack would walk in the water for a while (hands held high, of course), and then he would climb out, only to ease back in by the steps just seconds later. He'd get excited every now and then, and he'd go under... but he'd pop right back up within the next second. I noticed that Jerry was watching closely as well, and he was reflexively moving forward each time Jack did this, just as I was.


A.J. splashes into the pool.


Jack 'walks' through the water.

Jack got better and better. Within 30 minutes, he was doing cannonballs from the side of the pool just like the 'big boys.' (He'd started out by trying them from the second step.) No fears of water do my kids have - not a one. A.J. and the two older boys would lean or press on the barrier rope, but they were plenty tall enough as long as they stayed on the correct side of it.


Jack climbs out using the edge of the pool.


Jack plays some more in the pool.

After about an hour, Jack started to explore a bit more. He joined in the game of 'Shark!' with the other boys, and he found himself right up along the barrier rope. Heather was sitting beside me at this point, and while watching Jack, I said something like, "Ohhhhh, I don't liiiiiike this." We all watched as Jack had no problems pushing a buoy the entire length of the rope barrier to the far side of the pool. He turned around and grinned at us. Heather and Annie went back to talking, and I smiled at him, all the while thinking to myself that I just didn't feel *good* about that rope line.


Jack leans on the rope barrier line.

No sooner did I think this than, as I watched, the barrier line just seemed to float away from Jack. It was like watching something in slow motion - the line just billowed out on his right side, rather than staying taut and straight right next to him. In a split-second I thought, "That's not right," and I said out loud, "The line." Then I yelled to him, "Jack." I was hoping he'd just reach out and grab the buoy near his hand. The line had come unhooked from the edge of the pool just behind him. It was all so slow, and yet so fast. I yelled, "JACK!" just as he slipped under the water.

In the micro-second that I jolted out of my seat, I heard the SPLASH! Jerry dove into the water, and he had Jack rescued within another few seconds. My heart was pounding, and Heather and Annie were just noticing something was wrong. Jerry brought the coughing, spluttering Jack back to me, and I hugged him for a bit. He was fine, of course, but it was still scary.

They played for another 20 minutes or so (and Jack didn't go near the rope), and then it was finally time to get out, get dressed and get going.


A.J. and Jack discuss a game of 'Shark!'

It's amazing how quickly it all happened, though. Really, the whole thing was probably not more than 10-12 seconds, but it seemed like an eternity. After his tumble when he was first getting into the pool, I'd told myself that even if he went under, I had enough time that I'd be able to put my camera down and still get in and rescue him - and it would all be in a matter of seconds. Those two seconds required to put down the camera wouldn't make that much of a difference, right?

When it actually happened, though? I jolted up, camera in hand, to save him. There wasn't time to think. That was my baby, and he was going under. The camera would have died if Jerry had not been faster than me. And better the camera than my kid.

Come to think of it, the stiffness I felt in my neck this morning might've been due to crouching near the edge of a chair and sitting like a bundle of nerves for almost an hour and a half yesterday. ;-)

Garden progress.

Annie and I have worked hard on the garden in the past 10 days. I never would have believed that this could be so fun! I've even been doing the weeding and mulching with my BARE hands! (If you know me, you know what a HUGE deal this is - I do *not* like to get dirty.)

( Wanna see? )