Back to Walden Pond

Yesterday was early release (from school), so we went back to Walden Pond. Here are my handsome, water-loving guys.

Ta-da!

As many of you know, long ago in February, my oven quit working. Before I could even seriously shop for a new one, the dishwasher gave up too. Fair enough. The appliances were 20 years old. Since we had to get a new oven and dishwasher, we decided we should also get a new, energy-efficient (and better looking) refrigerator. Plus, since we had to pull out the old oven and dishwasher anyway, it seemed like a good time to replace the tatty, self-stick vinyl tile floor.

After months of deliberating (to say the least), we finally settled on a floor material. Then after even more deliberation, we settled on a color. (Well, with the help of Mom, I settled on a color... Britt had his doubts.) With the floor finally chosen, we could commit to new appliances.

The gods aligned. And on Monday, the plumber came to disconnect the old oven. Tuesday morning, the floor guy came to install our new floor. Shortly after the floor guy left, the new appliances were delivered. Today, the plumber returned and installed the new oven and dishwasher.

Behold: our once again functional kitchen with spanking new white appliances and a lovely (and seamless!) purple passion Marmoleum floor:





Now it's apparent that the kitchen needs new countertops...

Heat Wave in Boston -- First Trip to Walden Pond

This week, Boston is having a heat wave: Sat., Sun., Mon., and Tues. temperatures were in the 90s. We survived the weekend (even played some baseball), but Monday afternoon, the kids and I drove out of town and made the first trip this season to Walden Pond where we swam and sat lakeside for 4 hours before heading back to the city, which by then had cooled off enough to be tolerable.

It was one of our best trips to Walden Pond in a long time -- just me and my own kids ... no extra friends or neighbors. The kids were happy to be cool and wet, they played together, and they each built a sand castle, which they destroyed before leaving. I didn't have the camera with me, so I only have photos that I took with my phone; if I ever figure out to download those photos, I can post them.

We survived yesterday afternoon with a trip the local library, where we enjoyed the a/c.

Today, thankfully, the weather has turned a cool, pleasant 80-something.

Blue Belt for Beau

Tonight, Beau performed his karate moves at the end-of-school-year performance. And he qualified for his blue belt.

Lazy Cat

Today, I made the bed around Trixie. An hour later, and she's still there.



But FINALLY I'm up-to-date on blogging.

Beau's Art Piece

Each spring, there is an exhibit of art work done by the Cambridge public school students.

Beau's tower (toothpicks, skewers, and glue) was exhibited as a piece from his school.

Memorial Day Weekend

On Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, the cub scouts helped place flags on the graves of the veterans killed in action.



On Sunday, we drove out to Tully Lake for the day. Some friends were there camping for the weekend, so we joined them for canoeing and cavorting.



Britt had his best day of fishing in years. This is a small bass. You should have seen the one that got away! (Seriously.)



We stayed through dinner and did the s'mores thing before we drove home.



Sunday, the scouts marched in the Cambridge Memorial Day parade. Casey is at the far end of the banner. Beau's legs are visible beneath the American flag that he is carrying.



We finished off the holiday weekend with a trip to the appliance store to buy a new refrigerator... but that's another story.