unwound
Well! What a great week! Florida was terrific, lots of relaxing, lots of sun, and lots of swimming. Killy loved the beach, especially after we got some sand toys for him. The ocean was lovely, only Jen’s father got stung by a jellyfish. I spotted a few myself, but avoided them successfully. We also saw dolphins! Both at the Gulfarium in a dolphin show, and wild dolphins. Very cool!
We got really lucky with the weather. The only big storms (even though they were calling for storms all week) were 1) when we were inside, and 2) when we were at the Gulfarium. They were both pretty big storms though! At the Gulfarium we were outside, under an awning over the seating area, and it suddenly broke into a huge storm. A huge bolt of lightening struck not too far away — close enough that, out of the corner of my eye, I thought it was somebody with a flash camera at the top of the bleachers. I didn’t have time to finish the thought before the thunder struck and BAAMMMMMMMMMM! it was so loud and unexpected that half the adults just about peed in their pants. But Killy didn’t cry or anything!
We also left right before the hurricane started bearing down on the gulf. We caught a little of the New Orleans evacuation traffic, but not too bad. It was just a little difficult finding a way out of Louisiana because of the various interstates they had closed down to all traffic except the evacuees.
Once we got back home, I had a huge housework day. I tried to mow the lawn in the morning but wound up breaking the lawn mower. I fixed it later that day and mowed most of the yard (I had to quit when it got dark), after installing a new bag that we got. The lawn looks soooo good! With the bag, I’m not leaving big piles of grass behind me. It makes the yard look better than it has in a long time. But that was just the start of the day! I also installed a new chandalier-style light fixture in the dining room, which mean taking down the old fan. All in all, it was easier than I had expected and took place fairly smoothly except my arms were so tired afterward from holding the fixture up with one arm while I was fastening it with the other. But that still wasn’t it! Later that night, the dishwasher broke! There was water all over the floor! I had to dissassemble the entire lower sprayer/drain to fix that (you wouldn’t believe how much is down there), and then finally my day was over. Whew!