Surviving the heat, and other things

Once again, I can't believe two weeks have flown by since I posted last, but I'm struggling to find any time to myself in the recent days. It's just that time of year at work, and it's been busy at home, too. Keeping an almost-seven year old entertained throughout the dog days of summer has become a second full-time job, it seems. It's just been too stinking hot to go outside for any reason and we keep having heat advisories given to us by the news outlets, warning everyone they might crispy-fry on contact if they step outside.

This has been "normal" the past two weeks. Um, help??

Stifling temperatures mean lots of brainstorming for things to do that involve AC, but don't involve tons of money being spent. This is harder than one might think! But, we've been very creative and successful in keeping Z cool, happy, and only mildly bored these recent days. I can also say, we've all become well-versed in many Wii games, but at least we're doing them as a family.

Zach did go to one summer camp at the end of June, with his friend Preston, hosted at The Austin Children's Museum. It was "Young Scientists" camp, which meant he spent all day mixing things together to see reactions, building things from basic materials, and bringing home lots of things to show us each day. It also meant he was extremely happy, since he loves that museum, and he loves science. It was for one week, 8:00am - 12:00pm each day, and he was kind of bummed when it was over. Guess that means we'll be signing him up for a few more next summer! (Wanted to test the waters, and see how he was at a camp full of strange kids for a whole week. Since he had Preston there with him too, apparently it was a non-issue.) The camp took photos of the kids during the week, so here are a few Zach and Preston made it into:

Mr. Blondie, and his buddy (on the far right).

Hope he said "excuse me" before he did this ...

Z on the far left, Preston on the far right.

Do you people SEE how tall Preston is?!

He is only FIVE!

We're seeing more movies than usual these days, since movie theaters have rockin' AC. As most of you know, Z is a h-u-g-e Transformers fan, so of course, he begged us to take him for the first four days the movie was out. We finally made a night of it, took him, then found out that maybe we should've screened it first. Yikes! Why did they sexualize the second installment?! Other than sprinkling in a few overtly sexual, inappropriate-for-a-kid scenarios, it was the same film as the first one. But, even Z was made uncomfortable by the sex and hid his face in my armpit throughout several parts of the movie. This showed me that he is obviously becoming more aware of that sort of thing, but I was also relieved to see it made him feel weird to watch it. He's too young and a part of him in his core knows it. He's been asked twice since then if he wanted to go see it again, and he has declined both times - completely on his own, without any facial expressions or comments from Mom. He just knows it made him feel weird, although he has no idea why. I'll take it. The best part about that movie was the Audi they had driving around in it, anyway:

I'm not a gear-head, but even I can see this kicks ass.

Hiding from the heat, mixed with working a lot on my computer in my office, equals looking at stupid websites to take a mental break. I found the jackpot of mindless entertainment, suited to make anyone belly laugh. It comes in handy when the stress level starts to get too high, or when my eyes start to cross because I've been staring at my monitor too long in one day. The site is Awkward Family Photos (it won't let me link up, for some reason ...) and it's worth checking out. Here are a few gems to entice you to give it a go:

Um ...

Yes, that's 2 ninjas and a baby.

Wrong.

The 80's colors are too much ... must look away ...

Notice the freak in the background, on the right.

Pizza the Clown should now pay for her years of impending therapy.

Wtf?

No!

This Santa probably hangs out with Pizza the Clown.

What was the true goal here?

To reenact the Spider Man kiss?

Either way, fail.

Omg.

As you can see, it's wildly entertaining, and there's something for everyone. Most pictures pose the eternal question, "what is WRONG with people?", but that's what makes it so fun.

And last, but certainly not least, I drove up to Lewisville (near Dallas) just yesterday to finally see my cousin, Kim, after two decades.

It was great! As I posted a few months ago on my blog, Facebook assisted in reconnecting Kim and I, and we were excited to see that we no longer lived 1,500 miles apart. He moved from Michigan to the Dallas area several years ago, and we had no idea we were only 3 hours apart this whole time. Anyway, Z and I drove up (Aaron had to work - boooo) and spent about 4 hours at their house visiting. I finally got to meet his lovely and extremely pregnant wife, and their two children, which was such a joy. Their son and Z got along famously, and we rarely saw them unless they were running through the room together. When I say his wife is extremely pregnant, I mean her due date was three days from yesterday, so I'm very grateful she was willing to put up with visitors for any amount of time. (Thanks, Kate!) Since they'll need time as a family after junior arrives, I wanted to squeeze in a visit before the craziness of a newborn sets in. We hope to get together again, with Aaron next time, after they settle in with their new addition.

Guess that catches everyone up for now. Tomorrow is Monday, again, so I'll be up to my eyeballs in work and carting Z around so he has something to do during the day. Before I go, I want to give a shout-out to all the readers of my blog. Heeeeeeeeey! I recently saw from a tracker on my blog that I have visitors not only from TX, but from Virginia, Colorado, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Georgia, Florida, Oregon, California, Wisconsin, Missouri, North Carolina, Washington, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and more surprisingly, England, Thailand, and Denmark! Welcome everyone! Hope you'll stick around for more, although my entries will be more scarce as the summer goes on. Work tends to kick my butt this time of year, and I barely have enough time in the day to finish any one monstrous task. Stay tuned, though! I'll update as soon as I possibly can, always.

Three things I'm grateful for today:

1. Kim, Kate, Aidan, & Lydia.

2. Finding my camera's battery-charger.

3. Fried egg sandwiches.

Peace and pastries to everyone. Until next time ...