Day Five of Summer Vacation

It is day five of summer vacation. The kids have been out of school less than a week, and already my hair is frazzled, my brain has shut down, and I need a drink.

Their music is too loud. They run through the house. They scream. They fight. They terrorize the dog, and laugh.

On the other hand, they have found things to keep themselves occupied, and I haven't heard the infamous "I'm bored" yet. They have driven me up the wall with their requests to play in the hose water outside. There's something about running the water nonstop for no apparent reason that bothers me, so I say no. "But it's so hot, Mom!"

"Suck it up", I say.

I must sound like a terrible mother, and at times, I suppose I am. We all are at some point or another, right? Right?

All in all, things haven't really been as bad as I make it sound. They are being fairly good, despite the noise level in the house. Aside from a couple of arguments that have turned into fist fights, they are getting along relatively well. And so, because I haven't gone completely crazy yet, and they do deserve to have a little fun, I'll be taking them to the public pool this Friday when Tristan gets done with work.

Oh yeah, I forgot. Tristan started his first job ever yesterday. Nine hours a day, cleaning an all boys' seminary. The boys have gone home for the summer and the seminary hires high school kids to clean the multiple buildings over the summer. He's scrubbing toilets, cleaning carpets, and who knows what else. He says it's not hard work. And I suppose at $7 an hour, he'll not complain too much. Oh, and an added bonus? He gets free lunch! The Priests still live at the seminary, so the cafeteria cooks for them anyway, and the hired help gets lunch too. Not a bad deal, I say.

The highlight today so far was when Timothy and Rebecca decided to take Timothy's air powered rocket up on the airing porch on the second level and shoot it off. I told them not to, but did they listen? Of course not.

The rocket went waaaaaaaayyyyyy up, but didn't make it all the way back down before landing on the highest part of our roof. A roof that you'll never see me on, mind you. So, the kids spent the next two hours throwing a tennis ball at it, coaxing it down. Hey, it kept them busy for two hours. That's a good thing.

So, that's day five. So far, so good.