Junior Racers

Murray had a race recently and they also host a couple of kids' events too. Lovey & Honey decided they'd do one this year. They were interested last year but changed their mind when we arrived to register. When the race was over, all the kids got medals and a Tshirt and L&H were disappointed. This year they were determined not to miss out.

They were all psyched up and ready to go when it was time and it turned out we were a bit early and had some time to kill. Finally it was time to line up and they got into position. The concept of racing was a little over their heads but they thoroughly enjoyed it and were all smiles as they ran along with the others. It was a BIG thrill to get the medal as they crossed the finish line so it was all worth it!

Murray's race was a little longer than theirs and he beat his time from last year and placed 9th overall so he was happy with that. He & the 2 girls stayed for the lunch & awards afterwards but no one won any of the doorprizes.

Fun at the Beach!

More fun at the cottage! We spent hours down by the water just about every day. Our nephew, Mr Bojangles was visiting so he came down with us a couple of times. He was so content playing in the sand and walking around with us. As he got more and more tired (2 hrs in the sun makes a fella sleepy!) he preferred to be carried but other than that he did sooooooooooo well down there!

Sweetie took a liking to the jellyfish and got brave enough to pick them up, as long as she couldn't see any stingers. She had one that she dragged around all afternoon, giving it rides on a surfboard, building a jellyfish hotel for it (complete with a pool, campfire, towers and a bed with seaweed blankets!) The other two didn't want anything to do with the creature so she had it all to herself.

They were in the water as much as they could stand it and were great little swimmers, diving under, going through our legs and slashing around. As Melody from Little Mermaid II says "I just can't help it! I LOVE the sea!"

Out of the Frying Pan...

So the new hard drive thing was wrapping up nicely, everything pretty much moved over, programs reinstalled, my evenings should be back to normal! Yeah, I should have known better.....

Monday morning started off ok, I got the kids ready & we headed to the gym. As I drove down our road, I noticed a heck of a racket coming from the back. Was there a window open? The hatch not closed tight???? I pull over to check it out. There's the back tire, flat as a pancake. Great. So, for the umpteenth time, I mentally thank Troy M for humouring me in the summer of 1995 when I dragged him out late one night to teach me how to change my flat tire!

I dig out the gear and had the lugnuts loosened but was having trouble convincing the tire to give up its position. A man stopped and showed me how to give it a good boot and that solved the problem. Then he took over from there and we were on our way shortly.

Luckily I'd left early for my class and was still there on time. After class we went home for lunch & went to the tire place and got a new one (yayy road hazard warranty!).

Then the girls & I went strawberry picking and we got 17 boxes. The girls were little machines. They just filled basket after basket! They were having a blast & wanted to know if we could come back the next day :)

We got home & got supper ready and I started washing berries so we'd have that much done when Murray & I started making the jam later.

I don't remember why but I had to go downstairs for something. That's when I heard the noise. The running water noise. It wasn't coming from the sink or tub. It was behind a wall. A steady run and dripping. MUUUUUUUUUUUUURAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!! We hauled apart the wall around the hot water heater to discover a free running drip and who knows how much water on the floor. The kids were all excited, let me see let me see!! and we just want them out of the way of course! We got the water shut off started mopping up. Then we noticed that the closet by the laundry room is flooded.....

It was interesting when I phoned the plumber.

Him: Hello JimDandy Plumbing
Me: Hi, we're having a problem!
Him: Can I get your name please?
Me: Kelly Jones
Him (excitedly) Oh! Hi!
Me: ummm, you've been here before haven't you?
Him: (still too happy) Yeah! What's going on there NOW???
Me: well, nothing as exciting as the measuring tape
Him: (chuckling) oh well! You're out in Jonestown right?
Me: Yes
Him: it's Maple Street.... but I forget the number...

Ok, so, you know you've called on your plumber too much WHEN!

He offers to come right over but at $100/hr I told him `see you tomorrow!`

Then I got wondering about all that water that had been running for I don`t know how long... as I mopped that closet, it was seeping back in there from a different room than where the leak happened. With a subfloor almost everywhere, there`s no way to know how far it went, if it`s dried up or what! So I called our insurance company and they`ve taken it over.

Our floors are ripped up in quite a few places, the bathroom fixtures are all in the rec room BUT I get new flooring in the bathroom (yay!) and laundry room (not as exciting as it was only 5 yrs old & I really liked it).

So that`s what`s been going on here! Oh and Murray & I made 25 bottles of strawberry freezer jam tonight!