March 22, 2003

Preparation for Summer

Posted by Scott at 03:00 PM

Claire just got home from a sleepover. It was her first non-Tarpey sleepover. I hadn't seen her since dropping her off at school yesterday. Yesterday we left the house early and shared a hot raspberry white mocha at J. Beaners. I bought an extra for her to give to her teachers as a thank you for the great work they're doing with Claire. When I got home from work it was a bit strange not to see her at the dinner table. Later that night I had to console Abby who didn't want to go to bed all by herself in the bedroom. Even when I woke this morning, it was strange not to see her. It was a small taste of what it'll be like when she goes to Chicago ahead of the rest of us this upcoming July.

It is sunny and around 60°. I took the boys on a long walk this morning down to the nearby BlockBuster. Unfortunately it was still closed when I got there so we just went straight back. During the walk I noticed that the brook that encloses our property is really flowing. This brook is smaller than the one we had bordering our Nashua home, but with the snowpack melting it was moving at good clip. As we walked further we saw the Souhegan River which was also really moving along. You wish there were a way you could store some of it for later in the summer when they'll be advising us to not water our lawns. Hopefully some of this melting snow is percolating down into our well.

After we got the boys down to bed for a nap I made a quick trip back to the BlockBuster and rented a bunch of videos. Here's what I got:

  1. Fantasia 2000
  2. Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure
  3. Blue Clues - Big, Blue and Just for You (vol 3)
  4. Star Wars - Empire Strikes Back
  5. Darby O'Gill and the Little People
The boys are huge Blue's Clues fans. Claire has recently taken an interest in the Star Wars films. While Michelle ran errands this afternoon, I showed Abby the original Charlotte's Web so that she would have the background for the new film.

The gutter along the front of our house was replaced this week. The previous owner did a "do it yourself" job as he was preparing to sell the house last spring. Not to belittle do it yourself work, but this did not work well. It was assembled from gutter segments and leaked at every seem. It was causing a lot of problems this winter because in the day water would melt from the roof and drip in front on the garage doors. Later the water would freeze overnight and the doors would be frozen shut. The same man who put up a seamless gutters on the back of our house last summer came out and replaced the front gutter with one seamless aluminum gutter. It was nice the other day to look at the ground along the doors and see them bone dry. Of course today the roof is all melted so there's little to worry about for the rest of the season.

Comments

Tom will be so proud of Claire's new movie interests- she can watch all of them here this summer!
It's nice out here too. The kids are all playing with chalk or baseball. Tom is raking the front yard, and I'm washing all the bedding. Nesting has set in- yesterday I cleaned the laundry room, and earlier these week I started cleaning the closets and dressers. I'm hoping that if I wear myself out during the day, I'll sleep better at night, but so far that's not the case.I'm sure my body is just preparing me for the many sleepless nights to come!
Andy never wants to go to bed when TJ is not around either- poor Abby. Did Claire like the sleepover?
We have a J. Beaners right across from Harlem Irving. I'm not a big coffee shop person though- too epxensive. I like the cheap stuff that the gas station around the block sells!
TJ wants to babysit to make money because the new Gameboy Advance SP came out. Have you heard anything about it?
Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Posted by: alyssa at March 23, 2003 12:36 PM

Yes, Claire is enjoying Star Wars series but asks a boatload of questions. The whole Anikin to Darth Vader to Luke Skywalker thing seems to really bewilder her. I thought it was a bit funny to see Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian. Every time I heard Darth Vader, Michelle and I joked that his next line would be something like "Luke, I am your father... Get Verizon DSL for fast, always on internet access." (James Earl Jones does all of our Verizon ads out here...) That and listening to Yoda. "Hey Claire, don't you think he sounds an aweful lot like Grover from Sesame Street?"

Claire did enjoy the sleepover. Ironically Claire is sharing a bed with Abby tonight because there is a ladybug loose in the house. Horrors!

I didn't realize J.Beaners was a chain, although that explains a lot -- like the disposable cups with their logo on them. Mom and Pop shops rarely do that. Overall though the place has a lot more class and consistency of product than Quikava.

Yes, I've been hearing a lot about the GBA SP model. It really just seems like they solved the backlighting. When I read the reviews it doesn't seem that impressive to me. I am still looking forward to the GameCube Player adaptor.

Posted by: Scott at March 23, 2003 09:15 PM