Joonie and I leave for Dallas tomorrow to see my brother and sister and her family, but before I go I'd like to share a few moments from our summer so far, here at chez Stewart.

Breanna has been trying to charm me into buying her a new camera, pulling out her entire bag of tricks – deceitful sweet smiles and all…

 
But my answer is always the same: "You have a job."

Last week I noticed Friday wouldn't stay out of the hostas. He and the other dogs kept sniffing around them and were very focused on whatever was living in the dense foliage. Before I knew it, my boy had grabbed a squirming little creature and gobbled it down. FRIDAY!!!!! THAT'S DISGUSTING AND YOU'RE A VERY NAUGHTY BOY, WHATEVER THAT THING WAS YOU JUST ATE! He and the other dogs went back to sniffing in the hostas, which prompted me to take a peek under the leaves…

Looks like Little Bunny Foofoo was left without a sibling. Poor thing. With some difficulty, I rounded up the Mighty Hunters and shoo'd them into the house, allowing Foofoo to gather her wits and make her escape. It appears the Rodent Sympathizer in me won out over my inner Rabbit Nazi, who hates her begonias and marigolds and sweet potatoes being eaten while she sleeps. And lest I continue to speak in third person – which is something I despise almost as much as rabbits - Rabbit Nazi shall stop speaking now.

Earlier in June, Sophie was having a sleepover with one of her many bff's, and the power went out. What's a pair of bff's to do? Since I don't collect flashlights, I only had one dimly-lit one on hand. However, since I do have a penchant for candles, I lit as many as I could and the girls used them to illuminate their game of Life. But first they had to organize all the game pieces, which was no easy task… (btw, all the power outtage photos are blurry bc I couldn't find my tripod in the dark.)

Breanna and I decided to try "writing" with the camera and a candle flame, but we weren't very successful… this is Brea's attempt at spelling her name while I took the photo:

When that didn't work, we had to find other ways to entertain ourselves…

If Miss B's cell phone was out of commission, the world would be a dangerous place…

 
The girls' game of Life was going along smoothly, all things considered.

When the game was finished, the bff's decided to make a scary video of themselves in the dark.  Here they are, watching the playback and enjoying their on-screen talents. I used a flash for this one, which is why it appears the power was back on…

 

It was shortly after this point that Sophie's bff was heard to say, "It feels like we're Pioneer girls!"

Which leads me to ask a burning question: Why didn't Laura Ingalls just text her dad with "Pa? Can you bring the wagon by and pick me up from the schoolhouse now? Nellie is being mean again."

I was looking down at my camera settings, trying to see them the best I could so I could take Brea's photo, and she quickly rearranged herself for the camera, without my knowing. Of course, I didn't realize she'd done that until I looked into the viewfinder to see how the photo came out.

I'm so proud.

When the lights and power came back on, there were shouts of happiness from the bff's, and Breanna went back to texting.

We interrupt this program to bring you a few moments from the beautiful country of Germany, where my middle child happens to be…

There she is in a teen club, not realizing that her mother, who is in the USA, can spy on her via Facebook.

And here she is with Katie, on a rooftop beach. In Germany. Why don't we have any rooftop beaches?

And I love this tunnel of flowers! Why don't we have any tunnels of flowers? (If you check my mom's blog, I bet she has a tunnel of flowers in her backyard somewhere.)

 
We now return you to your regularly-scheduled program. 

I wanted to go to a farmers market last weekend, but I was mistaken on the days it would take place. Instead of turning around and driving back home, Sophie and I stopped into Jones Brothers Cafe and had some lunch…

 
A few days later, I headed back out. But not to attend the farmers market; Breanna hadn't gotten to try the tart yogurts I'd been raving about at Jones Brothers, so I decided to take her there – and to snap a few pictures of her around the area while we were at it…

 
Suddenly, she was distracted by something on the wall…

 
It was an ant. This modern girl, who loves all things techno and gadgety, was enthralled with an ant. You'd have thought she was a pioneer girl or something.

On Monday I took Soph to a brand new city pool. She'd been waiting not-so-patiently for it to open so she could try out the superslides! However, when she was finally able to do so, the idea was a little daunting… but she decided to face her fear and climb the long stairway to the top.   

There she is on the right, getting instructions on how to slide down properly…

 
She squeezed her eyes shut and went for it!

 
…And was very happy she did.

 
Back up she went, about 400 more times…

It was during this pool visit that Sophie's ears suddenly began to hurt. She had been complaining for a while that they seemed to be popping, so the next day I took her to the doctor. Turns out she has allergies, which are causing her ears to misbehave. She now has to take allergy medicine, which is a sad thing bc it has taken the edge off of her usually bright temperament. Even having her favorite food – grilled steaks - at her favorite place to eat – the back porch – did nothing to put her real smile back on her face.

 
My girl now knows what it feels like to experience the awful side effects of antihystamine tablets: welcome to zombieland, Sophie. I've lived there myself on occasion – although your dad would say it has nothing to do with allergy meds. I'll show him zombie.

And that's about all I have left to get caught up on. I'm very excited to see my brother and sister and niece and brother in-law tomorrow, although I'm not looking forward to what the altitude will do to poor Soph's ears. 🙁 Hopefully her cousin will be able to make her smile again.

If you send me any emails, I won't be able to respond until after the 24th. Until then, thanks for taking time to visit my blog, and I'll see you soon!

Earlier this week Mike and I took Sophie and one of her bff's to the Firefighters and Police Appreciation Day celebration in a newly-developed area of the city. There was free food for all, a concert, bounce houses for the kids, and lots and lots and lots of testosterone. Which is probably why there was no alchohol served.

Sophie and her bff had a great time, despite the long lines…

 

I find the little "tail" Sophie makes with her oversized t-shirts (using a rubber band) to be amusing. And while I don't find that particular shirt amusing, it's nice to be able to spot my child from 8 miles away.

 

 

The inflatable obstacle courses are a favorite with pretty much any kid…

 

…and Sophie, being the rambunctious 10-year-old that she is, wound up with an aching back after this tumble:

 

Her bff, being the extreme girly-girl that she is, descended the slide a little more delicately:   

 

I'm not sure where else in the country they have Godfather's Pizza establishments, but around these parts, the "Godfather" is a fun celebrity to have around (bc he usually has free dessert coupons)…

His "mobster face" cracks me up…

Right across the street from the park was a little shop that caught my eye…

 

Mike and I sneaked off to check it out, thinking the girls wouldn't give a hoot that we were gone…

 

We were wrong.

 

(How did they know where to find us?)

 

Mike had been eyeballing a raspberry cupcake, and one of the owners (Mr. Bill Jones) took notice. He brought it over for Mike, which I thought was very sweet. While I was thanking him, Mike was gobbling it down.

 

Once the rapture of the raspberry topping was over, he came to his senses and spoke with another of the owners – Mr. Bill Jones' mom, Elizabeth Jones. She was such a sweet lady, and sat at our table talking to us about tart yogurts (which are out of this world, btw).

 

The employees were all so nice! The gentleman to the far left (I missed getting him all the way in the photo) is the Senior Mr. Jones, who is also one of the owners. Mike thought he looked awfully familiar, and eventually discovered that he and the Senior Mr. Jones had worked together when Mike was in the OPD's homicide unit. It turns out that Senior Mr. Jones does the OPD's autopsies, which Mike had to attend regularly.

Only in America can one perform autopsies during the day and run a cupcake shop at night. (I wonder if the employees have any clue…)

 

I was enjoying some of the best coffee I've ever had… 

And in the meantime, someone handed Mike a sample of raspberry tart yogurt, which meant he forgot that Mrs. Jones was speaking to him. So she drank her coffee instead…

I just love this photo…

Eventually we returned to the celebration we were supposed to be attending, and had a very enjoyable time. The girls were worn out by the time we left, so Mike stopped at a gas station to get them something to renew their energy. After all, they were getting ready to have a sleepover at our house, so they needed the sugar.

I'm pretty sure Mike was still inside the gas station, waiting for someone to offer him a raspberry ice cream cone.

When he finally returned to the car empty-handed, we headed home.

And that's how the first Firefighters and Police Appreciation Day went. We appreciate you, Mike.

Mike?

Oh nevermind… he's eating something.