Stuff we blew up on the 4th

What I like about the 4th of July in Ness City is, the town doesn't seem so dead, because of all the 'splosions going on. The streets are deserted during the day, but there's people in those houses, because once the sun goes down ---FWWAAAPPP!!  POPP!!  BOOM!!! 

This is my mom's porch, and the remains of what we ignited. A lot of these were cheapo fireworks. A few were really crappy. But there were a couple of good ones. How easily we are dazzled by sparkling light!

Summer Gym

Summer Gym! Like a punishment in a special circle of hell! Gym shorts, climbing a rope, sweating, perspiring, chafing thighs, toe fungus, girl problems---it's like taking the worst high school class you can think of and sticking it in the middle of a happy, sun-kissed summer day. An abomination.

Well, my girls are taking Summer Gym. They have to be ready by 6:25 for the carpool to pick them up, which means I have to get up at the ungodly hour of 5:45 to make sure they will get up and get ready in time. "You have 15 minutes left!" I holler. "Ten minutes left!" I send these alerts down the hall to them like a shrill, early morning crow that somehow got into the house. They are greatly annoyed but they are not coming out to the couch early to sit with their hands in their lap and stare out the big window, waiting for their ride, like I instructed them to do. Oh no. Instead they are rushing in and out of the bathroom, and they are looking for things like underwear and bobby pins and closing their bedroom doors in continuation of some unseen morning rituals, as the moment of departure is nigh.

It's just like the start of a regular school day --like the many school days that will commence in mid-August. Only we get to have the experience EARLY ----in the middle of the SUMMER! And we have TWO MORE WEEKS of this! This is a circle of hell especially designated for mothers.