Weekend Update

This past weekend Skip and I found ourselves alone. The trio spent the night with Skip's parents, and my mom, who continues to recuperate with us, spent the weekend with my sister-in-law. We resisted the urge to enjoy a quiet house and had a rare date night instead. We had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and caught a movie (The November Man). 

The trio returned home Saturday, and we had a fun time grilling out for dinner. We also had some surprise guests. Our neighbors hosted some exchange students for a summer work program. The young ladies who have been visiting are from Estonia and have been working in/around the city selling books. They are friendly and have livened up our cup-de-sac by meeting in the circle each morning for a cheer and a dance or two. They always conclude with the Macarena, and George calls them "the Macarena girls". These events have been fascinating for the trio. We saw them daily when we were heading out for splash camp over the summer, and their dancing livened up our mornings when it was time to return to school. The girls think they are awesome, and George has kept a close eye on them as well. 

When our doorbell rang Saturday and the trio saw the lovely Estonians on our steps, you would have thought celebrities had arrived for dinner. They gifted the trio some of their sample books, and we invited them in for cheeseburgers. They shared their door-to-door selling stories, and we discussed politics, work and the future. They both left Monday morning - Kadre was returning home while Stina was heading for San Francisco and two weeks of sightseeing out west.

After church Sunday, we had lunch at Zoe's, and then struck out for the pool. Given our schedules this summer (and George being too young for the YMCA Splash Camp), William George had not been swimming a single time. Even though he was often in the car when his sisters were being dropped off and picked up and got to gaze over at the inviting pool, he had not been for a swim. "Soon," we kept telling him. "Very soon..." we promised.  Sunday was the day.  He suited up, and he loved it. 

His sisters, on the other hand, had some dramatic obstacles to overcome. Therefore, there are not as many photos of them, as they spent the first half of our swim time in chairs, composing themselves. They eventually rallied, and Grace took the swim test (again... apparently the test has to be taken each visit) to obtain her green band. Lauren still has some anxiety about the test so she spent some time swimming laps. We did get to the bottom of her anxiety. She appears to have gotten some questionable coaching about treading water, but Skip has taught her the proper way now. Once she gets her confidence back, she will be ready for the test. 

Also! During some of their contemplative time on the chairs, Lauren lost a tooth. So we also had a visit from the tooth fairy... an all-around great weekend!