Summertime.....

... and the blogging is scare. I was shocked to discover I hadn't blogged in almost a week, and it was the second week in row! Sorry about that!

This week started out bumpy. We started school last week and all week everything went smoothly. I didn't expect any troubles at all this Monday when we began week two. The boys on the other hand were shocked. SHOCKED! when I said it was time to start the school day. By the days end we had completed our lessons, but there was a good deal of grumbling done, and by lunchtime I was one grumpy Mama.

On our way home from an errand, Braden cut himself on a rusty part of our car door. No, we do not drive a rust bucket. But somehow he managed to find the one rusty spot on the inside of a hinge. So, after a quick phone call, off we went to the doctor's office for a tetanus booster. Poor kid.

On Wednesday we learned that demolition teams planned to use explosives to bring down a portion of a large bridge in our area. The bridge is nearly 70 years old and a new bridge is being built in its place. The blast was to happen at 1:00, so after lunch I spontaneously packed the boys in the van and we headed downtown to watch. We ended up in a scary vacant lot in the abandoned warehouse section of town. We could just see the bridge from where we stood. I suppose we could've gone closer, but that would've put us near the river and I didn't want to have to worry about kids in the river.

The blast went off 40 minutes late, which wouldn't have been a problem, except that we were standing in a scary vacant lot. Downtown. In 106 degree heat. The lot smelled "like pigs", which was unnerving because there were a lot of people there, but no livestock anywhere in sight. I was trying hard not to think of what might be causing that smell, when finally a dump truck left the lot, taking the smell with it. Whatever that stench was, it emanated from that truck and we all breathed much easier when it departed.

This is the "before" picture. You can see the concrete bridge, and part of the concrete railing has already broken. Just beyond the fence is the levee. A helicopter circled overhead until just before the blast.



I'd hoped to get shots of the bridge as it came down, but it happened way too fast. We heard a loud blast that reminded us of cannon fire, the bridge crumbled, and the cloud of dust rose into the air. It was really fun, depite the heat. The boys are eager to go back and watch them blow up the other two sections of the bridge soon.

Here's the "after" picture. Can you see where the bridge is gone? It just sort of ends in mid-air. You can see the bridge coming from the right side of the photo, and then just past the hinge in the arm of the cherry-picker it stops.



Here are other random pictures from our summer of fun:

It's everyone's favorite! Candyland! Colson's old enough to take turns and follow the directions now.



What? Colson? A ham? Whatever gave you that idea? Here's Colson modeling his movie star glasses at a Fourth of July barbeque.



Batman showed up recently to work on my deck. He showed up unannounced, discovered only after I ventured onto the deck to figure out what the noise was out there. He did a great job, fixing the railing and repairing the stairs.




Here he is glaring at me after I'd asked him if he was with a union.



Colson stalking squirrels at the Omaha zoo.


Braden offered to make dinner for us last week. He made macaroni and cheese, and took care of setting the table and getting drinks for us. This has kind of been the summer of Braden's growing up. Or at least the summer of me noticing that he's growing up.

But that is a blog for another time.