Plumbing and Playing: Our summer so far

We're wrapping up the second week of summer around here.
Last week the kids had their last day of school, I worked two days, and we spent two days with our favorite plumbers.
We've had a slow draining shower, so Adam called Curly's Plumbing to snake it out. It turned out to be more than a slow drain; we had tree roots in the line.  So the plumbers jackhammered up the master bathroom floor and repaired the pipe.  This is the second time this year we've had to jackhammer up our foundation. We love these guys because they are good at what they do, but they are also so nice! They don't care if I take pictures of them every five minutes to send to Adam.  They also don't mind stopping countless times to explain to the kids what is going on.  I know when I'm working the last thing I want to do is stop to explain everything I'm doing.  But they do it!
The kids recently learned the term "plumber's butt" so they kept following the plumbers around the house to see if they had "plumber's butts." Both guys were wearing belts, though, so they were safe.

I had decided that this summer we will stay home at least one day a week. I say that every summer and then if an offer for something else comes by, we do it.  We never stay home for the entire day, so this year I mean it. It's easy to be at home, realize you need something and jump in the car and get it.  But every year that snowballs and I end up being gone the whole day instead of a few minutes. So last week with the plumbers we had to stay home, but I wandered through the house a little unsure of what I needed to do.  This week went much smoother.  The kids played the entire day and I worked on housework, taking intentional breaks.

Last weekend we travelled to Medieval Times to celebrate Paul's birthday. Luckily I was able to nab a teacher discount to make it more affordable.  The kids loved it and we even got to bring some friends.

Claire took her stuffed otter to the zoo to see a real river otter.

This week we've had a trip to the zoo and much birthday celebratoryness.  Adam and Paul's birthdays are only three days apart so that makes for a week of celebrations.  We went to Six Flags on Tuesday.

Yesterday was our stay-at-home day and it went much smoother. I worked on polishing the hard wood floors and baked Paul's birthday cake. The kids played nicely all day long. They didn't fight one time and I was amazed.

Today is Adam's birthday so we're not quite done celebrating. Even though I'm trying hard to slow down, summer is flying by!