Darr Family Blog

I’m breaking from my regular format due to the fact that we just got back from a trip to California and there are quite a few pictures. There are a few from the week before our trip, but most are from California. We normally go in December, between Christmas and New Year’s, but that’s about when this baby is due, so we bumped up the trip to a safer time for me to be travelling. We had so much fun! We visited with family (including Tracy, who was able to fly in for a couple of days) and friends (sorry if we missed anyone…it was a really short trip), we went to the beach and Knott’s Berry Farm, and just relaxed. We thought we had quite the adventure on our drive out to CA when our low tire pressure warning went off in the-middle-of-nowhere-Texas and Paul had to change one of our tires that had cracked (we were able to find a gas station before the tire went completely flat and drove on our spare to the next town to replace it)…but that’s nothing compared to our drive back where Paul had to change another tire on the side of an on-ramp (no gas stations nearby) in middle-of-nowhere-California (and bought another replacement as soon as we got to the next town) and yet another while at a rest stop just outside of Phoenix. When we got to Phoenix, we found a Walmart, replaced the third flat tire and went ahead and replaced the only old tire we had left (for fear that if we didn’t, it would also go flat at some point on our trip). Ugh. At least we were always able to find a safe place to change the tires and were also able to replace them quickly (and had the means to do so). Our last leg of the trip home was (thankfully) uneventful. So, with that, enjoy the deluge of pictures (which, as is typical with vacation posts, are probably not in chronological order)!

 

Weekly Happenings: This past week was full of swimming in the backyard pool, playing pretend inside, going to the library for new books, and just chillin’ as a family.

The Weekly Weather: HOT! I don’t have much else to say. We are quickly approaching what is normally the hottest month of the year, so yeah…we’ve been staying cool by hanging out in air conditioned places and in the pool (I really love that it’s big enough and deep enough for me to get in (and the water comes up to my shoulders if I sit down…so nice).

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been rather consumed with end-of-the-semester projects and exams, but he finished all of that up on Friday, so now he gets a very well-deserved break from school until mid-September. He’s using his free time to spend even more time with me and Joseph and doing some updates to the home computers (having a resident IT guy is sort of handy).

What Sarah’s Been Up To: As the title of this post eludes to, I have attempted a couple different ideas that I have seen on the Internet (a craft project and a recipe) with successful results. One was a word-building kit encompassed in a metal lunchbox for Joseph to use and the other was a yummy peanut butter/Reese’s peanut butter cup cookie combo. I also hosted book club which was fun as always. I threw together a quick peach cobbler (another seriously simple recipe that one of my friends gave me a while back) that received rave reviews and pleadings for the recipe. My friends were pleasantly surprised with how simple it was.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: Playing pretend, playing in the pool, having play dates, and building LEGO creations. I now know why my friends have tons of LEGOs. Once Joseph builds something, he doesn’t want to take it apart. He’s almost out of the LEGOs that we have. He has expressed a desire to have a LEGO themed birthday party, so maybe we’ll get him some more for his birthday. One funny story: He told me that the ceiling fan (in the living room) made it so his In N’Out grilled cheese sandwich (on the table in the dining room) was cold and that we needed to turn the fan off. In reality, he was taking his sweet time to eat, so that’s really why his grilled cheese got cold. It’s interesting to see how his mind works (including a bad dream he had where cicadas were coming out of the trees and biting him…poor kid).

This Week in Pictures:

Weekly Happenings: It’s sort of hard for me to grasp the fact that we’re already halfway through July. This past week was pretty average as far as weeks go. I had a doctor’s appointment where I got to hear the baby’s heartbeat (and got advice from my doctor on how to combat the crazy heartburn/indigestion that I’ve been fighting). I also took Joseph to meet up with friends at the pool, which he enjoyed immensely. The highlight of the week was most definitely the past few days. We decided to purchase a small above-ground pool (complete with a filter). It was delivered on Thursday and Paul got it all set up yesterday. While he was setting it up, the heat and humidity started to get to him and he almost got heat stroke. Thankfully he recognized the early symptoms (which developed incredibly fast) and was able to get inside where he could instruct me in how to help him cool off. It left him drained, but okay. Joseph and I were able to enjoy the pool (a great distraction for Joseph while Paul was doing homework) and discovered that what I already knew was true for black widows is apparently true for other spiders as well: they can hold their breath. I saw a {thankfully} smaller grass spider SWIMMING UNDER THE WATER and it didn’t look like it was struggling at all. Ick. I was able to scoop it out and dump it over the side.

The Weekly Weather: It’s been pretty much the same: warm, humid, and no rain. We had a few days where the humidity level actually dipped below 50% (almost unheard of in the summer), making the mornings slightly cool-ish with a breeze, which was nice.

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s begun working on final projects and getting stuff wrapped up for his online classes. He’s got finals this next week and then it will be break-time from school until mid-September. Other than that big load, he’s also keeping busy at work and helping out with Scouts.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I haven’t done much this past week other than the ordinary stuff: keeping Joseph fed, dressed, and happy…and keeping the house {relatively} clean. 😉 I did go out with my girlfriends for shaved ice one evening, which was nice.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: Not too much out of the ordinary for Joseph, either. He has been enjoying playing Pokemon Go with Paul. It’s a game on Paul’s phone where they go different places (like parks and our neighborhood) and “collect” different Pokemon characters. He also enjoyed playing in our new pool yesterday. I had to really work on convincing him to come in after almost two hours (I was getting cold, haha). He probably would have been happy to be in there longer…it reminds me of when I was a kid. Maybe it’s hereditary. 😉

This Week in Pictures: