Gabe has the cruelest parents ever. There is a perfectly good pool outside that door (it is empty, but he doesn't know that) and he wants to be in it. Now. Who cares that it is dinner time. There is a pool out there and Gabe is trapped inside. Life is rough.
(This was towards the end of a good 10 - 15 minute tantrum - and he's pretty mellow in this video compared to what he had been before we got the camera out)
So I probably shouldn't encourage G to be throwing his toys in the trash can - it is kind of gross. (Thankfully this trash had been emptied recently so it was pretty much empty). But one of the things he does not want to to is put objects into a larger container. He absolutely refuses to put the shapes in his shape sorter. This is something we worked on for months with his PT and OT in Duluth and he just won't do it. It's a major milestone problem-solving skill that kids need to master before mastering other skills. And he still really won't do it. So if he wants to put his monkey in to the trash can, I think I will let him.
Although I may try to lysol it out good and make sure it stays empty of trash...
So I had been looking around a lot for a water table for Gabe. The cheapest new one that I could find was $40. So I thought I'd check out ebay. So I found a gently used one on ebay (the same one selling for $40 new) for a buy it now price of $5 plus $10 shipping. So i jumped on that steal and ordered it right away. It also came with a bunch of water toys. All that for $15. Crazy! Extremely crazy...
So about a week later I got a box in the mail. I was like this is way too small to be the water table.... Opened it up and sure enough it was a bunch of water toys but no table. So I contacted the seller and asked what was up. She said the table was coming in a seperate shipment. So I was like ok, as long as it shows up soon. But also thinking to myself - this seller is pretty clueless about selling on ebay (she didn't have any reviews, so must be a new seller). But she had spent $13 just to ship that one box of toys. I knew there was no way she shipped the water table for $2....
So a few days later I got a notice in my mailbox that I had a large package waiting for me at the post office. So I went and picked it up. It was a HUGE box. And the worker at the post office was like, wow they spent a fortune to ship that......
Yes, you read that right. $107.96!!!! I was completely shocked. Why she didn't ship it thru UPS where it would have been a lot less is beyond me. Or why she didn't cotact me and say her estimate for shipping costs was severely off...
So she spent $121 to ship all the stuff I bought. I paid $15 total. Looks like she's out $106. I felt kind of bad, but you are supposed to research shipping costs before posting your shipping price on ebay.
On another note, Gabe absolutely loves it! If he sees it outside (through a window) he gets pretty whiney and wants to go out and play with it.
So it was kind of weird not going anywhere for the 4th of July Weekend this year. We've usually gone to Indiana or the cabin for the weekend. But not this year.... And actually Adam had to work on Saturday and Monday (they are under a big deadline for the end of July), so it really didn't feel like a holiday weekend.
Every year, our community does hot air balloon rides each morning over the 4th. We saw some flying Sunday morning. And then Monday morning, Gabe and I went for a walk to see a bunch of them.
On Saturday, our friends (who we met in Ohio through the air force) came up for the afternoon. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. I attempted to make semi-homemade hamburger buns- there was a recipe in a magazine I just got and they looked so good, but mine were a total failure.... the bottoms were burnt but they weren't cooked thru. So I ran to the store quick and got some buns. We also had homemade macaroni and cheese, watermelon, grapes, chips & dip. For dessert we made homemade strawberry ice cream and brownies with red, white & blue m&ms. We had way too much food - after 3 days of eating leftovers, there is still quite a bit left, but I am quite sick of it all.... We also went over to the community pool for an hour or two. The kids seemed to enjoy that. It wasn't nearly as busy as I expected for a holiday weekend. The Reynolds also brough their swamp cooler for us to borrow, so the guys spent a while installing that too. In the few days we've had it, it has definitely helped keep the house cooler.
On Sunday, the three of us went over to the little 'fair' thing they had going on in our community. Unfortunatley there wasn't a whole lot there. Some of the food looked good, but it was early and we weren't hungry. Might have been a little more fun if Gabe were slightly older - they had a bounce house and a little petting zoo. But other than that, there really wasn't a whole lot there. So we decided to run home and grab our pool stuff and head to the pool for a bit. Gabe love love loves going to the pool. Usually throws a fit when we leave.
On Monday, Adam had to go in to work until about 2. When he got home, we all just hung out at home for awhile. Then we went to town and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant - yum!. (we were tired of hamburgers and hot dogs, so wanted something different). We debated about staying for the fireworks in town, but there was still a few hours before they started, and G was pretty tired. So we rented a couple movies and came home. Did a little bit of cleaning and then watched one of the movies we got.
