Rain Drops Keep Falling........

Yesterday afternoon, after I arrived home, the kids and I were outside messing around, when the sky started to cloud up-like it could rain, and the air was thick with humidity. The kind that makes you sweat just by walking around in the front yard. It wasn't long before it started thundering off in the distance, and then here came the rain. It started out intermittently at first and then slowly proceeded into a regular ole"gully washer."
It rained so fast that it poured over the gutters, because they couldn't drain the water away fast enough.

We had retreated to the front porch, and then the kids asked to do something they hadn't done in a long time. They asked if they could play in the rain. What an ingenious idea! Since we have a pool and all, they usually get their needs to play in water quenched there. I told them sure!! Why not?

Your only kids once, your Mom's not here, and that occasional lightning bolt flashing from the sky looks like its a LONG way away. It's not like they asked to go SWIMMIMG submerged in 4 feet of water. I also justified my answer by looking over toward my sister's house and seeing my 2-yr old niece Hannah doing her own little rain dance in their driveway. They would never let her outside if it wasn't safe.

Watching the kids reminded me of the times when I was young. We lived in town and whenever we would have big downpours, my friends and I would take our plastic boats about 2-3 blocks west of our house, behind a grocery store and turn them loose in the ditches.I can still see my tugboat, which was red and had yellow life preservers hanging on the sides of the deck. There was a gradual slant in the layout of our neighborhood that was perfect for boat races. The best part was when they would go through the culverts that went under the streets, and you wouldn't be able see them for a few minutes. It was a tense time, wandering if your boat was going to make it through the torrential river racing by. It could get snagged on those nasty" log jams"-twigs or trash that might be caught in the middle of the tunnel. I can remember just when we thought we couldn't take it any longer, the boats would emerge and we would run along beside them, as they hurriedly headed for the next tunnel.

Oops!! sorry I digressed. Anyway here are some pix that I snapped while the kids were having fun.

Hot Diggity Dog

It's been a few weeks since the death of our golden retriever, and while she was sick and getting worse and worse,I kept telling the kids that if she died we were not getting another dog for a long while.

Yeah right!! Well, the following weekend, while in Terre Haute, we found ourselves in the local pet store. Of course, it was MY idea, to go in and just look around to SEE what kind of dogs they have. I stressed several times that we were just looking, we weren't going to get one. The store was packed, as they were having a sale. Will told us he wanted to look for a part Bulldog and part Shih-tzu mix. Get it when you put the two together- :):) Teenagers are priceless!!

Of course the kids informed us they would like to hold some of the dogs when we got inside. Another big mistake! They looked at some Shelty pups, which we had owned one prior to our golden retriever, and Will also got out a golden retriever pup to play with. It's paws were HUGE!! Will and Josh played with him in one of the little play cubicles for awhile and then put him back. He was a maniac the whole time they had him out. But we quickly decided he wasn't too smart. They put him back in his cage, and immediately he did his business, and then proceeded to turn right around and EAT it-to which we were all mortified and 5 collective EEEWWWWWWWWWW's!!!(yours truly included) were heard throughout the store. Sorry I forgot to give you a warning there. Hope you weren't eating or have a weak stomach! I told the kids I felt sorry for the next people who got her out and let her kiss all over them! YUCK!! Then I asked Will if he had let her give him any kisses while they were playing. He didn't see the humor. :)

While Josh and Will were busy with the environmentally conscious golden, Maren and Missy had gotten a little white fur- ball out of it's cage. They were both having a fit over how cute she was. She was a Shimo-which is part American Eskimo and part shih- tzu. I had never heard of the mix, but she was small and cuddly and certainly knew how to "turn on the love" for Missy and Maren. They handed her to me and she immediately cuddled up , and started licking my chin. She was a cutey. So needless to say, by the time we were ready to leave, she had won everyone over, myself included. Of course, then the "Dad, Mom, can we get her?!" started incessantly.

I will say we actually got out of the store without her, hung around in the parking lot for awhile, having a family debate on whether or not to take her home , and then actually drove all the way back to Marshall, before finally deciding. Yep,I'm sure you guessed our decision by now. I'm a softy. So then Maren,Morgan-Maren's cousin, and I made a speedy trip back to the pet store to pick her up, before someone else could snatch her up.

So here are some pictures of the newest member of the Milbourn family.

Oh, by the way her name is Mo--short for Mary Margaret Moseman (just kidding, that's a friend of Missy's, it's really short for Mosie). The bottom picture is Mo with her best friend. It follows her wherever she goes.

Gamer-cise

Who says kids can't get exercise while playing video games?
They just need to spend some time with our "little gamer."
It made me tired just watching him! :)