Hi Everyone. Another Monday is upon us and we are quickly closing in on the end of our fun fun summer! :( We've had a wonderful summer and I'll be sad to say goodbye to it. So hopefully this week we can go to the pool everyday, live it up and soak up the sun before we have to put real clothes on. Joe won't know what to do. Seriously, he wears his bathing suit 24/7. I don't even care. Summer is all about easy breezy and fun and casual. Soon, he'll have to wear socks and shoes and undershirts and shirts and maybe even brush his teeth and wash his hair with shampoo in his own shower and not the pool shower. We had a nice weekend. Friday night we hung out at our neighbors whom we adore. They just got a brand new yorkie. OMG! He is precious. Sooo tiny. You know Ralph is bff with their other two dogs. Mac who is 13 and Ben who is 8. Donna wanted to get a puppy before Mac got too old b/c he is such a help with them. He is the one who really trained Ralph. Anyway, let me just tell you that Ralph's nose was out of joint all weekend b/c of the new puppy. He wanted nothing to do with the little thing and wouldn't even look at Donna whom he usually loves and attacks with kisses. Well, we knew this would happen when they finally got a puppy. Ben did this to Donna when we got Ralph, he hated Ralph, wanted nothing to do with him when he was little. Now, Ralph and Ben are totally buds b/c they are hating the puppy together. lol. It is really funny to watch. Saturday it rained all day long! So not typical for a summer day in Alabama but it did. We drove down to another lake to check out lots and to look at the lake. 1. kate was there and we said we'd just pick her up. 2. we had never seen this lake. It is more affordable than other lakes around us. Being from the midwest, it has taken me five years to really grasp the idea of lakes and lake houses. It is a very different concept than the cottage in michigan. people in the midwest just don't own lake property b/c i guess lakes aren't everywhere there like they are here. i would say over half the people we know here have some kind of lake house or beach property. some are fancy, most aren't. they all go for the weekends. it is just part of the lifestyle here. i know my northern friends don't really understand but i think you have to live here awhile to grasp it. i know i did. we would like something that can be in our family a long time. a place that is small to begin with that we can work on as a family and a place we can add to as time goes on. something that our children can bring their friends to through highschool and come on weekends when they're away at college and then eventually they can bring spouses and grandchildren. Anyway, we saw a fun cottage but we'll see if it works out. rick usually shies a way from any sort of work that has to be done on a house but i think it would be fun and we could do lots of things with it. we'll see. if it is meant to be, it will, if not, well then i'm not going to worry about it. we've just started our search.

yesterday, i had to go grocery shopping. we had nothing in this house and i'm saying that! i can usually find something to eat, i'm very much like my dad in that way, i can scrounge for whatever, i don't really care. yesterday, there was nothing! it was super hot out but rick and i walked the whole neighborhood yesterday. it felt great to get out and walk the hills. i went to 5pm mass which i love! kate finally came home around 9:30. i was beginning to really miss her. :( she was tired and grouchy but home nonetheless. i mentioned earlier that we were going to pick up kate and her friend from the lake but i told them that they were not going out when they got back here so they opted to stay there another day.

today, we are hopefully going to the pool all day. joe's swimmers ear is better and i bought the wax to stick in there so water can't get in. rick is in atlanta til tomorrow. he is really excited to start working with his new team on a reg. basis now! yay!

have a great day. hope you didn't get bored with this super long post.