parties at home, parties abroad

gilchrist beach

Hello, Ocean? This is Ben. 

After the beach we drove down highway 87 until we hit the big waterslide that I probably spent about a week-per-summer on as a kid. All three kids loved it, although Ben slammed into a "clog" of high school boys half way down and got a giant knot in his forehead. Love those Gulf Coast safety regulations! We were there for an hour, and Wren did not stop the entire time. She was either walking up the hill to the slide, sliding down the slide, or swimming from the slide to the edge of the pool to get out and start walking up the hill again. I still have water in my ears. 

School started this morning for Wren, and starts on Wednesday for Jane. This was our last time on the beach this "summer" -- but real summer in Texas is no respecter of school calendars-- and the beach will continue to be hot and swimmable until at least the end of September. So we'll probably see you again before too long, Bolivar. 

this is our life now (phone photo dump)

what we're doing these days, in pictures: 

moving

unpacking betty draper's kitchen

bar first, of course

buying a trailer

gutting a trailer. 

finding out the trailer has no AC. 

painting barns

painting walls

painting walls again, after ben finds a wet paintbrush and "helps"

hauling things

building things (with help)

building other things

or at least watching jed build them. 

and being on hand to offer him beer and tacos when he's done. 

tearing apart other things

my bee hive tool has proven extremely effective at demo!

buying things

and then fixing those things. 

and running gas lines to them.

sewing things (roman shades, to be specific)

SOME of us have been taking naps. Never at naptime.

and rarely in a bed. 

and of course the constants in this world, other than death and taxes -

laundry,

and more painting.