Apocalypse Preparedness

I am not sure where the hours on the weekends go! We are pretty much done with major home improvements now, and just have little things that we can do in the coming months left. So I told Steve we had a whole weekend to party. But then, no idea what happened...it's Monday morning. We did get a lot accomplished, but it sure flew by!! And we did get a chance to take Flip to the Bark-B-Q sponsored by a bunch of rescue organizations. He was petted and fawned over and fed a ton of treats. He also got a very expensive stuffie to destroy. While we got free food and coupons and puppy snuggles!

Wm is exceedingly bored with summer now. Which is good, school starts in just about 3 weeks and he has his big summer reading project to do (a scrap book about Malala). So, I'm hoping boredom will motivated him to get it done! In addition to completing his project, he has a big overnight at a friend's house planned, a classic movie and lunch date with Mimi, and a day at school (where he has to do his state mandated MAPS testing, pick up his laptop, get his school pictures, and get everything ready for the start of the school year). So, these last 3 weeks should fly by! And he's definitely ready for school to start!

As we ate zoodles from Mimi with dinner last night, we talked about gardening. I paid Wm $5 to weed the front and backyards and it was worth every single penny. He actually did a great job!! But, I was saying that I usually have a black thumb and can't grow anything. I sighed and told The Boys that I have no applicable skills and if the apocalypse hits, I will definitely either be eaten by cannibals or forced into slave labor. Wm goes, "No! You can talk to people about how they feel about the apocalypse! You're good at talking to people!" So, there's that, I guess!

This is how Wm and Flip spend a great deal of time. Wm always sits with his knees like that because he says, otherwise, Flip continuously licks them and he doesn't like it. It always cracks me up!

Hiding the knees

Flip continues to not understand how one entices creatures to play. Here he is trying to convince Steve to play ball with him by sounding like a murderer (also, I love how Steve gets slobber on his hand and freaks out!):

Sad Dog

I forgot to post this sad video I took to show Steve what I was dealing with last week. While Wm was out of town and the painters had taken over our house, I tried to get Flip out and about as much as possible. I took him to doggie day care one day, which wasn't too far from the old house. I decided he would love it if we swung by the playground where he used to romp. Sadly, a kids's summer camp was using the field for some activity and I couldn't let Flip off his leash. I thought maybe a walk down the ravine would cheer him up. But I was WRONG. As soon as we left the playground, he just pulled and pulled and walked right back to our old house. Then refused to budge. It took over 15 minutes (of me DRAGGING him) to get him away from there. And another 10 minutes to get him back to the car and bundled in. Poor dude must miss his old stomping grounds! He must have thought, "FINALLY...we get to go home!" :-(

Child Manipulation Tactics

Yesterday, Wm was acting weird in the afternoon (for example, he refused to go out and play with his friend!) Then, he announced he was tired and that he was going to take a nap. That has NEVER happened. I thought maybe it was code for playing on screens in bed. But, he meant it:

Napping weirdly

He woke up an hour later and was refreshed and ready to roll! Maybe he's growing!!

And, today, Wm went to the dentist. Another clean bill of health! Thank god he got Steve's teeth. But, the dentist keeps trying to talk Wm into getting braces and Wm is having NONE of it. I told him that it's his choice and we'll do whatever he'd like, but if his teeth will cause him pain or jaw issues, then we're doing it and the choice is not his. However, the dentist said that it's due to his "slight overbite." Which is bunk. So I told Wm if he wants perfect teeth, we'll get him braces, but if he's fine how he is, we'll leave him alone. Wm told the dentist, in no uncertain terms, that he didn't want braces. Then, Wm goes, "He tried his child manipulation tactics on me...but they will NOT work. I know what he's doing." I asked him what these tactics were and he said it's the old "ask your parents to do this for you over and over" drill. Which, ironically, is the complete wrong thing to do since Wm is in the driver's seat on this one! Plus, he's fairly savvy about "child manipulation tactics," apparently.
Wm only has 2 baby teeth left!!

Wm Returns!

Wm is home!

Returned!

We had to work like maniacs to get his room all done for him. Wm picked a gorgeous blue color and we added a space themed closet door, updated all his fixtures,  hung new blinds (behind his hideous valance) and hung up all his space themed art. Wm loves it!! It was a great surprise for him to come home to.

Official Tween Room

Wm is also VERY lucky to have been gone while the painters were here. Steve and I spent ALL weekend cleaning and trying to put things back to rights. The house is nearly complete! They kind of slopped through the bathrooms and missed some things, so they do have to come back soon to fix those. But, they shouldn't bother Wm in the bathrooms. And, the house looks GREAT! Farewell, dark wood trim and fugly rust colored accent walls!

White with pops of color - yay! My fav.

Mimi came over and Wm regaled her with stories. Flip also worked very busily to lick and nibble on every piece of skin he could get his mouth on. Then, he exhausted himself. He took the cutest nap ever and I had to take a million pictures of it.

Look at that smile!

Showering Mimi with love is tough work

Suns out fangs out. Flips loves the skylights.

Flip was also REALLY happy that Wm returned. Although, Wm didn't give him the level of attention he demanded, so he became grumpy. I love how he can't even handle that Wm is ignoring him and then paces all around, before finally giving up and just laying down to gnaw angrily on his bone. We did take him for a walk shortly after this so he could get his energies out.

Painting

Wm has been delivered to Grandma and Grandpa's house! I can always tell when he's having fun because he never replies to my texts. Here is the whole gang lounging in Uncle Mike's pool:

My friend Melanie made me laugh really hard because she said Wm has Phil Collins hair in that picture. Gold!!

Wm had the right idea. He left town. Because our house is chaos and smelly and covered in plastic sheeting. The painters have descended and will be here all week. They are using oil-based super crazy paint on the wood trim that we want white. Which will be durable...but REEKS. All our furniture is piled in the center of every room and covered in plastic. It's basically a nightmare. Steve isn't handling it well AT ALL. I suggested he go and join Wm (mostly to get him out of my hair), but he can't take the time off work. So I'm stuck with him.

Poor Flip is also sad about events. I thought it would be fun to bring him to work with me yesterday so he wouldn't get into the paint and/or bug the painters. It started out well enough:

Snoozing under my desk

But things quickly soured. He growled and buffed every time someone walked down the hallway. He barked insanely whenever someone knocked on my door. He had multiple visitors and he was his normal charming self. But, not all of them enjoyed having their armpits licked and being jumped on by a maniac. By the end of the day, he was exhausted and REALLY ready to go home:

SO SLEEPY and quite sad about it

Today, he is at doggie day care. Then, the rest of the week, we are hoping he will be so worn out, he will snooze in his crate in whichever room they are not working in that day. Fingers crossed!!

I'm sure it will all be worth it in the end, but this week is kind of crazy! And, Wm gets to return to a freshly painted house...and other surprises! We got him cool "celestial" wallpaper that I am going to put on his closet door. Also planned: faux shiplap on his den closet doors, new curtains in the den, new light switches in his room, and new blinds in his room. So, when Wm returns, all "his" spaces will be new and improved!! Hopefully he likes it!

Funny Dog Videos

I'm not sure what's going on. If this is some kind of trick or what. But, Wm has been just a delight for the past couple weeks. Maybe it's the calm before the storm, but I'm enjoying it!! I do think he's getting to that part of summer where he's just bored and ready to go back to school. He'd never admit it, but I think he's there! A trip to Grandma and Grandpa's next week should recharge his battery a bit for the home stretch of summer!

Nothing else interesting to report, other than a couple funny dog videos. First, check out Flip's tongue flop hither and yon as he gnaws on his favorite stick:


Then, watch as he is a brat because he wants to go to for a walk. Numerous people have commented on how much activity Flip gets (walks, parks, swims) and tell us that they just put their dog in the backyard and that's it and that Flip is "lucky" we take him on adventures so often. Well, Flip would not have it any other way, my friends! Watch his temper tantrum because Steve decided to sit down for 5 minutes before we left for his walk:

Staycation Portion

Drew and Jess came into town with Griffin and Evvie last week. It was GREAT to see them!

The fam

Drew being Drew at Graeter's

Messy Wm with Uncle Drew and Aunt Jess

Griffin and Evvie enjoying their ice cream

Flip fell in love with Drew and tried to make sweet love to his shoulder multiple times. Flip also humps other dogs when he gets over-excited and doesn't know what to do with his energy. I think having Griffin and Evvie here got him all riled up and he took his energies out on Drew! But, in any case, Drew made a conquest!

Wm has finished his summer reading book and journals! He had to read Malala's book. He LOVED it. He had me read his journals and they are super thoughtful and well done. I was very impressed! Here he is plugging away diligently:

Summer homework

Wm and I took Flip to the dog park on Saturday (which was GORGEOUS) and Flip found a GIANT stick. It was more of a tiny tree!

Favorite stick of all time

So, then Wm and he had a blast playing with it together. Wm would run around with it and then throw it and make Flip fetch.

Buds playing

But then another dog wanted to play Stickies and Flip was 100% in! He had the time of his life!

Frenemies

I love Wm's laugh!


On Sunday, we went to the pool, which was AWESOME because it's really warming up again. Wm got pool snacks and swam the entire length of the pool, so it was very successful! Also on Sunday, Steve found a ball meant for HORSES at the store (the check out lady was like, "you have a horse?!") And, still, Flip managed to destroy it in 15 minutes.

Already half gone.

While Drew and Jess were in town, we came across this gem:

Eat your hearts out

And now, I'm back at work. Quite sad about it. Mostly about having to wake up. I love a good lie in! Wm is hanging out solo this week. And, next week he's off to Grandma and Grandpa's! Steve and I have also managed to pick the paint colors for the whole house, which is a major success. There was lots of back and forth. Ironically, it was over 2 different shades of white. ha! We have agreed to paint the bedrooms and den the creamier shade (that Steve likes) and the living room, family room, and dining room the brighter shade (that I like). WIN. Wm's room and bathroom will be blue, per his instructions.

Vaca!

I'm technically still on vacation since I don't go back to work until next week (I do sneak in tomorrow to catch up on emails, though!) But this will be dedicated to (mostly) our trip to Lake Michigan.

First, a couple shots from the day before we left:

Wm at the pool with neighborhood friends

Flip enjoying his new teepee

We got on the road before 9am, which wasn't too bad. Flip was really good in the car!! So was Wm. We stopped every couple hours for kid and dog to stretch their legs and ate Chipotle in a beautiful park in Ann Arbor.

Buds on a roadie

Snoozin' together

Chipotle in the park

We stayed in a new place this time (3rd trip!) We rented a farmhouse in Northport. It wasn't as close to the beaches as places we've stayed, but I think the grounds more than made up for it! Here are the views:

You can see the lake and the dunes!

Other direction: cherry farms

Little tiny barn on premises

The actual farmhouse

Wm taking in the view

Wm in front of the barn

Sadly, the bedrooms only had full sized beds. After my king sized bed, this was a major letdown. But the mattress was amazingly comfortable and the sheets were like butter! Wm was relegated to an air mattress on the floor of our bedroom. But, he said it was comfy! He seemed to sleep well...

Out like a light

Flip had the grandest time a dog could have. He loved romping around all the land and swimming and digging.

Dog heaven

There was a huge picnic table with fire pit thing. Wm loved eating out there! And that also allowed us to enjoy s'more multiple evenings. Wm and I had evidence of s'mores:

Hard to see, but he's covered in marshmallow!

Marshmallow chin whisker!

Then, Wm decided to decorate Steve:

Hey, pretty lady!

Good sport dad

Steve and Wm went kayaking one morning. Flip wasn't pleased to be left behind.

FAMILY! Don't go!!

Forced to eat another stick to calm down

Worked.

We got to do lots of gorgeous hiking, went into cute small towns to poke around, went to the beach, and, basically, loafed around and enjoyed ourselves and our down time. This is the third time we've been to Michigan with Grandma and we all decided that this place may have been our favorite. You couldn't beat all the land to frolic and the country livin'! We did hit an unprecedented heat wave (that followed us home), so the last day was HOT. And the water was too cold for real swimming, so it was a bind! But we went on a cool hike in the shaded forest-y area, drove around and saw the sights in our air conditioned car, and went out for dinner and ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa. Still, as with every vacation, we're all glad to get home, get a shower, and sleep in our own beds! It was especially so for Steve, who had a nasty cold the whole time we were there. Bad timing!! But, he made the best of it during the day and, really, only the nights were tough for him. And he's feeling much better now!

Wm on a hike

Actually found candy cigarettes in a little town candy store! Wm taking up smoking

Steve and Flip on a hike

Steve and Flip exploring the shore in Northport

I also got some good videos of beach times...

First, Flip swimming for his stick:

Then, Flip trying to burying the stick in the sand:

And, last, Wm taking a cue from Flip:

Uncle Drew and Aunt Jess and kiddos arrived yesterday! So, we get so spend the rest of the week with them, which will be awesome! And Wm soon heads up to spend a week in NEO with Grandma and Grandpa (and Uncle Mike, Aunt Amy, Tyler, Andrew, and Yaya!) AND we are having the entire interior of our house painted the week he's gone. So, lots of updates to come!