Ahhhg!

Summer is coming to an end. This is awful. I start back at school August 15. I started painting in the house and I still have rooms to go. I know if I don't get it done before the end of summer it will never happen. I'm not sure about the colors, but I'm just going to go for it. People keep telling me, just paint over it if you don't like it. I didn't paint for 7 years, do they really think I'll paint again so soon?! I'm just going to be stuck with whatever I put up, at least for a year. I really hope I like it. Everything sure does look fresh with a new coat of paint!

Ryan did summer preschool...camp we called it to make it seem special. Lydia did Dancin' Feet camp and then Soccer Camp run by an Irish group that comes here. The soccer camp was amazing. 9-2 and she came home filthy and exhausted. Now that's a good camp.

The kids have been swimming a lot. Ryan is starting to get braver and actually swim around. He kept telling me he couldn't swim, but the thing is...he could if you made him. He was just afraid. Finally, desire to play with the others has overcome the fear. It is funny, because he is extremely cautious about some things and ridiculously reckless with others, such as walking under this horse he is brushing.
So, I never updated about other events, such as our visit with Uncle Ron, Dance recital and MN trip. I have no new pictures because I dropped my camera in the lake in MN, so it is better to stick with past events after all. The visit with Uncle Ron was a lot of fun because Ron is always fun, and he now has a couple of horses to add to the fun. How exactly he has acquired these horses, I'm not sure. He cut up tons of apples and carrots for the horses, which Ryan also enjoyed. The kids, my Mom, Ron and I all rode the horses around the corral. Before this, Ron fed us sausages and then when we got back to his house he made us some delicious pancakes. He is quite the pancake chef. It was a grand time, and the kids really wanted to spend the night.

Lydia's dance recital was very interesting. This is the first year that she took from this teacher. I did not watch the classes, so the recital was my first real look at the program (through our city's parks and rec.). Oh my goodness, some of these poor girls had been taking 8 years, and someone forgot to tell them to point their toes. The ballerinas were flopping around like they had flippers on. I couldn't take my eyes off their feet, but when I did, I saw flopping arms. I'm not much of a dancer, but I watched with my mouth open aghast through the recital. Lydia's group, being 4-5 year olds, was adorable, but we are quickly finding a new dance class. The poor older girls. Didn't anyone notice that they weren't improving? It would be better to not take any classes at all, because the kids thought they could dance.

Oh, and just as much fun, was being stage mom backstage for the second performance and a little girl started vomiting after her number. She was in a different group from ours, so another mom held her and soothed her (and we all walked around the vomit on carpet covered with paper towels). But then I guess they thought she was OK, so they led her on stage for the curtain call, for which she vomited all over the stage. Poor thing. All the girls around her just stepped out of the way while she was led out. Not one, ooh or ick.

Summer Days

We have just returned from our glorious yearly family reunion at Gull Lake, MN. But before I post about that, I must update you on other summer events. We began our summer with Ben Ruemke graduating from UCLA. You heard that right. We were all so proud. This is us looking proud.

I learned that UCLA is the most applied to school in the nation. Ben majored in history as did the graduation speakers, UCLA graduates Kareem Abdul Jabar and LA Mayor Villaragosa. I am not so sure of the spellings of the names, but isn't it enough that I am posting? I've got no time to research name spellings and my spellcheck doesn't do it for me. While I apologize for mispellings, I will also say that I like to start sentences with "But" and end them in prepositions without an object. Please note that I recognize problems in my writing, but I just trudge along.

Back to the graduation...Ben lived in Inglewood while at UCLA and decided that he didn't love living in LA. He is now thinking of going to law school and is looking at interning in DC next year, possibly at the DC public defender's office. That sounds a lot like living in Inglewood to me. Will it be the law offices of Ruemke & Ruemke? We shall see. Oh how time flies. It seems like just yesterday that Ben was Tiny Tim with his "crunch" (AKA crutch) in Christmas Carol or pivoting on the "A" tables at the West End during Oliver. Some things never change, though, Ben is still always ready with a smile and a big hug. Congratulations, Ben!