Bye Bye July.

Hey there July, sorry you have to go so soon. Honestly though, I am glad you are leaving. You're just too hot for me friend. I know it's not your fault, come back next year when I have a swimming pool and we'll talk some more. See ya.

I've been trying hard to get a post out, working on this one since Monday. Lot's of great summer distractions I suppose!

Guess what? I made an extraordinary decision, which involved convincing my unbelievably considerate, exceptionally bighearted, benevolent and loving husband that my big idea was a good idea. What is it? Hmmmm, you'll just have to read on, I am going to be a tease and make the suspense linger here, I don't get to do that often, so I am going to keep it for a few more paragraphs anyway!

Hey, have you seen my succulent hanging baskets lately? They make me happy because they are not dead. Actually, I had to trim them of the greenery that was no longer green and they sort of popped out and made me love them again. After the haircut, you can see the healthy green cacti flora in there, sweet.



We are eating peppers and tomatoes from our garden, there is nothing better than that, I love it. We have decided to take out part of our lawn on that side of the house next year and make a bigger garden with even more veggies. I told Tony that I also would love to have a herb garden and a place to grow flowers for cutting. How cool is that? I cannot wait!

Many exciting things happened last Saturday. The first was a visit we made to the big swimming pool showroom. Still just research for now. They had real full scale swimming pools just for show, it was a really good trip. It would have been better if it had gone according to plan and we could have made the trip childless. Surprise! Everyone behaved! I am feeling lots better about my swimnming pool knowledge, I'm glad we decided to wait this out and do more exploring. Stay tuned, we have our first pool company meeting us here at home on Friday.

Saturday night, we went to an amazing wedding reception. We don't know the couple, but Tony knows the father of the groom. About a month ago, when Tony told me we had been invited to a wedding, my immediate reaction was, that's nice, but no thank you. I knew that it wasn't anyone we know, because I would have had advance knowledge that a wedding was approaching, that was my reason for the flat refusal. I don't know if it's normal to feel this way, but when we don't know them, I pretty much feel like I don't really belong there. Why not just crash random weddings for the same effect? Is it just me? I get it, that you go out of respect for the person inviting you, especially if it's the father of the groom, okay, maybe I was a little bit harsh.

Anyway, my story continues...

After I said no thank you to Tony, he showed me the invite and I was flabbergasted. It was the most extravagant and ornate piece of correspondence I think I have ever held in my hand. I can show you a photo, but it does not do it justice. It was beautiful, from the envelope to the beautiful folio to the invitations themselves, one each for the wedding and the reception and printed on the thickest cardstock imaginable with elaborate shiny gold paisley designs and rhinestones. I found myself immediately with a change of heart. At that moment, I knew we would go to this wedding reception. If someone went to this much effort to invite strangers, I couldn't refuse. Adding to the intrigue, the wedding itself, took place in Canada one week before the reception.



The family is Punjabi. There may have been 400 or 500 people there. I'm not so good at judging the size of crowds. I immediately felt comfortable, can't really say why, I didn't feel out of place at all. There were a few other co-workers there so we sat near them. It was so much fun to watch everything, I felt so privileged to be there, just felt lucky to be able to step into this strikingly different culture and experience their traditions so authentically, it was so cool for me. I don't usually make it a practice to take pictures when I am invited to someones party, it seems too intrusive. I guess I felt like enough of an anonymous outsider and I was so intrigued and honestly overwhelmed by the grandness of it all, that I stood up and tried to take video when the newlyweds arrived. Okay, maybe I looked like a tourist but no one was watching me! The drums were extraordinary, the anticipation was thick, and I sensed that something BIG was about to happen. If you want to see it click here: Newlyweds Enter from Mel on Vimeo, it's about a minute long.



The girls with my kids are Tamveen and Amad, the daughters of our friends Ravi and Jasmine. They sat at our table and were explaining what was happening when we couldn't figure it out. I wish I was more adventurous about trying new food, but I'm just a pretender. They had an enormous selection of Indian food I have never tried, but being the food wimp I am, I stuck to the rice, the veggies, and the flatbread. I think the dinner was not served until about 10 p.m. but we fed the kids before we left for the party, good call.

The music was loud and the dancing was so much fun, except that I didn't dance. I so seriously wanted to, I was feeling it, but because it was so late, Eva was very needy and I didn't want to leave her. Tony got out there with the men and danced their dances, again so much fun to watch. I know that's the video you really want to see, but it was too dark for my camera. Oh yeah, you know I thought about it! We left at around 11. Wyatt and Eva were both asleep when we put them into their carseats.

Big news in my house: the crib has been disassembled and it is in the garage. Eva is sleeping in what she calls the beddy bed, which is actually Wyatt's trundle, and it's only temporary, but better than the crowded room with the crib. I thought I would be sad to see it go, I thought those mushy Mommy emotions might get the best of me, but no. It wasn't as hard to say goodbye to the place my four babies laid their baby heads as I had imagined. On we go.

Swimmer update: Three water safe kids live at my house! Two more days of swim lessons and our six week swim lesson marathon is history. Emily did a lifeguard camp last week and look how grown up she looks in her polaroid.



Wyatt did a cool front flip yesterday at the pool that I captured on film, check him out! Feet up, great form!



Did you forget about my big suspenseful idea that I acted upon and made real? Do you have any guesses? I'm just busting out with delight here so I'll just blurt it out! I am going on a one week trip with my mother to our homeland! Yep, we're headed for Tennessee and Eva's going too!

Long story short, Mom calls me tells me she's going, I invite myself and my child, it takes me two and a half days to convince my awesome husband that I should go, clickity click on the computer and I have two tickets in my hand.

More facts to share: the trip is in September, I haven't been since 2002, haven't seen my Dad since 2004, [who swears he will never fly and planned to drive out for a nice long visit this summer but hasn't shown up yet] I'm excited, and a little anxious too. My three big kids will be in school and without me and little E for a week. My husband is my hero, my very own private superhero.

Adios July, so long, thanks for your gifts and all the goodness you gave us, except for the really hot part.