Weekly Post: 7/10 - 7/16

Sunday, 7/10:

After church on Sunday, Kathryn came over and we went on a long, hot pokemon hunt (7 miles...seriously). Kathryn is a pokemaster. I have caught 6, so I'd say I'm a pokenovice. We took many would-be shortcuts that then forced us to jump a graveyard fence, push our way through heavy bushes/trees in what turned out not to be a public park, and come up through the back of someone's yard. None of this was planned, but it was all funny. Kingsley enjoyed many admirers, devoured the free water the nice Starbucks employee gave him and only protested by lying flat on the ground ~10 times.

Monday, 7/11:

On national slurpee day we went and got some free slurpees. Then, we promptly drank 5% of them and let the rest melt in the garbage can. Apparently, being free doesn't make slurpees taste that much better. 

Tuesday, 7/12:

Summer school had begun the day before. Kathryn and I discovered that our classroom had an emergency exit to the roof. Of course, we went out and took pictures with my friend from across the hall, Mr. Gehringer.

We took a food tour of Linwood hitting all the major stops, namely, McDonalds and Burger King Kathryn let me taste her Mac&Cheetos which were as good as they sound: mac and cheese rolled in crushed cheetos and deep-fried. It was a new culinary experience for both of us. 

Wednesday, 7/13:

Almost every night this week we took Kingsley on a walk/run around the local park. We sprinted around the park multiple times (one time we made him run over a mile!) He is already faster than me...that didn't take long. On the way home one night we met Kingsley's "mega me". This dog was so well-behaved and is everything I hope Kingsley is in one year (except maybe Kingsley could be slightly smaller).

We do this because when we get home, Kingsley acts like this...dead tired cuddling with Graham Cracker.

Thursday, 7/14:

Kathryn and I went and picked strawberries and made a ton of strawberry jam! Fresh produce is so plentiful here in Michigan, and I have discovered that I love homemade jelly. Maybe a semiannual tradition (hopefully?). Only thing we didn't anticipate was that tons of jam, means tons of pot space. We had three pots of jam and they were all boiling over. In case you didn't already know, I'm not a good person to have around in a crisis. Ben had to run in from the other room to save us. A good note for next time!

Friday, 7/15:

Ben and I went on an impromptu date night. Aka, we went to Costco and then decided to get a redbox. But since we remembered from our 7-11 trip that each Big Gulp came with a free redbox code, we stopped by 7-11 first. The joy of getting a huge Diet Coke and a redbox for less than the normal price of a redbox cast a romantic light over the whole evening. 

Saturday, 7/16:

Davy, Nena, and Alex came over all day! Ben and Davy built our fence; they did some pretty intense stuff like cut metal and pour concrete and drill stuff [these are the technical terms]. Engineers save the day. Meanwhile, I made Nena help me with fun tasks like breaking down our chair boxes, making lunch, and taking care of Alex and Kingsley. Our friends are the best!

Kingsley loved playing with and annoying Alex. In this picture, he is licking Alex. His energy levels never dropped that day, but he seemed to sleep for two days afterward. 

Nena took this picture of King. He really is this cute, and while I take tons of pictures of him, this one shot Nena took is so much better. It just reminds me that there is so much skill involved in photography. Just like when Mary-lu Nelson said her cookies were only good because of the chocolate chips, Nena told me it was just getting on Kingsley's level that makes this picture so good. I've tried multiple times since...I'll tell you, it's not just getting on his level. I don't have this skill.