The End Has Come

Summer is over! Last week the sleeping in, staying up late, and partying like rock stars (they eat dinner at 6:00 and are in by 8:00, right?) came to a close.

We had planned to spend this precious last week visiting with Heath's parents, Grandma the Great (my grandmother), and my sister and her family at the coast and beach...but there was this little category 5 hurricane in the gulf. And while, at the time of our planned departure, predictors had decided Dean should make landfall in Mexico, the forecasted rain, strong tides, and generally indecisiveness of all weathermen meant that we would delay our (i.e. mommy's) much needed vacation until another time.

Very sad, I know. I moped around the first day, hoping to think of some fun stay-at-home vacation things to do, when Heath came up with a brilliant plan. Since we were both off of work for the week and we never get to do things as a family, he suggested we...yes, I know the suspense is killing you...PAINT a few rooms in our home that we have been putting off for the last 4 years. These were his words: "We could make it fun and paint together as a family. It will be fun, the kids will love it."

I have no idea what was wrong with me at that precise moment, because I jumped on board his crazy train (obviously not the first time), even believing that we were going to have a blast. Moments later we were at Lowe's (Heath is anti-Home Depot at the moment, but that is a whole other story) picking out paint colors and gathering supplies.

Here is the thing - Heath absolutely hates to paint. He has often been overheard saying that he "would much rather work on the downhill side of plumbing than paint." Knowing this, when my head cleared from whatever seizure I was having when I agreed to his little idea, I wondered just how fun this "vacation" activity might be.

The boys, joyously anticipating the days events, had a blast getting ready in their "painting clothes" & collecting their equipment, eagerly listened to Daddy's instructions, and set off to paint the world one playroom at a time...

The Crew (motley, at best)

The Lesson

The Painting Fun

And by the time we were finished, I felt like this brush!

(My bet is Jake, the creator of the brush above, will choose a career path other than painting!)

It was actually fun, by the way, at least for a little while. Then, Jake and Cole set out to find something more exciting. Hudson stuck it out, working diligently with Heath and I. However, day/room #2 left Heath and Hudson to tackle the paint job alone.

It was, if nothing else, a vacation from regular life!