Dog Days of Summer

It’s been a summer of family, babies, friends (of the kids), and dogs.

Things started off with a bang and a bark on Memorial Day weekend. That was with the Moodys and Murphys (and derivatives). There we had Jake, Caleb, and Lucy. As well as Brewski, Leo, Teddy, and Bruce.

Shortly after that, Sue and Austin came for a quick visit. That weekend was quiet. We only had two dogs. In addition to the ever present Brew, we took care of Grizzly while Dave Sr went to visit his grandkids. Grizzly walked Austin around Black Cat a couple of times.

Over the week of July 4th, we got to spend time with the Gosselins (and derivatives) including TJ and the newest addition to my side of the family, Thomas. Brew and Grizzly were very excited to see Lyla. Lyla was not excited to see Brew and Grizzly.

During that week, we had our typical fun that doesn’t seem to ever get old. Tyler also gave Dave Jr a stylish haircut (some sort of mullet), and they both got matching tattoos (Celtics logos). They also worked with my husband to make some repairs to the sitting dock.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by David Gosselin (@davegosselinmusic)

There was some family tension at one point that week. I suspect the underlying source of the problem was the dogs.

The tension was heated. The tension was emotional. Some of us weren’t sure if we were going to be able to work past it. But we did. As we have so many times in the past. And will again in the future.

Mid-July, Nicole invited a small group of friends (10) up to the lake. They all said the lake was out of a movie. That same weekend, Heather traveled back here for a bachelorette party and a bridal shower. Given the options presented to me, I chose to stay in Methuen to take care of Rex while Dave went up to the lake to assist with the small group. I was responsible for providing frequent pupdates to both Heather and co-parent Lexi.

Speaking of Lexi, she came up to the lake for the beginning of our family vacation. Along with her cousin Jenni. And Jenni’s fiancé Joey. And their dog Sawyer. Lexi made her specialties (avocado toast and charcuterie) and, more importantly, kept up with the towels.

At this point, we were back to four dogs: Brew, Leo, Rex, and Sawyer. Grizzly (my favorite, according to my kids) had gone back to Iowa with Dave Sr. Chris suspects Leo might be my second favorite, but if he is, it’s only because he is the laziest of the bunch. The problem is he isn’t lazy all the time. You would think he would be the least likely dog to jump the baby/pet gate, but that isn’t the case, and, if unleashed, he takes off.

Speaking of favorites, I can’t get enough of Caleb and Lucy.

Caleb absolutely loves the lake, and it’s impossible not to laugh at his exuberance for everything. It’s also impossible not to laugh when he yells out (in exuberance) “I’m peeing!”

Lucy also loves the lake. She is a happy baby as long as a. her mother is within reach or b. her mother is out of sight. We often told Meagan to go hide.

Towards the end of our vacation, the Gosselin kids and grandkids showed up. Caleb and TJ had a blast together (other than the times they had difficulties determing whose turn it was.) Caleb’s exuberance encouraged TJ to become more adventurous in and on the water.

And we got to celebrate Lucy’s first birthday.

We had a dicey moment during this week as well. It was not heated or emotional. It was not dog related. But it was concerning. Chris discovered water shooting out of the drain pipe for the washing machine while the washing machine was not in use. At first blush, it appeared the water we used inside the house could not exit to the outside of the house and was instead exiting via this drain pipe onto the laundry room floor. My first fear: I couldn’t wash towels. My second fear: the six adults and potty-trained preschooler staying in the house could not use the toilets. Upon further testing – I did a load of wash to see what would happen and Heather had IBS-related issues that demanded flushing – we proved the problem was limited to when the ejector pump kicked in or multiple showers and toilets were in use at the same time.

I managed to get the septic company to come out the following afternoon, and they quickly dislodged the wad of toilet paper blocking the main drain from the house. (I got Heather’s approval for mentioning her IBS, but she wanted to make sure I didn’t blame her for the toilet paper.) The nice septic folks showed me how to fix the problem in the future. People just don’t understand. Although I learn more and more about this type of problem each year, I don’t want to be the one fixing it.

Shortly after our friends-family-extended family vacation, Nicole and I drove to New Jersey for Lucy’s official first birthday party. I had considered not going because we had just seen them and it’s a long drive, but I can’t get enough of those kids. Caleb had fun releasing Lucy’s birthday balloons into the sky (bad on us), and Lucy loved dancing to the toy Nicole got her. Caleb also had Nicole and I rolling on the floor laughing when he yelled “Sorry! Everyone!” in a tone that implied anything but and yelled “Please!” as a command. Meagan quieltly said “We need to work on this.”

The past two weekends have been fairly quiet. There was acutally a little bit of time where it was just me up at the lake. No dogs to worry about. No children to worry about. No adults to worry about. I decided to head out to the sitting dock to read my book. I told myself to go straight to the sitting dock and to not let myself get distracted by any projects I found along the way such as checking the ejector pump or cleaning out the fire pit. I almost made it. I noticed some brush that needed to be cleared out on the “island” next to the sitting dock. While I was picking up sticks and branches, I disturbed a hornet’s nest in the ground. I consider myself lucky. I only got stung twice, and the swelling in my right hand only interfered with the grip on my pickleball paddle for a couple days.

This weekend, we cleaned up the island. While I removed brush, Dave monitored the hornets and Brew tried to rile them up.

And just one more note. We have two more babies on Dave’s side of the family. Cousins Thomas (yes, another Thomas) and Melody were born about a week apart. I’m happy to say, though, there are no additional dogs as far as I’m aware.

Pop quiz: Who can name all the dogs of summer? Answer in the comments.