Today's Headlines

Indy's Jury Duty has been 0 for 6! Two days left to report... will she have to go in or not? And Indy receives Patriarchal Blessing tonight!

Taryn completes day 2 of Adventure Science Center Internship. Summer day camp assistant counselor and jelly bean stand operator were the order of the day. Despite access to jelly beans, the report on that assignment, in a word was: "boring".

Mariah oriented to middle school. Her locker will not outsmart her (unless there's a 1 in the combo then she is in big trouble!) She even made it into the Locker Olympic Finals! She can find the cafeteria from any given location. She's good to go.

Chrissie struck by a Killer Migraine yesterday. Wears sunglasses in the house today, contemplating the unfairness of a hangover without having committed any of the sins to have earned it.

Lynda takes advantage of cooler temperatures and a drop in humidity today to amend the soil on the second level of the terrace and plant several new perennials.

Gib experiences the calm before the storm. In one of the rare moments of nothing on the agenda he does.....nothing!

Sideline Story: Gib will probably end up at the pool with Lara's son Brett. We're all pretending Gib is already 14 so they can go by themselves. The scoop from other moms: Gib is quite the favorite at the pool and is the Leader of the brat-pack and the Resolver of Disputes. When one child was about to push another into the pool, a mom was about to get up, but Gib saw it, pointed to the kid, and said "Stop that!" very authoritatively. And that was that. The moms decided they need do nothing when Gib is around, and can relax. Gib is On Duty. I even get texted to see if Gib can come down to the pool!

Mike prepares to don the Troop Waterworld Chef Cap! The heat in the kitchen will go from blazing hot to ai-yi-yi faster than you can say "hey let's have wraps for breakfast, lunch and dinner four days in a row!"

Sideline story: Mike and Gib went to a funeral yesterday. I went with them for the part before the service began, but had to leave early to get Mariah. The funeral was for the mother of a scout in Gib's troop. She died from breast cancer. The father is also very active in the troop and Mike knows him quite well. It's sad to realize, because we've both lost parents to cancer, what this young man and family are experiencing right now, but it's important to be able to give that moment of loving support. I was going to return to pick the guys up after I got Mariah. Before I could get home, I knew I wasn't going to make it, so I had my mom get Mariah and called Jo Anne to get Mike and Gib. Thanks Jo Anne!