Today was a hot one. According to a reported sighting in Pineville, NC … the town’s clock/thermometer was showing 152 degrees. Though I think it was a “little” off, it was HOT here today. We opted for traditional summertime heat relief efforts: Making Silly Faces, a trip to the airconditioned GoodWill in the swanky part of town, lunch at a nearby airconditioned ChickFilA, playtime in the sprinkler outside (while some small people napped), Little People in the airconditioned basement and of course, … more tea parties.

Well, today we had *record breaking* heat and yucky air quality. Boo. So we were in the market for fun indoor things to do today. We had art time, and the girls made pictures for Wilson as “get well pictures”. He’s at Grandma’s & Grandpa’s and not feeling well. The girls put on a ballet for me after lunch, and there was a play … “The Prince and the Piper”. I enjoyed the play so much, I forgot to take pictures of it. Piper was the Princess and Sophie dressed as a knight. There was lots of free time playing too … Little People, Toy Story, Barbie Princesses, Dance Party, Woody’s Roundup Concert, and tea party. All in all… a good day.

Day one activities at Camp Chloe: Toy Story books and interactive shows, ballet, dress ups, water park, picnic at the pool, quiet time, Woody’s Roundup Dance Party, Water themed Library Time, Sea Creature Silly Bands, and Make a Rainbow Fish.

Yesterday Claire was sure she didn’t need a nap. So I decided to let her play first with Sophie and her friend in the sprinkler. After sprinkler time, she played in her “kitchen” for a little while. At 3:30 PM I put her down for a “quick nap” before our evening services. She woke up at 5:45 AM THIS MORNING. Guess she was tired.

Well today provided quite a bit of variety. We changed our piano lesson time to 11AM for the summer. Today was the first day at the new time. So, while Sam and Sophie were at their lessons, Wilson and Claire and I had to find a way to entertain ourselves. We decided to visit a new Goodwill in that part of town. Wow! Did Claire make out like a bandit. Wilson found for her a round Minnie Mouse, that looks like a decorated basketball with ears. She loves it, and it came all the way from Disney World. And as if she weren’t happy enough with that, he also found her an awesome little wooden kitchen set.

It’s too cute. It even has a towel bar and a pot hanging rack. It had one little spot on it where the previous owner had chipped the wood/paint … but that was nothing a “paint pen” couldn’t fix. It’s as good as new!! … and only cost $9.99. That beats $125 any day. Wilson found himself another golf bag, because, as you know, we have a shortage of those here. I found Sam a hardcover version of one of the books he likes to read for fun.

When we got home, Sophie and I went out to the garden and found six cherry tomatoes, one really ripe large tomato, and four cucumbers to harvest. Today’s harvest actually covered the bottom of the basket. Even more exciting … there are a TON more cukes and tomatoes; and we saw a few teeny-tiny zuchini and squash growing. Hurray!! Summer’s here.

Garden as of May 25th

The first photos off the SD card for the summer. Lots more still on the laptop, but this gives a great idea of our first few weeks. The pool’s open, the garden is well underway, the pollen has finally begun to subside, and the local schools are out. So of course … Mark’s headed to Miami this week.

So yesterday, I took the kids to Carowinds on my own. Everything was going fine until I made the mistake of riding one of the “kiddie” rides with Claire … and accidentally sat backwards. YIKES! When I got off the ride Sophie was REALLY worried. Needless to say it took a while to recover and Sophie took over the “riding with Claire” duties for a while.

The park has changed ownership, and the “kiddie” area is not longer Nickelodeon themed. It’s Peanuts, and it’s called “Planet Snoopy”. We didn’t even see other parts of the park, or the “water fun areas”. The kids had a blast and even got to see some of the “gang”.

On the Balloon Ride ... facing the correct direction!

What did I learn from this experience? I learned that I can take the kids to the park and survive, but I also learned that I can’t ride the “no thrill” kiddie rides … They are appropriately named. It’s no thrill to feel that bad and have to keep up with a two year old, even if you have a stroller.

There’s a lot to be said for good customer service, and a quality product. And when a product doesn’t live up to its billing … good customer service can save, or destroy, the consumer/retailer relationship. Zappos has great customer service. I thought that their low priced, and sometimes free, shipping was fabulous … but it gets even better.

In January, I purchased some sandals to replace my FAVORITE Merrell sandals. I’d worn my favs for two years and they were in need of a permanent rest. So I found a style I’d purchased for Sophie and ordered them in January. I wanted to be ready when the heat arrived. I broke them out of the box about four weeks ago and have been enjoying them since. Today, I looked down only to discover that the stitching on my new shoes was coming undone. At first I thought that maybe it was just an aesthetic issue I could overlook for comfort, but no …. it turned out to be structural. So, I decided to call Zappos and see what, if anything, could be done.

Their Customer Service department was only too glad to help me. My shoe has been discontinued, but they found a similar style by another company and agreed to do an even exchange. In fact, they are sending my replacements out to me as I write this. They didn’t even wait to get the defective shoes back!!! They emailed me a shipping label to do the return, and said to try to have them back within 14 days. I can do that. The best part is … my new shoes will be here TOMORROW!! Awesome. I will definately be shopping Zappos again.