Day at the Beach
Mike and I took the kids and one of Jason's friends to Nantasket Beach today. I meant to buy a water camera at the store on the way but forgot so no pictures. The kids had an excellent time. Jason and his friend, Seamus, played in the waves while Jess entertained herself by digging in the mud and chasing seagulls. She didn't want to go near the ocean until one of the seagulls started going towards it. Then she was adamant that she wanted to go in after it. She's doing a good job keeping her hat on. Her hair is thin and I'm afraid of her scalp getting burnt. I sprayed sunscreen on it which made a mess but at least she was protected.

I finally got my biggest problem of the summer solved. I was so stressed about finding daycare for Jess when school starts. I didn't want to pay for full-time since Mike has a rotating schedule and is home so much. One person was going to do part of it but was unsure what days she'd be working at her mom's work. I was fine with that at first thinking once she knew what days she was available, I'd just sign up Jess at another friend's daycare on a permanent schedule (i.e. if the first person was free M, W, F, Jess would go to my friend's daycare every Tues and Thurs whether Mike was working or not since we'd be paying for a permanent slot). I figured that'd free Mike up for some overtime or things that need to get done. Anyway, a few weeks ago I talked to the person about what days she was free and got the runaround. I'd originally told her that it was fine if things changed or she decided that she just didn't want to do it but to let me know. I think the problem was that she looked at it as a favor to me; since I'd be paying her, I looked at it as hiring her to do a job. When she didn't return my email after a week, I talked to Pastor's wife at work and she found someone who wants to do it from church. She has 3 kids, 2 are in school and she's a teacher. She's home with her youngest and watches another teacher's kid. We worked out the details and now Jess has a definite place to go when Mike works - yeah!!