Last night during dinner, the phone rang. The house phone has not been ringing much, with the laziness of summer and the overtaking of the airwaves by cell phones. The kids and I looked at each other and I checked the Caller ID, and it was the Doll, asking about when she would be watching Molly this summer, for the fourth time. We settled back in to eat, and all of a sudden, the phone rang again. This time, it was, indeed, the Fresh Air Fund lady!
She told us that she had fallen asleep around 2pm and as of that time, still, we had not been matched. She said she has been checking her email five times a day and has been finding nothing. But upon awakening from her nap, she checked again, and through bleary eyes, there it was! So all this time, I have been thinking she has forgotten, but she is just at another stage of the command chain, and is wondering as much as I am if we are doing this program this year.
So our new boy is R and he hails from Brooklyn. He is ten years old, entering fifth grade, loves fried chicken, dogs, and sports, but hates peanuts, peanut butter, or anything related. He is excited to come and I did hear a whoop when he found out there is a puppy. But this is such short notice! Of course I knew it was possible but I have two appointments, plus Megan's many volunteer and swim obligations, over the next week. But it is done. The bus arrives around 12:45 tomorrow. Today will be spent doing a quick bit of shopping, running the vacuum, straightening up and trying to get caught on the laundry (which may not ever happen at this point). I'll cancel one of the appointments, and have enlisted the Doll to drive Brian to his orthodontist next week, unless they can see him at a different time. His appointment is at the exact time when we need to be at the bus for R's return.
This trip should be better than last year; for one thing I do hope that we will have a more participative guest this time. We got very little in terms of interaction last year. The other reason is because the visit is so much shorter. We will have R from tomorrow around noon until next Wednesday morning. We had C from a Thursday afternoon until the following Monday morning. And some long weekends those two were. This Friday night is the beach sleepover. But we'll have to see how R is before we decide if we're doing it or not. Megan definitely wants to, and I expect Brian will as well. But we have to be sure this kid can run with the crowd and that he will not get lost in the darkness on the beach.
So stay tuned. I hope for some fun times. The group is going to the waterpark on Monday, so I'll save that for then. Megan will be able to come with us if she wants, and I can use my two-for-one coupon. We'll obviously make good use of the beach, and hopefully our pool. Brian is watching for the return of his xbox from its free repairs at Microsoft, and I will make sure that I have a nice bag of fried chicken from Acme at the ready. Hopefully R will be good on a bike, and if he is really athletic, maybe he can pick up tennis and play a bit with Brian. But we will know more tomorrow.
I hope he isn't a light sleeper though. With Wilbur up early every morning, there is always some activity going on before 6am. This morning he slept in, till nearly 6, but then leaked all over the rug while I got my shoes on to take him out. I'll have to remember he needs to be carried in the morning.
In other news, I am still trying to secure accommodations for Wilbur for when we go to London. I called a kennel and the guy told me to call back and make an appointment to come visit. So I finally did that yesterday and the guy is on vacation himself, till the 18th! So I left a message with the dates that I need and said that I would like to come in and see him, so I hope I didn't wait too long and end up losing the spot. That was sort of my best idea, it's a kennel in a guy's backyard. I don't want to board him in a large generic kennel, and I think he is too much work at this age to impose him on anyone in a private home. Molly will stay with the Doll and Baxter again. She enjoys that anyway. I also still need to find a cat-sitter.
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