dog days

There are four months in every year that I have a particularly hard time with: January and February in the winter, and July and August in the summer. I'm sure I don't need to delve into the particulars of why, but these four months, with their brutally extreme weather patterns, make it difficult for me to find the motivation to get up in the morning just to face another day of deep snow/humidity and frigid/broiling temperatures.

After our Coney Island beach trip last week, our little heatwave grew much, much hotter. Friday was the worst of it, and as a result, the tri-state area was breaking temperature records right and left: 104 in Central Park, 108 across the bay in Newark (which also happened to be the hottest city in the country that day), and heat index temperatures ranging throughout the day from 110 to 120 degrees. Now that is a day to just stay at home. Unless, of course, you don't want to pay for the energy you'd consume blasting your air conditioners all day. Which I didn't. Nor did I want to be trapped inside with two energetic, cabin fever-prone boys. So we braved the scorching sun and unbearable heat underground on the subway platforms and headed to the Brooklyn Children's Museum with my friend, Naomi, and her two kids, Michiru and Takumi.

Ah! Free a/c and the science-based equivalent of an indoor playground.

Playing with the sound machine.

Fun with a magnifying glass.

Putting pretend pizza in a pretend oven at the pretend Spumoni Gardens.

We plum wore them out. Score!

It was still hot on Saturday when we stopped at the real Spumoni Gardens before heading over to the church to participate in our ward's service project for the regional Day of Service. Chelsea and I helped babysit kids at the church while Blake joined everyone else over age 8 on a visit to residents of a local nursing home. Pizza, warm, fuzzy, service-induced feelings, AND more free a/c!



The heatwave, thank goodness, is over. In fact, this morning, after Blake discovered a pleasant breeze outside during his early morning run, he promptly opened all the windows upon his return. It's so nice to have a fresh wind blowing through the apartment again instead stifling dead air. After I commented over lunch about how nice the breeze felt, Garrett asked, "The clouds have a/cs?" It's something like that, dear, only it's free.

Want to know what else is refreshing these days? Having Chelsea around. For the first time in a little over 4 years, Blake and I have had the luxury of leaving the the apartment together in the evenings with no more preparation than a "We'll be right back. Can you hold down the fort?" said in her direction. I have two extra hands when wrangling the boys while on outings or shopping trips, OR (and this is even better) I don't have to bring the boys on shopping trips at all! And -- and! -- she helps me keep the house clean. My life is much less dizzying with her around. I'm going to really miss her when she leaves (which isn't for a while yet, so I won't think about that now).

The dog days of summer are far from over, but it's raining right now (hooray!) and Chelsea is here to help me slog through them, so even though I can't see it yet, the light at the end of the tunnel is something I just might be able to reach.