Barlow's Big Adventure: Brace yourself ...!

Well, can you Adam and Eve that we have now been here almost 5 months?!?!! I know!! And finally, on Monday Ethan will be starting his first day at school after being stuck with me since the end of March! (Quite frankly, I think this has been an education in itself ... although maybe not all in a good way ... not sure being able to mix a good margarita counts towards graduation credits?).

The poor boy is also suffering from aching teeth at the moment after having braces fitted top and bottom this week. He left with a long list of dos and don'ts and a "No-No" food list for the anticipated 18 month duration ...

No sticky foods - caramel, licorice, tootsie rolls (?), gum etc. 'An occasional piece of sugar free gum is ok, but avoid as often as possible'. Ethan, "I don't eat gum so that's ok ... but if I did it certainly wouldn't be sugar free!"
No beef jerky (bleugh!) or Slim Jims ... ? Nope ... not a clue.
No chicken legs and ribs - 'tear meat off the bone before you eat'. Ha. Can feel a Henry VIII style BBQ coming on - will probably be finding half eaten chicken legs in the plant pots for weeks **tuts**
No corn on the cob - 'cut the corn off the cob before you eat it' ... what?!?! who has time for that?
No ice or hard nuts
No raw carrots, apples, celery and other hard veggies or fruits - **one 13 yr old boy whooping for joy**

and my personal favourite ...

No pens or pencils - a poor substitute for a packed lunch I've always thought ...

We also had to attend an induction event at school yesterday afternoon for all 'New Families' prior to the new term on Monday. Ethan was mortified. (Not helped by the fact that Mr B and I were singing along loudly to OMI's Cheerleader on the radio as we entered the school car park).

"Right you two ... get it all out of your system before we go in..." LOL!

"Haha, are you panicking?"

"Well, so would you be if you had to take Phil Dunphy in with you!"

I think we managed to make it out of there without embarrassing him further (apart from the reference I may have made to an 'exercise dodger' when chatting to the athletics coach ... oops) although I am sure there will be plenty more opportunities to look forward to!

The weather has been another major feature this week, with violent storms during the first half ... resulting in me finding one of the loungers at the bottom of the pool (it looked like the aftermath of one of the best parties ever #rocknroll)

... followed by an Extreme Heat Advisory (now expected to be in place until Monday evening - eek!) with record breaking temperatures during the second half!

As I write this at 9.30pm on Saturday, it is still 104 degrees outside! Phew!

I thought you might also like to see some really cool pictures from the storms at the beginning of the week taken from the local ABC15 news gallery. I can honestly say I have never seen lightening like it. It was almost continuous for several hours!