It's Florida In Chautauqua

Bissells Arrive

6:14

6:16

A close, hot, humid morning here at the lake, with more heat and humidity to come.  I was up early, of course, at 5:45, in time to catch the sunrise about 6:10.  It's another hazy, crazy day of summer, unusual for this area.  It looks like that heat dome I mentioned is sticking around for a couple of days.

Cousin Love

Yesterday was another 'waiting for family' to arrive and getting everything ready for them.  So Evie and Marisa worked on the upstairs bedroom because both Hayden and Halle were coming and we needed to create a third bed for Halle.  So they got an air mattress out of the attic for her, rearranged the closet, moving everything out so the girls had a place to put their clothes.  Meanwhile, after I cleaned up the garage and did a few other things, Beth and I took off for a mega shopping day, stopping briefly at Michael's and TJ Maxx, picking up a few things before floundering around Wegman's, the two of us trying to be efficient with only one list, on Beth's iPhone.  I would go off one way, Beth another, and we would then meet to find out what was next on the list and cross off what the other had picked up, kind of like the Two Stooges.

We got home around 1:00, to a very warm lake house.  Evie was out having cut some weeds and was swimming with Marisa.  They both came in and helped put away the stuff.  While we were out, Evie had made up the marinade for today's chuck roast, getting organized for the weekend.  Beth and I made a quick lunch of leftover pork schnitzel, with corn chowder.  Evie meanwhile was working on two of our floats that have hard to find leaks.  We had picked up some crazy glue so she was spreading it around some of the seams hoping it would work.  We will find out today.

We then adjourned to the dock, staying out for an hour or so, before coming in to get out of the heat.  It was pleasant in the water, floating around on the rafts or water chairs but uncomfortable on the dock.  Both Evie and I got bored just sitting so what else to do but cut weeds, pile them up on our dock and hope they dry enough to take up the hill.  Jill texted that they would arrive at 6:00, so they literally drove in at 6:00.  The girls bounced quickly out of the car to give us hugs and we quickly helped them unload the car.

A Full Porch

They decided to just hang out and swim after dinner, so all of us sat on the front porch, enjoying a libation, the afternoon, and being together for the first time in eight months.  It's fun to see how much the cousins enjoy being with each other.  Around 7:00, we got busy with dinner.  Evie had already par boiled chicken thighs, so I took them out and with Drew's help, barbecued them for ten minutes to get a char from the sauce.  The gals set the table outside, cooked the local corn, boiled the noodles, made the coleslaw and dinner was ready.  It had cooled off just enough to enjoy the outdoors as we ate and dinner was great, especially the corn, chicken and noodles cooked in chicken broth.  This meal makes it feel like summer with family because we have it every summer, sometimes twice.

Eight Is Not Enough

After dinner, we quickly did up the dishes, so the girls and Evie could go for a swim as the sun was setting.  They stayed out frolicking in the water for a good half hour before coming in and getting their pj's on.  We then sat around until about 10:00, laughing and enjoying the silliness of the girls and then all of us went up to bed early, tired from the day of driving and getting ready.