more taco pizzas

After six days of an excessive heat warning that wasn't even lifted during the evenings we finally have a break.  



One morning during the heat wave Robert, Cousin Rachel, Rose and I bravely (and dumbly) walked to get some breakfast.  On the way back I decided to let Rose have a little dip in the pond.

Thirty minutes later she still hadn't moved an inch! It was a new record for her.  I finally had to tell her very sweetly that due to coffee at breakfast and the constant fountain noises that my bladder was seconds away from exploding.  So she got out.  

This is a good time to talk about a couple of big things going on with Robert and I.  Ella didn't go on the walk with us because she has been limping for a few weeks now.  We took her to the vet and it turns out that she has a torn ACL.  She is going through the stages of getting fitted for a brace, and once she gets it we are hoping she gets healed up fast.

The second thing that is happening is a bit on the ginormous side.  It has been decided that Cousin Rachel, who is going to be a sophomore in high school this year, is going to finish out high school here in the city.  So, yes, this means that she is officially living with us.  She is coming to stay with us for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, she wasn't hanging out with the best crowd at her old high school and really needs a fresh start.  And more importantly, she is an incredibly bright kid who wasn't being challenged at the school she was going to and will have a lot more opportunities here.  

For the moment she seems very accepting of this radical change and is handling it with aplomb, an astonishing amount of maturity and a fair amount of enthusiasm.  I am incredibly proud of her for this, but also recognize that this is a very humongous change for not only her, but also Robert and I and her parents.  It's going to be an awesome journey because she's a wonderful person who's just figuring out who she is.  But it's going to be challenging.  The biggest challenge at the moment is that we are living in a pretty cramped space so she has absolutely no privacy.  Because of this we are trying to hurry the remodel along.  The next couple months are going to be ridiculously crazy.

There will be new stories of this crazy journey, and maybe more swearing.  There will be new perspective!  And once Rachel gets more comfortable, I hope there will be a lot more silliness and craft parties and urban adventures and taco pizzas.  And maybe she will grow confident in herself and learn lots of stuff and make new healthy friendships and try new things and want to share all this with everyone who loves her.