Josh and I spent some time at my cousin's house over the weekend and I was pleasantly surprised at how well he got along with the other kids both at a pool party on Saturday night and on Sunday just goofing around with his two cousins. Of course all of the toys are new to him and so he was amused just by going around and checking out all their stuff. We all went for a walk around a park yesterday afternoon and had a nice time. While we were outside I kept getting weather updates on my cell phone for Chester county - I have it set up to get them cause if we're ever at the pool and something's coming I want to know about it. Except for a short afternoon storm we had sun and a little breeze. For August it's been exceptionally nice weather - wise. Yesterday afternoon it was stormy all day here including a power outage. Other than being sassy with me in the morning he got along pretty well and played nicely - the dynamic with his cousins was interesting since they both wanted his attention and tried to keep him interested in whatever they were playing with. He tried again and again to shoot a small play ball into a real basketball hoop and did get better as he was out there doing it and his cousin Helen was encouraging him and throwing balls too - then his cousin John brought out different vehicles to interest Josh and then would get upset if Josh wanted to touch them and if he was driving wildly with the "mokena troll" that's how Josh pronounces remote control.

Dima has ice hockey camp from 8 to 4:40 each day this week so it'll be a good test of how things will go once he starts all-day school. Josh and I will be taking it easy around here so he can recover from not having a nap for two days and going to bed late on Saturday night. I'll have to decide if we'll be skipping nap today it's after 8 now and he's still sleeping - unusual for him - he likes to open his eyes early and start yakking - "I'm ready!!" There are times he's up there yelling that he's ready to get up and then he's still so tired that he's up there sucking his thumb once you get to him - yeah he's 5 and still sucks his thumb when he's tired I know it bothers some people but I don't think it's a problem and I know he won't go to college doing it so it'll get resolved sooner or later. The thing is since we have to get Dima at 4:30 I can't let him go in for nap too late cause I'd hate to have to wake him to get going - there's potential there for a very, very sassy little kid in the car in that case. I'd like to go to the pool or something like that after Dima's done but if it's still chilly we'll find something else to do. He'll have to be in bed at a decent time so he can get up for camp tomorrow so we really won't have too much time.

Recent deaths: 1. Bernie Mac 2. Isaac Hayes 3.? If I were a funny black man I'd be very afraid right now - these things happen in threes.