The Jay's Days: First Day of Summer Vacation -AKA "Mommy's Summer Camp"

First day of summer vacation at the Jay household. It was a great day! We went swimming in the pool - me with all four of them, twice! We dolled out popsicles out of the "Bub's ice cream shop" window, (aka the kitchen sink window) and then, the highlight of the day occurred was we were setting up to play a round of croquette and we heard the distinct "beep, beep, beep" of heavy road equipment backing up coming down our street. Like moths to a light, all attention spans were now otherwise gathered as they ran to the back wall to peer through the fence and watch the crew of workers prepare to pave the bike path they're installing across the street. I joined them, of course, with camera in hand and documented the journey. It wasn't just a quick "Hey look!" and get back to the game with mallets and hard wooden balls, no, it was how we spent the next hour!(+) And the more you watched, the more you learned about they process... how there was a parade of dump trucks that came one after the other to back up just right until they were attached to the zambonie like asphalt spreader, the hand signals they gave each other until they were in position, the crew of four men wearing hard hats who rode on the back like the trapeze lady standing on the narrow platform above the freshly spread peat gravel road. Then how they would take turns jumping off and setting down the level to make sure the path was perfectly level. There was a bit of lag time which must have been a union or OSHA required break where several of the worker guys took smoke breaks and one was texting (Carter said, "He's working on his i-phone") and one was actually taking a nap in the shade! This must be what TJ means when he talks about a "state highway operation" Although I'm itching to get out on that path to go for a run, it's fascinating to watch and learn along side my boyz. Before having boys I used to think that every big piece of machinery that was green was a tractor and everything that was yellow was a bulldozer. My how having boyz has shaped me. Now I'm out here watching it with them and I can tell the difference between a grader and a roller and a bushhog and a bulldozer. WOW ! Carter's taught me a lot!

When I told Jim what all we had done that day he said "WOW! It's like you're running your own Mommy Summer Camp!" Without missing a beat, I said, "I AM!!"

Jim told me that the next morning he went for a run all along the fresh gravel path. Oh, no! Hopefully they won't have to start over to get it level again! This job's never going to get done!! :)