Ice Maker

When I moved into my two bedroom apartment in Port Carbon in July of 1996, my landlady commented that she had just purchased a new refrigerator for my apartment, and that she hadn't realized for the same price she could have gotten one with an ice maker. I remember wishing she hadn't told me that, as I am a person who likes ice in my water. The first two houses I bought included refrigerators that did not have ice makers. I was so excited in 2008 that this house's refrigerator did include an ice maker, but we quickly found out it didn't work. Twice we paid a plumber to fix it, and neither time did the repair last very long. Today a new refrigerator was delivered to our house. It's a long story, but basically it was a graduation gift for Paul's Ph.D. Since he isn't using the degree any more, the refrigerator is the only tangible benefit we have of those seven years of schooling. We are all excited about having an ice maker/ water dispenser that works. The refrigerator that they took away today was 20 years old. The new one is also roomier. We are very appreciative!

Today we had our second day of school. Ian's work took a little longer in part because of the interruptions from the refrigerator delivery, but he still finished before lunch. Nadia didn't finish before lunch, but she did finish before we left for the swimming pool. I gave Ian his very first piano lesson today. The kids swam for two hours and then we came home for an early dinner before heading to the soccer field. Sadly Ian threw up in the swimming pool (because he was laughing too hard). I felt badly that everyone had to leave the big pool for awhile (could still use the baby pool) while they cleaned up the mess and added more chlorine. Nadia and I watched the boys' soccer practices this evening. Oliver did much better today than last week. I had brought two tootsie rolls with me as motivation for him to listen to his coach and participate for the entire 60 minutes (which Paul said didn't happen last Thursday). I don't plan to do that every week, but I wanted to help him get on track. I reminded his siblings that he just turned 4 years old  two weeks ago.

Ages 5. 4, and 3

Benners as they were leaving the resort in Ohio