T3 Tales: Summer Fun and Brinks

This summer has been HOT! This past week we had several days over 100 degrees and a couple when it was 105 or hotter. Needless to say, Texas summers are sometimes unbearable. Benett and I went up to Nana and Papa's house last week to hang out while Aunt Terry, Coupe and Josey were in town. We had a great time escaping the heat by swimming in the pool and had some great quality time together. We wish Mike could have joined the fun, but he was working on the next software release for his group at NI.

Benett had a great time playing with his cousins Coupe and Josey.

Nana, Papa and Benett enjoying the refreshing and warm pool one evening.

Benett kicking around with Papa.

Some of you might know about our dog Brinks and his insatiable appetite. You might have even been at our house when he has eaten something he shouldn't (Michele, you know this quite well). We think his constant hunt for food has something to do with his life before we adopted him and being "on the run" for a little while before a good Samaritan picked him up and brought him to a shelter. We gained this little nugget of insight from watching The Dog Whisperer, which was our favorite show right after we welcomed Brinks into our family. All this explanation is to explain the following picture.

Yes, Brinks struck again, but who can blame him when there was a perfectly good loaf of banana bread sitting on the counter within reach of his long snout. Mike and I take full responsibility for this incident because we rushed out the door and told Brinks to go in his room and never shut his door before we left the house to have dinner with the Andrews family. When we arrived back home, Brinks greeted us at the door and we searched every room for possible destruction. Luckily, all Benett's toys were safe and the only casualty was the banana bread.

Brinks has also switched over to his summer schedule to escape the heat. Typically, Brinks will hunt squirrels from the back door and spend much of the day outside. This is not the case in the dog days of summer. He now spends his days inside sleeping and much of the cooler evening and night (sometimes as late as 1 a.m.) outside patrolling the yard for nocturnal prey. It is funny watching him during the day because he still tries his best to keep the daytime varmints out, but usually ends up falling asleep on the job.

We have been seeing a lot of Nana, Papa, Uncle Matt and his girlfriend Amanda a lot lately because we have been remodeling again. Yes, a house is never complete especially when it is 30 years old. We just completed the guest bathroom and are currently finishing up the master. In the guest bathroom, we removed the built-in linen closet and the wall separating the tub/toilet area from the vanity and really opened up the space. The bathroom is so much bigger now!The project has been a little slower than expected, but luckily on budget. Overall, we are happy with the results.