Summer Day 7/6: New Hampshire

Had a bit of a quieter day today after yesterday's hike. This morning we went on a wildflower walk in the large meadow. This was Greta's request, a great one that we were all excited about, so it was particularly frustrating when she threw a fit about putting sunscreen on and refused to go. On the bright side, Lucia and I had a lovely walk together, where Lucia picked some flowers and asked a lot of questions about things Molly and I did when we were little. I told her about Molly and Pop Pop's Gift--sighting four-leaf clovers--and she was intrigued. She wondered if she would get the Gift, since she was the oldest, but seemed troubled when I said I didn't have it even though I was the oldest. Time will tell.




Greta and Andrew joined us after a while and Greta made a wildflower bouquet as well. Then Lucia became determined to collect an entire bucket of red berries to turn into a "poison jam," so we got a bucket and returned to the field to collect. Greta opted to stay at the house and beg Andrew to pick all the tiger lilies.

We had lunch and some cool-down time inside after that--it was a blazing hot day--and the girls used the iPad for the first time since Friday while Andrew went for a run and I caught up on some work.

Later, we took a swim in William's pool. If we had a pool in our backyard in NJ, I don't think L&G would ever do anything but swim. Seeing how much they love it makes us want to install one. We won't, but we want to.

Once it cooled down, Lucia smashed up her berries and made poison jam sandwiches and tacos and toasts with leaves and stones. Greta collected some berries too and joined in.

Then they gorged on Doritos while I drank a glass of wine and looked out at the sunsetting fields. *exceptional parenting moment of the day*

Dinner: grilled stuff. Burgers and chicken and sausages. Corn on the cob. I cut the corn off the cob with a knife for toothless Lucia.

We're reading Ivy & Bean books like crazy, as well as Critter Club books. Both series are really cute. Greta so desperately wants to read and practice sight words like Lucia--this morning, Lucia was going through her flashcards on her own, and writing out the words she knows in her notebook. I really think it drives Greta crazy not to be able to do these things. She's going to learn to read super-fast, I think, just because she's so determined to keep up with Lucia.

Final note: both girls signed up for our local library's summer reading club, which gives out little rewards for each hour you read. This is fun, and the girls are into it, but reading is such a standard part of our day that none of us ever remembers to "record" our time, and our time is so absurd anyway that it really doesn't matter. Especially in the summer, we must read for two hours over the course of each day. I was reminded about the book reading challenge we'd always do during grade school--the prize was a Pizza Hut personal pan pizza for whoever read the most books. I was always one of the winners, with page after page of book titles written out on looseleaf paper.

Okay! Andrew's whipping up a batch of Bisquick biscuits so we can have some late-night strawberry shortcake. See you tomorrow.

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