Summer: Wed., 7/5
We definitely felt the effects of the kids' late bedtime last night. Lucia's old enough now to basically remain human even while tired, but Greta--her whining spiraled out of control a few times today. Nothing is worse than a whining Greta.
The best story first: At dinner tonight, after many many hours of happy, pleasant Greta and a lot of family fun, I suggested that perhaps tomorrow she might decide not to whine. "I promise," she said. "Tomorrow I won't whine." Then she put her palm in front of her face, as though it were a notebook, and said, "Let me just check my whining schedule. Oh--every day says whining!" I lost it. So did Lucia. Then Greta pretended to make notes in her schedule, saying, "I'll just change this to 'not whining'!" She kills me, this child. The things she comes up with--I just can't handle it. Whining schedule? She's too much.
The day began with pancakes and then some whining. Lucia and I escaped to the pond, where Lucia caught her first fish of the summer in her net. She was so shocked and terrified that she immediately dropped the net into the water. (She wanted me to catch the fish after that--and I did, several times. Letting them go right away, of course.)
When we went back to the house, Greta (no longer whining) was helping Andrew scrape paint off the wall in the living room. (Andrew has decided, against my wishes, because I'm fond of peeling paint, to repaint a wall.) We read a few chapters of A Little Princess, worked on a puzzle, had lunch. I really scraped the bottom of the barrel for lunch today--we all got just a few pieces of old brie on crackers. Farmhouse life! We'd planned our groceries very meticulously...up to and not including today's lunch.
We then went grocery shopping and out for ice cream. We had to wait for our internet service repair man to fix the wi-fi for a bit of the afternoon, but after that we all went down to the pond for more fun with the rope and inflatable boats. Seriously, I love this so much, more than the girls for sure. Zipping across the peaceful pond, from end to end, without ever having to actually be in the water among the fish and pond plants--it's ideal. L&G zipped along for a while in the boats but then decided to "tightrope walk" along the rope by themselves, which they're able to do safely with their life jackets. They had so much fun. I left them to it and just floated around the pond in my inflatable boat. I saw tadpoles, fish, and a few frogs.
OH! I forgot to write about something amazing from Monday. Monday, as we walked down the road to get to the pond, I noticed something swimming in the water, near the rope. It was the fabled snapping turtle! Though many have seen him, he's only appeared to us once before, about two years ago. We hadn't seen him since, and feared he was dead. Not so. He floated to the surface, seemingly investigating our rope, and even lifted his head above water. Then he slowly disappeared back into the deep.
Anyway--after our pond fun, we changed clothes. L&G said they wanted to "take a walk to collect stones and wildflowers," which isn't a request I'll ever deny, so Andrew cooked up some boxed mac and cheese for them while I took them down to the road.
Later, after the kids' bedtime, Andrew grilled us steaks and we ate behind the house, looking out at Mount Uscutney. A perfect summer day.
The best story first: At dinner tonight, after many many hours of happy, pleasant Greta and a lot of family fun, I suggested that perhaps tomorrow she might decide not to whine. "I promise," she said. "Tomorrow I won't whine." Then she put her palm in front of her face, as though it were a notebook, and said, "Let me just check my whining schedule. Oh--every day says whining!" I lost it. So did Lucia. Then Greta pretended to make notes in her schedule, saying, "I'll just change this to 'not whining'!" She kills me, this child. The things she comes up with--I just can't handle it. Whining schedule? She's too much.
The day began with pancakes and then some whining. Lucia and I escaped to the pond, where Lucia caught her first fish of the summer in her net. She was so shocked and terrified that she immediately dropped the net into the water. (She wanted me to catch the fish after that--and I did, several times. Letting them go right away, of course.)
When we went back to the house, Greta (no longer whining) was helping Andrew scrape paint off the wall in the living room. (Andrew has decided, against my wishes, because I'm fond of peeling paint, to repaint a wall.) We read a few chapters of A Little Princess, worked on a puzzle, had lunch. I really scraped the bottom of the barrel for lunch today--we all got just a few pieces of old brie on crackers. Farmhouse life! We'd planned our groceries very meticulously...up to and not including today's lunch.
We then went grocery shopping and out for ice cream. We had to wait for our internet service repair man to fix the wi-fi for a bit of the afternoon, but after that we all went down to the pond for more fun with the rope and inflatable boats. Seriously, I love this so much, more than the girls for sure. Zipping across the peaceful pond, from end to end, without ever having to actually be in the water among the fish and pond plants--it's ideal. L&G zipped along for a while in the boats but then decided to "tightrope walk" along the rope by themselves, which they're able to do safely with their life jackets. They had so much fun. I left them to it and just floated around the pond in my inflatable boat. I saw tadpoles, fish, and a few frogs.
OH! I forgot to write about something amazing from Monday. Monday, as we walked down the road to get to the pond, I noticed something swimming in the water, near the rope. It was the fabled snapping turtle! Though many have seen him, he's only appeared to us once before, about two years ago. We hadn't seen him since, and feared he was dead. Not so. He floated to the surface, seemingly investigating our rope, and even lifted his head above water. Then he slowly disappeared back into the deep.
Anyway--after our pond fun, we changed clothes. L&G said they wanted to "take a walk to collect stones and wildflowers," which isn't a request I'll ever deny, so Andrew cooked up some boxed mac and cheese for them while I took them down to the road.
Later, after the kids' bedtime, Andrew grilled us steaks and we ate behind the house, looking out at Mount Uscutney. A perfect summer day.
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| Full disclosure: This picture is staged. "Stand next to each other and look out at the meadow," I instructed. Their arms around each other, however, was their own decision. |
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