Summer: Mon., 7/2
Still hot, but not quite as brutal as yesterday. The morning was more or less unformed, with lots of reading Pippi Longstocking and playing games (pick-up sticks, Chinese checkers, tic-tac-toe, Chutes and Ladders, and checkers). We eventually went to the pond, which was fun and refreshing. Greta galloped around the pond on her pool noodle, which was her horse. Lucia floated all around pensively, lost in her own world. Both used the rope, scream-laughing, as a tightrope.
L&G are really adventurous about just swimming around without being in their rafts--they're old enough now to ask me why I, too, don't get out of my raft. I don't want to make them think anything's gross about the pond, so I sidestep the question--I want them to love swimming in the pond as long as they possibly can, because undoubtedly the day will come when they no longer want algae tangling around their legs, or muck covering their feet up to their ankles, or fish nibbling at them. Shiver. Floating in the boat-raft is blissful and that's where I will stay.
Then we had lunch (including more strawberries with Cool Whip), practiced piano, and played more games. Lucia has her Book One recital in a couple of weeks, and Greta has forgotten almost every song she's learned, so there's no summer break from the piano practicing. (Greta now has an incentive chart, with a trip to Five Below as the reward, for relearning her review pieces WITHOUT WHINING. That's the key piece. She's on board. Bribery is the best.)
Later in the afternoon, as the temperature intensified, we ran a few errands (Dollar Tree for glow sticks for the Fourth of July, Michaels for new acrylic paints because we need some and it was right next door to the Dollar Tree, Walmart for sundry items) and went out to dinner at the Weathervane, where we all ate clam strips. The restaurant was not air-conditioned as intensely as we'd hoped, and we asked for the bill quickly, forgetting we'd promised the girls they could have ice cream sundaes there. The service had been ridiculously slow and we were loathe to restart another ordering process, so we got the girls to agree to epic desserts back home: freezer pops (or whatever they're called--those flat-ish plastic tubes of flavored sugar water you cut the top off and push up to eat), two cookies, and a bowl of Cool Whip.
These evenings are the hottest part of the day. Really really really hot. We've planned a new NH adventure for tomorrow: tubing down the Connecticut River. This is something I've been wanting to do forever in PA, and we found out about an outfitter here that rents tubes and drives you to the starting point. Should be fun (and nice and cool to be out on the river).
Our time here is going much too fast. We're scrambling to fit in everything we want to do.
L&G are really adventurous about just swimming around without being in their rafts--they're old enough now to ask me why I, too, don't get out of my raft. I don't want to make them think anything's gross about the pond, so I sidestep the question--I want them to love swimming in the pond as long as they possibly can, because undoubtedly the day will come when they no longer want algae tangling around their legs, or muck covering their feet up to their ankles, or fish nibbling at them. Shiver. Floating in the boat-raft is blissful and that's where I will stay.
Then we had lunch (including more strawberries with Cool Whip), practiced piano, and played more games. Lucia has her Book One recital in a couple of weeks, and Greta has forgotten almost every song she's learned, so there's no summer break from the piano practicing. (Greta now has an incentive chart, with a trip to Five Below as the reward, for relearning her review pieces WITHOUT WHINING. That's the key piece. She's on board. Bribery is the best.)
Later in the afternoon, as the temperature intensified, we ran a few errands (Dollar Tree for glow sticks for the Fourth of July, Michaels for new acrylic paints because we need some and it was right next door to the Dollar Tree, Walmart for sundry items) and went out to dinner at the Weathervane, where we all ate clam strips. The restaurant was not air-conditioned as intensely as we'd hoped, and we asked for the bill quickly, forgetting we'd promised the girls they could have ice cream sundaes there. The service had been ridiculously slow and we were loathe to restart another ordering process, so we got the girls to agree to epic desserts back home: freezer pops (or whatever they're called--those flat-ish plastic tubes of flavored sugar water you cut the top off and push up to eat), two cookies, and a bowl of Cool Whip.
These evenings are the hottest part of the day. Really really really hot. We've planned a new NH adventure for tomorrow: tubing down the Connecticut River. This is something I've been wanting to do forever in PA, and we found out about an outfitter here that rents tubes and drives you to the starting point. Should be fun (and nice and cool to be out on the river).
Our time here is going much too fast. We're scrambling to fit in everything we want to do.
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