Summer: Mon. 7/13 (NH)

I'd promised the kids a trip to the bookstore today, so after breakfast we set out. The only bookstore available is a Books-A-Million, but the girls found plenty of great options. Greta selected the first three books of the original Warriors series, which truly is the perfect series for Greta--as far as I can tell, they're about a world populated only by cats. All the characters are cats. Lucia--who always has a hard time choosing books and was walking around with a stack of about ten--selected three books that are each the first in a different series. A dangerous option, I told her, since if she loves the first book she'll have to wait a little while to get the next, but she decided to go ahead anyway.

We ate lunch when we got home and then headed to the creek. Greta was determined to catch a crayfish in her net, but they're too wily to be caught. We hiked just a little way down the creek and then tried again for the crayfish. We also saw a new creature, a crayfish with huge blue claws.

Next up: pond. Farrah relaxed in the shade under my chair while the girls swam for at least two hours, and I read. They love love love the pond. When they finished swimming we all read together in chairs for a while.

Lucia and Andrew played bocce while the grill heated up for dinner; our cousin stopped by for a chat; and Greta continued reading Warriors. There was some fire pit time, and s'mores. These days fly by.