Summer: Sat. 7/18 (NH)
Our last day in NH. Three weeks have flown by. This is the longest we've ever stayed--we'd done two weeks before, but never three. The wonders of the pandemic! No one has to be anywhere except where they want to be! As long as that place is in driving distance!
We went to the pond in the late morning. I floated on the raft and the kids played maniacally with their various floats. They really treat the pond as a giant swimming pool, even swimming underwater with their goggles. You have to understand: the pond is untouched, untended, fully wild. It's not a charming, decorative pond with a nice cement bottom. No. It is mush: step in, and you'll sink up to your ankles. There are critters everywhere. Frogs, fish, tadpoles, salamanders, dragonflies, and the snapping turtle (somewhere). There are lily pads with long, slimy stalks. There is algae. There are large nests of other kinds of algae. There are cattails. Even after many summers of the kids enjoying the pond, I'm still surprised at how all-in they are. One of their favorite things to do is balance on this log that's been floating in the pond since last year--they call it Al, and it is just...hideously rotting and slimy. Yet they stand on it, sit on it. I privately shudder. They say they like the pond even more than swimming in a pool. On this, my children are wrong, very very wrong, because touching the pond and feeling algae weave through my fingers is terrible, and swimming in a cool, clean, clear pool is bliss.
Andrew brought Farrah into the pond for one final swim attempt. She seemed to hate it less this time--she didn't struggle when Andrew carried her in, and when he lowered her into the water she just calmly paddled to the shore, and then did a quick shake before lying down under a chair. Progress.
For lunch, we went out for ice cream. In summers past, we go out for ice cream all the time. But keeping ourselves isolated as much as possible appeals to both Andrew and me, so that's what we're doing. But we did go out today for an ice cream lunch.
Later in the afternoon, we went to our cousin's pool for a swim (hence my ready comparison, above). The kids do love pool swimming, and they spent their time jumping off the side of the pool onto rafts, and diving for Lego Friends.
Surprise, surprise, one of the Friends has gone missing. It took three weeks to lose one, but lose one we have. It could be in the pond, in the grass, in the woods. Or it might just be buried in the many containers of Legos that are now in Lucia's backpack. She'll be fine.
We had leftovers for dinner and then made a fire pit for s'mores, and Andrew and I deflated the many many floats from the pond.
Both girls have asked if we can just move to New Hampshire. They're so happy here. We hate to leave.
We went to the pond in the late morning. I floated on the raft and the kids played maniacally with their various floats. They really treat the pond as a giant swimming pool, even swimming underwater with their goggles. You have to understand: the pond is untouched, untended, fully wild. It's not a charming, decorative pond with a nice cement bottom. No. It is mush: step in, and you'll sink up to your ankles. There are critters everywhere. Frogs, fish, tadpoles, salamanders, dragonflies, and the snapping turtle (somewhere). There are lily pads with long, slimy stalks. There is algae. There are large nests of other kinds of algae. There are cattails. Even after many summers of the kids enjoying the pond, I'm still surprised at how all-in they are. One of their favorite things to do is balance on this log that's been floating in the pond since last year--they call it Al, and it is just...hideously rotting and slimy. Yet they stand on it, sit on it. I privately shudder. They say they like the pond even more than swimming in a pool. On this, my children are wrong, very very wrong, because touching the pond and feeling algae weave through my fingers is terrible, and swimming in a cool, clean, clear pool is bliss.
Andrew brought Farrah into the pond for one final swim attempt. She seemed to hate it less this time--she didn't struggle when Andrew carried her in, and when he lowered her into the water she just calmly paddled to the shore, and then did a quick shake before lying down under a chair. Progress.
For lunch, we went out for ice cream. In summers past, we go out for ice cream all the time. But keeping ourselves isolated as much as possible appeals to both Andrew and me, so that's what we're doing. But we did go out today for an ice cream lunch.
Later in the afternoon, we went to our cousin's pool for a swim (hence my ready comparison, above). The kids do love pool swimming, and they spent their time jumping off the side of the pool onto rafts, and diving for Lego Friends.
Surprise, surprise, one of the Friends has gone missing. It took three weeks to lose one, but lose one we have. It could be in the pond, in the grass, in the woods. Or it might just be buried in the many containers of Legos that are now in Lucia's backpack. She'll be fine.
We had leftovers for dinner and then made a fire pit for s'mores, and Andrew and I deflated the many many floats from the pond.
Both girls have asked if we can just move to New Hampshire. They're so happy here. We hate to leave.
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