Summer: Sunday 6-23-24

 We had a very full and very fun New Hampshire day. It was rainy in the morning, but by 11 it stopped, so Andrew and I headed outside to start all of our NH setup. First, we weed-clipped all the bushes and weeds that had grown up over the path into the woods, and then clipped all the weeds in our hammock area. Then we hung the four hammocks. 

Next, we took our clippers to the back of the house and clipped all around a big tree back there that has an excellent branch for a swing. We cleared a nice area around and under the tree. Then we got out all the random carabiners and cords we'd brought from home, along with the swing, and began the difficult task of figuring out how to hang it. We are not engineers, and unfortunately our brains are engineering-deficient in exactly the same way, so there was over an hour of us attempting to figure out how to "winch" a strap around the (very high) branch while still being able to reach the end of it to attach the swing, etc. We used a lot of carabiners; Andrew took too many risks on a rickety ladder; the straps kept getting tangled in tree branches. But we did it! And it's a great addition to the Magical World o' Fun we have up here. 

Meanwhile, Lucia was toiling away on her geometry at a little desk upstairs. (Dad already knows this part, because when I went to check on her she had him on Facetime, blessed tutor on demand.) After lunch, Andrew helped her finish the last couple of sections, and then we went outside to blow up all the inflatables for the pond. This is a very time-consuming task, because we have a great number of inflatables and very ineffective air compressors. But we managed to do it. The day was not very warm, but the lure of the pond was great, so the girls swam and played until a thunderstorm sent us inside.

The girls and I spent the late afternoon making beaded bracelets, sitting around the dining room table. The kids made bracelets with the names of their favorite book characters, so honestly I feel like my work here is done. It's just done! When their instinct is to obsess over choosing bead colors that best align with book characters, then I feel like...we're good here. Sure, Lucia can do geometry, or whatever, but the important knowledge and values have been imparted. 

We all went for a run. I plodded along on my Couch to 5K run/walk while Andrew and Greta passed me multiple times on the road. Lucia opted to run in the woods and was gone so long that Andrew had to run in to find her. (He did. She'd just paused for a bit to "look at the view" from the top of a field.) 

Andrew grilled chicken to have with our pesto for dinner. Then the girls went back out to swing. 

It's been a magical NH day. The girls made each other laugh hysterically all day, they played fun games in the pond, they walked around with their wooden canes. It feels insane that we manage every year to opt out of regular life and come up here, and it's so physically arduous and inconvenient to be here (every surface feels wet in the humidity; the oven no longer works; etc), but it's worth every tick-check.

What We're Reading:

Margo: Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo

Andrew: still working on the Erik Larson, The Demon of Unrest

Lucia: Inheritance Games

Greta: House in the Cerulean Sea (she finished it today and loved it so much she gets almost angry when she talks about it)