Staying Busy

In a month with no rain, we have been too busy to sit down and update the blog.  School ended for the kids and Merrick graduated from the CP center.  A milestone indeed as both kids will be in 'school' next year and a new school at that.  Sophia had her last concert and was Ragna the Gnome in the school play.  She delivered her lines with all the gusto we would expect from Sophia playing a Norwegian Baking Gnome.  She also had her bridge ceremony for Girl Scouts and will join a new troop next year at the new school, fortunately the girl scouts are more lax on switching loyalties than some other gangs and I don't expect any retaliations.  During one of her last GS meetings Merrick and I found our selves a the sauce slinging counters of A&W, pounding frosty mugs and fries.  Turns out it was a bit much for the boy, and he got 'the spits' and had to rest outside on the curb for awhile. Soccer is in full swing for Merrick, although due to much confusion the season is only half done when it was originally scheduled to be finished by now.  Merrick is playing strong, and we are getting a bunch of backyard practice as the three of us play 2 on 1. Both the kids are really looking for passes, as they now understand if the pass well, there is no way I can beat them--good lessons on teamwork and part of the general 'edutainment' of the summer. Still starting the day with about an hour of school work each morning and Merrick's spelling is coming along and Sophia has begun recorder lessons, I told her if she plays hot cross buns backwards it is Smoke on the Water, so I am thinking that will be a hit at her new school.  The round-rubber beach is back up, although it is new this year due to a leak in last years model.  The new model is three feet wider and some cubic relationship greater in total water volume, I didn't calculate it as I had to fill both of them and figure it is somewhere in the neighborhood of 2400 gallons of water that the the Water Department is going to want to 'discuss' with me.  The bigger issue was that the larger pool meant the old cover didn't fit and squirrels are not strong swimmers (pool 3, Squirrels 0).  We now have a cover that fits the pool.  We did get a couple of new pictures painted and they are proudly hanging in the kids' rooms.  Father's day found us on the links, for some mini-golf action.  Sophia got a hole in one and Merrick shot either a three or four on every hole.  His math is pretty good, so he was apparently working on other aspects of his 'game.'  Sophia has been working on her cooking and baking, she did all the of kabob prep work last night and earlier in the week, made the shortcake for the last of the '11 strawberries.  We even perfected the outdoor grill for baking the shortcakes.  This week we are planning on replenishing the strawberry supply now that the picking is open.  We also have plans to hit the trails for some horse riding.  Plenty to do and the kids are the perfect people to do it with.

The Boys are Back in Town...

Been some busy weeks complete with the start up of Soccer for Merrick and the end of Gymnastics for Sophia.  Sophia is planning on taking a break from the gym for the summer and starting dance in the fall.  Merrick and I will need to find another hour outlet for our weekly basketball PIG games and football tosses.   Mother's day weekend allowed  the Klan Bryan to arrived for a weekend stay and we stayed pretty busy including a trip to the 35th anniversary of Heritage Hill. There were pancakes and pork fingers for everyone and all the buildings were open with live interpreters.  The kids were able to watch the sheep shearing as well as follow all the steps for washing, dying and knitting the wool and were able to try their hand at the washing stages of yarn preparation. Tram rides, old-time baseball games and calendars at the print shop helped to round out the rest of the four hour tour.  After a walk home it was a crash time for everyone. There were plenty of campfires for the adults and dark hide/seek for the kids interspersed by some variation of gun games.  Sophia was able to convince the boys, sans Merrick, for a couple of rounds of dress up and make-up time as well.

Bridges, bean bags, birthdays, blossoms....

The alliteration is not hyperbole, this weekend found us with all things B, except the quality of the weekend which by all means an A+.  After some quick sewing on the last couple of patches to find their way onto Sophia's vest we headed to the gym for the bridging.  Sophia had a her bridge ceremony on Friday night and she bridged from a Brownie to a junior girl scout.  Grandma and Grandpa came over to watch and brought with them the now obligatory EC cheese and cream pie.  It was a fast trip over and back for them but much appreciated by the kids and I.  Friday night, as the kids liked to giggle about, found me with my first sleep over in a very long time.  When my friend Joe spent the night rather than a lot of wasted time on the road between his 'part-time' job.  Saturday morning found us up and at them and we spent some time in the gardens and flower beds and pruned and weeded around the new tulip blossoms. The weather was cold but we did find time to hit a couple of thrift sales and look for treasures and Merrick found a 50 cent radar gun which paid it forward for when he later got his fingers slammed in the truck door. Merrick had a bouncy house birthday party to go to and Sophia and I decided we would head to the burger joint while he was practicing his kangaroo escape patterns.  The afternoon we did some general domestic stuff and Merrick camped out pretty early, all bounced out.  Sophia did learn to sew on Sunday morning and not only is a natural at the patience and tightly placed stitches but also took a great deal of well earned pride on the rice-bag she made.  It was taken to school on Monday for show and tell and will come in handy on both cold nights warm from the microwave as well as to soothe the aforementioned crunched fingers and bonked heads.  The weather warmed and we spent the afternoon lounging in the backyard sun with some friends, the kids played the adults discussed the beauty of life with kids and all was good in the world.  Even the robin that now lives in the garage thought it was a pretty good time likely smiling a whimsical smile at all the kids in various wildlife costumes around the yard.

The Beauty of Spring and Regrowth

As the rush of family birthday's comes to an end and April nears its middle, we are still knee deep in activity.  The back half of last week found on us several postparandial pedestrian strolls and even a couple of bike rides.  We even sneaked in some time to paint up the birds that Grandpa Bob made a week or so back.  They are now decorating the backyard trees. Merrick is getting used to his new and larger bike and Sophia is becoming more accustomed to watching her blind spots as they race along the bike trail leap frogging each other and hollering "passing on your left." Sophia played at a friends house on Friday night and Merrick and I putzed around the yard, pulling weeds and burning brush.  Saturday we had to skip Merrick's soccer because he was puking.  I suspect it was because he had refused to eat for about 18 hours and as a consequence his 'fast shrunking belly' didn't do well with pounding a glass of water in the morning.  He rebounded quickly and we were able to raise the camper from its winter slumber.  Everything looked great with no winter water damage.  The three of us teamed up to ready the water system running several gallons of chlorinated water through the plumbing and replacing the faucet handles that had broke last summer.  I was so happy with my ceiling repair and subsequent dryness that I was a little perplexed when Sophia said "ah, Dad I am standing in a lot of water."  I had forgotten to reattach the pump line  and the level of water in the intake had caused a substantial flow to fill the floor of the cabin and leak out the back corner of camper.  It was readily cleaned up with the few remaining clean towels in the house (Merrick's puking used a substantial number in the morning).  The camper set up to air out we headed out to a birthday party at a nearby park.  It was a beautiful day under the slowly budding oaks and the playground equipment still had the new plastic smell, having just been installed.  Sunday we awoke to rain but good health and good spirits.  Breakfast was interrupted by an awareness that the squirrel that is now living in the birdhouse, was 'home.'  Merrick felt this was a prime opportunity to strip off his shirt and run through the rain to have a discussion with the squirrel and his current living conditions.  With the forecast for Sunday for continual rain and possible storms we planned a roadtrip to Appleton with some friends to play around in the Children's Museum.  The kids wore themselves out on all the exhibits and then we wore them out a little more in the backyard.  As the forecast severity decreased the need to grill increased and it was another wonderful way to end weekend and recharge for the week to come.

Toys, Ticks and Teeth

A busy weekend on all fronts. First and foremost it was Merrick's Birthday weekend. While his actual birthday was safely nestled in the middle of the week, the weekend was time for a party. It was great party well hosted, well attended and well supplied with smiles, sugar and colored paper. Now that Merrick is 5 and his future is so bright, it appears that even breakfast requires shades. We did spend some after party time outside tearing apart an old 'trailer' and having a small fire in the backyard. Saturday was cool and a little rainy so the warmth of the fire felt nice and was a good way to relax after the party. Sunday morning it was time for Sophia to feed the tooth fairy again, losing her 10th tooth. This of course requires more for Sophia than just putting the tooth under her pillow but also requires an ongoing list of written questions that the tooth fairy must answer when taking the tooth. She has become more concerned with the left-handed written answers than she has with the money for the tooth. During the day we went for a nice hike in the Oconto, but were quite surprised by the amount of ticks that were out. We were on the trails and not really in the woods, but still managed to find a half-dozen of the little buggers with one attaching itself in Sophia's calf. We rounded out the weekend with some play time in the backyard and a little grilling out.

"Barely" reaching the 100th Post

The wonderful counter tells me that this has been blog/diary/crapbook entry number 100. The years have clicked by and I still take great pleasure in flipping through the older posts and reliving the adventures and smiles along the way. This week has been equally busy as all the others. Friday was off to a bang when Sophia called a friend to come over and ended up at open gym until 'late' in the evening. Merrick and I played baseball and football until the sun went down and then I waited up for Sophia to come home, ah the years add up quickly. Saturday we started off with Merrick's soccer as always and then after a brief trip to Fleet-Farm, where as Sophia points out "no trip is complete without trying on the hats." we were back home wrapping gifts for not one but two birthday parties. Each kid had a party to attend and the times overlapped efficiently enough as to cover a swath of afternoon and well into the evening. It was fun in that it allowed me time alone with each kid. During Sophia's early afternoon party Merrick and I head off to the woods for barefoot hike in the swamp. Needless to say we didn't see anyone else in the swamp as we watched for animal tracks took note of the returning birds and wandered through the woods as quiet as the breeze on our soft early spring pads. During Merrick's party, Sophia and I found some time to bottle up a batch of beer before heading back to pick up Merrick. We then all headed over to 5 guys for a big burgers for the carnivores and some roasted legumes for the little bruiser. Everyone was pretty tired and Sunday morning found a quiet house until after a 7 am, a minor accomplishment for these early rising crew. The kids worked on their morning yoga poses before breakfast and I took care of some basic domestic chores from laundry and dishes to the continual job of roof patching and maintenance. Then it was time to head back out to the woods, we cranked off another barefoot hike this time with the added giggles of Sophia to accompany the singing birds. I am not sure they will ever hike with shoes on again, and that seems fine with me. We also took in the first thrift sale of the year on our way home before stopping for a Frosty. Sophia headed over to a friends house while Merrick and I washed the truck, but all the activity has everyone pretty content to just relax and prepare for the upcoming week. The weather has been amazing for March with the temperatures near 80 today I suspect we can fit in one more short walk this evening just to feel the warmth on our bare feet.

Spring time in March

Spring is here the yard is clean and the robins and red-winged black birds are eagerly greeting each warm morning. We have been plenty busy but finding it hard to do much outside. We did put on some major miles as we criss-crossed the upper midwest for Munkle Arky's wedding. With the church van loaded up with the whole family there were plenty of laughs and we remembered how easy it is to pass the miles with a load of smiles. We are sneaking out for short walks and bike rides but it is only now that the time change has allowed some daylight at the end of our days during the week. The kids are plenty booked up this weekend with double and overlapping birthday parties so I am not expecting a lot of outside time this weekend either. We did head down to the coffee shop after school one day for everyone to work on their school work. Merrick continues to work on spelling and phonics and his penmanship is quite good. He is very eager to learn and it is fun to watch him develop. Sophia really liked the coffee shop idea and a little hot chocolate always helps the math make more sense. She continues to impress herself with her own progress which is super cool to watch her self esteem grow and develop. The kids and I have been doing a little bit of yoga in the evenings to help get everyone relaxed and clear headed from the day. It is pretty to cute to watch Merrick sit ram-rod straight and focus on his breathing. The weather is supposed to hold through Sunday and with the bike tires all fully inflated we can hopefully get in a longer bike ride or hike to see the new plants popping along the hiking trails.