A weekend at "home"

We planned a little Staycation this weekend but still spent some time of the road. Saturday we rebuffed two more distant beaches for a man-made gravel bottomed swimming hole that is only across the river from the house. As it happens this was also the last day the swimming hole was open as it was to close for the winter. It was by far the warmest waters we have swam in all year, having got quite used to the great lakes and the summer norms of mid sixties, the bathwater like water was a nice change. On Sunday we headed down to Appleton and took in a mid day baseball game in which the Timberrattlers hosted a Cedar Rapids team. Not the the kids nor the adults paid much attention to the game except when the benches cleared. Bench clearings are different in baseball than in hockey, it appears in baseball everyone just runs out (including the bull pens with both teams jogging together) to be seen, rather than in hockey where you tend to grab the closest person and hit them. A beautiful day and the kids played in a monster sized sandbox and a large swing set taking a break only to eat some cotton candy and hamburgers. Monday found us on the road again as the kids came to work with me to get some things prepared. We found time on the way home to stop at a park as well as fly the kites that I keep in the truck. It was our first good kite flying of the year and Merrick just kept telling me that "I got the hang of it dad" and then giving Sophia unsolicted albeit good advice. Merrick was master of the spiderman kite, and was even double fisting the line as he pulled in and gave slack to keep the kite aloft. This is such an improvement over the last time he double fisted anything.