This weekend became a weekend of mini-milestones for the kids. Merrick moved up to a booster chair in both vehicles, making him feel the king of the world. This also allows him to buckle and unbuckle himself as we move in and out the vehicle. For her part Sophia got her initial badges put on her Brownie vest and is now an official member of the Girl Scouts of America. Once I ironed the troop numbers on her vest and allowed it to cool enough for her to put it one, she wore it the rest of the day. Even the dogs hit a milestone, much to their chagrin my prophecies came true and Sophia started to put her doll cloths on the dogs. Tony was voted most likely to be dressed, just because he is slow, docile and easy to catch, while Cleo bits, snaps and growls when Sophia approaches with any textile that was made with a teddy-bear proportions. Tony's first outfit appears to be a street-hood gangster, complete with Sophia flashing her second grade impression of gang signs.
Saturday was a beautiful day and started a weekend that just continued to get nicer, with temperatures at nearly 60 degrees in November we headed for the woods. We hiked along the sunset trail in Peninsula State Park in Door county. It was our first time on the trail and we didn't realize that it was reserved for cranky people. We passed three different hiking groups and only one guy responded politely when we greeted him with a hello. It might have something to do with the high volume the kids are able to produce outdoors or all of the sword fighting we were doing with the sticks we found, but still it is just impolite not to return somebodies salutation. These other hikers apparently thought we should have kept the kids indoors so they could complain about how you never see kids playing outside anymore and then blame the most current video game or technological device. The sword fighting was a riot and clearly a product of the kids watching too much Star Wars and Karate Kid, so I know the kids are getting their American allotment of digital entertainment. On the way home we stopped for a mid day meal at PC Junction. An old bar that has a train theme complete with an electric train that runs along the bar to deliver your food. The kids thought it was great fun and particularly liked it when nobody was getting food and the cargo contained singing dogs and bubble machines. I could have done without the soap bubbles on my fries, but we weren't really there for me. Sunday was a solid house cleaning before the Grandparents arrived. Bob and Nancy showed up with all the accouterments of grandparentdom; math flash cards, coloring books, candy and of course quality cheese. We all took a short walk along the bike trail and then spent much of the afternoon skipping rope in the back yard. By days end, which seemed to come early on the first day of the time change, we found ourselves outside with a campfire and the kids and neighbor girl playing ditch under the 5pm stars. All in all a pretty good weekend, as any weekend spent with family generally is.
