Rockin in LaX

Early in the week we sneaked out for some excellent kite flying but the highlight was a trip to LaX to hang out with the Bryan boys and it was a great time had by all. There were evening concerts given by each age group and plenty of laughs. The kids even managed to fit about 73 neighborhood kids into the tree fort, some dressed in garbage bags, and repainted the inside of the fort. This of course required a massive hose down effort upon completion and the youngest of the group were just washed down outside. We did a great morning hike, with a spectacular view of the bluffs, in Myrick park and were able to watch schools of bullheads slurping the surface of the water. Becky also played guide and lead us to a massive cottonwood tree for the kids to 'hug on." The sprinkler park was a literal hit, with Becky in command, the two youngest collided head-on after only about 5 minutes in the sprinklers resulting a massive nose bleed and much swelling for Ole. While his face was swollen most of the weekend and the two blackened eyes made the crash hard to forget, we did our best by spending the day at Lake Wazee. Wazee is an old iron mine with depths in excess of 300 feet and clarity that screams for a scuba tank. It was a bit of a drive and an equal wait time in the parking lot as we huddled between the two vehicles under a massive umbrella to wait out a passing rain/wind storm. It was well worth the wait. We spent about 5 or 6 hours at the fine sand beach with the kids snorkeling the majority of the time. Sophia only came out of the water to scrounge our picnic staples as a source of bait for the schools of small sunfish in the shallows. The kids found fish, frogs and even a small turtle. They also found the sandman on the way home.

beatin' the heat

It has been a very hot week, and we are doing are best to not find ourselves trapped inside, but also recognizing the beauty and necessity of a siesta culture. There have been plenty of freeze-pops, ice cream cones and wrestling in the round rubber beach. Even turned a cavity filling trip to the dentist into a positive by attaching our address to the helium balloons in hopes of a return to sender notice after sending them into a scorching sky. We had a couple of play dates with kids coming and going, but most cool was a surprise multi-night stay from Munkly-Arky. He even brought his bike and as such was able to keep the kids cool by putting some wind in there hair on several bike rides. To that end we knocked the training wheels off of Merrick's bike and he easily got up and going on two-wheels. This is of course now an obsession increasing our daily bike rides an entire order of magnitude. Needless to say Merrick is pretty proud of his new riding skills and was ear to ear smiles at getting to take a ride with Munkle Arky. As mentioned we can't be outside all of the time, as there are only so many freeze-pops, so the indoor time is mostly spent playing cards. Poker has become the game of choice and Merrick seems to follow his Sister's luck at cards. My pair of twos and ace high always subcumbs to there three of kinds or the occasional full house. Merrick even drew a nice ten-ace straight missing the royal flush by having an ace of diamonds rather than the ace of hearts--I have no intentions of playing either of them for real money any time soon. We have found some time to fly the kites and hit the neighborhood park as well. As always it is nice and cool in the library as well.

Almost a Junk week

Enough time outdoors and it will put you under for a while, as was the case this week. It slowed us down but we still managed to sneak in a little edutainment. Spent some time on the bike trail and hit the library, although Sophia forgot to bring her books and if I recall was just doing cartwheels in the backyard and telling me that she was ready. We also had plenty of play-dates, with Merrick getting his first out of the house experience. I dropped him off at his friends house for four hours of four-year-old frenzy and told the not-overly-excited babysitter I would see her at noon. He had a blast. Sophia had her normal twenty some engagements including some friends over here, during which Merrick cut her hair and then chased her with the scissors (oh, he is busy sometimes). She then spent the rest of the afternoon at the friends house and pool. Tuesday we went mini-golfing and being the first ones on the course there was nobody in front of us to slow us down. Merrick took this as a challenge to run through the course. I think we finished 18 holes in about 16 minutes (excellent expenditure of twenty bucks). I could barely keep him in frame for a picture. No rain, which is a first for us although no hole in ones either. Wednesday morning found us at the Botanical garden, which has added a lot of new features. We chased/hid from each other in the maze and the world's fastest slide is still holding rank. I try to catch the kids when the came out, but was told Merrick was coming and then the kids switched. It is a blind catch at best and Sophia's additional mass came shooting out and through my hands. She only bit her lip a little. The kids spent plenty of time in the children's garden area watering the topiaries. We did stop for a picture opportunity in which the kids put their faces cut-out flowers. Merrick kept looking over the top, and I eventually just took the picture. He walked up to me all smiles, "hey dad, did you get a picture of my junk?" Yep, he is busy. We hit the bikes again this morning in search of grasshoppers--Mitch is getting hungry. We didn't find any grass hoppers big enough to catch for him but had a nice ride and lit off the last of our three fireworks. These were the parachute flares that shoot about twenty feet in the air and then parachute down with magnesium flares. The same ones I accidentally shot into my own trees on the fourth.