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.