How could I forget so quickly? Quarantine with four children is a maelstrom of wants and needs. Now I seem to be sick so I have time in bed to myself to look back fondly on better times - like Labor Day weekend!
All impromptu, we invited ourselves to my uncle's cabin and drove up Thursday evening and then adventured around! It was idyllic and wonderful and I hope we can go back soon.
Eric successfully transported the canoe to a lake
Here is the lake.
We discovered two backgammon boards and some fierce games were had!
We went for a hike, excuse me, a bear hunt, and had to go through some tall tall grass.
Here we all are in the canoe on a different day! Everyone had good boat safety sense, thank goodness. Edie lost her gatorade cap in the water - disaster! - but it floated, so we turned the canoe around and a kind older brother snagged it for her. Phew!
The fire pit was a big hit. Oscar made his own tiny fire pit on the side. Marshmallows were roasted. Ash was used to paint faces, hands, legs, rocks.
The neighbor's cat came to visit often. We named him Marshmallow, naturally. He adored the children and they adored him!
We remembered to bring a baby gate - expert parenting move! - which we did not need after all. But we forgot to bring any baby toys. Whoops! Fortunately, Winston's cat food cans and a bucket were all Ben needed to be so satisfied. He liked the cat toys, too! I know this photo is blurry, I really like Ben's expression though.
And, bonus, here's a short talk I gave about seeds for St. John's Alumni week. Woo! I haven't watched it myself of course, far too embarrassing, but I bet it's pretty good.
If I truly stay in bed all day, there may be more to report from Eric's phone...
First of all, I have successfully re-upholstered all the lab chairs with oilcloth (thanks for the idea, Johnnie!)
And Eric has successfully replaced our dishwasher with a sleek new drying rack setup. Tile floor even!
Eva came to visit, woo!! We went on a walk with John and Oscar and found an army of cicada exoskeletons. I thought for sure they all had fungal threads coming out of their heads but it turns out the white bits are part of the breathing apparatus.
John and Edie and Eva and I had a bo-po party. Edie and I painted each other's nails, ditto for John and Eva. John told Eva she messed up some of his fingers, and claimed that he had done hers perfectly. Not sure what to think about that attitude...
I was watering all the plants in the greenhouse and came upon this beautiful butterfly! Everyone in the lab said oh, how did that get in there? And the answer is...the windows are open, duh!
Here are about half of my constituents...from a few weeks ago. They are monstrous now! Carolyn hasn't pruned her grapes at all, and they're connecting together across the benches. Makes it pretty hard to get back there to water!
I spied this deluxe item in bulk pickup - turns out everything else in the pile was flooded by sewage water after a giant rain, but this just had mold...I couldn't see any of this mold myself. It's practically mint condition!
Edie scooted down to check out the bike with me, and Ben rode along on his new birthday bike/stroller/scooter. He loves it! He looks around so calm and happy, just cruising along!
Then Eric came home and we went back to get it - we tried the furniture dolly but it turned out to be easiest to just roll it along on its wheel.
Edie tried it out immediately. Now it lives in their dressing room and all the children take turns trying to get the rpms up to 70. We're ready for winter I guess!
