Dress up Esme is a girly girl. She only wears dresses (she calls them 'princess dresses' of course), she likes to paint her toenails pink, and she prefers to sport 7 barrettes (she calls them hairclips) at at time instead of just two. Last night before bed I was sheparding Max through the pajamas, toilet and toothbrushing routine while Esme was waiting in her room. When I walked in, she proudly displayed Wee Emma, her three foot long stuffed Newfoundland dog, all decked out with beads around her neck, bracelets around her paws, and several hairclips clinging to the fur on top of her head. Truly a dog fit for a princess.
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Not fair Life isn't, but try telling that to a not-quite-three-year-old. One of our new routines involves Pete and the kids picking me up from the train station in the evening. I then drive the car home while Peter rides the bike that he left there during the morning commute. Since there is a child seat on the back of the bike, Max has been bringing his helmet along and catching a ride home with Daddy. Esme got her first turn on Monday, and was thrilled. Max and I were stopped at one of the many lights along the way when Pete and Esme passed us on the bike. Esme waved frantically from her rear seat yelling "Hi Mommy! Hi Max!" while Max was encouraging me to run the red light so they wouldn't beat us home... Last night was Max's turn. As soon as Max got out of the car Esme started in with the "It's not fair, I want it to be my turn" rhetoric. In an effort to distract her from whining I asked her if she had had a nice day. "No," she a...
Beating the heat It's been well over 90 degrees and humid for several days now. Yesterday we spent some time outside in the morning before it became too hot to play. Then a trip to the Y for some indoor swimming to cool off. We had the shallow end of the pool to ourselves, so there was lots of room to play. Esme insists that she can 'do it myself' and paddles around with the help of a bubble around her waist. After lunch and naptime we took the boat out for a ride. The breeze on the water made it quite comfortable, but there were too many waves to go far. We borrowed a mooring in the harbor and the kids took turns jumping off the back of the boat to be caught by Peter. I stayed onboard to lift them out again after each turn. Aside from the temperature, it was a lovely day.
South Lake Photos will have to wait until Dad emails some, for while I did carry my camera to South Lake this weekend, I never did get it out of my purse... We arrived in time for bedtime on Friday with much excitment. As we drove down the last stretch of maccadam Esme was calling out from the back seat "I'm coming Grandpa! Don't worry about me - I'm coming!" We had the most gorgeous Saturday imaginable at camp. Perfect weather and bugs only found in the deep woods. We took a lovely cruise around the lake and the kids enjoyed playing on the new swing set that Grandma and Grandpa had erected on Friday. But the big draw was the lake. Max spent hours playing in the shallows, hunting for treasure, and escaping from sand tiger sharks. Esme made up her own games in the water, spreading muddy sand on her legs and then wading in to wash them off. The kids went to bed exhausted and everyone had a great time.
Summer Camp Max is attending Ecology Camp this week at a local nature conservancy. The property includes woodland, meadow, and shoreline habitats. The kids seem to be having a great time exploring and learning about the flora and fauna. They have also made such useful items as ink from grasses and balls from clay. Max is in his element, and we have already signed him up for another week in August. This weekend he'll get to put his new knowledge to the test, as we're headed to South Lake for an extended visit with Grandma and Grandpa.
Happy Birthday America We spent our 4th of July weekend upstate with Colleen, Jim, Liam and Molly. On the ride up Peter and I discussed with Max the significance of the 4th of July date. Max explained to us that he understood what the Revolutionary War was about - "America wanted to be its own island, previously it belonged to Europe. George Washington crossed the Delaware and we beat the British." Yep, that pretty much sums it up. We had some disagreement though when it came to talking about age as Max refused to differentiate between the age of the country and the age of the earth. Colleen and I took Max and Liam to see the town's firework display on Saturday night - a first for both of them. We were invited to view them from a friend's property, High Goal Farm , which turned out to be a small mountain with a 30 mile view that also looked directly across to the fireworks. Before heading up the mountain for the main event our hosts treated their guests to an exhibiti...