- Our holiday weekend was fabulous. It was a mix of so many wonderful things – family, hard work, outdoor cooking and eating, relaxation, long walks, good friends. Highlights included:
Finally starting work on the inside of our house, planting veggies in my planters on the deck, and getting a gate for our deck fence (thanks entirely to Andy’s parents).
Taking a long evening stroll in the country with my best friend of 16+ years. We don’t see each other often now, because we live a couple hours apart, so those times we are together are treasures.
Taking another long evening stroll, on Memorial Day, down to the town cemetery with the kids and my dad. I wasn’t able to visit the cemeteries were my grandparents are this year, but I did get to visit some beloved friends’ graves. It was a lovely evening and a special time of reminiscing and chatting with my dad.
Getting our family pictures taken at a beautiful park by a beautiful lake on a beautiful day.
Aria was fascinated, and slightly disturbed, by the statue of a Civil War captain in the cemetery.
- Noah has slept in a bed next to me (as in, not in my bed) portions of the last two nights. The first night he wasn’t feeling well, so he didn’t stay long (about 3 hours), because he needed comfort. Last night he stayed for a good 7 hours or more before he moved into our bed. Progress!
- We are spending portions of each day outside now. It’s glorious. Noah and I often go to the deck when he wakes up from his nap, and then Aria joins us when she wakes up. I have managed to get sunburnt already, but the kids are fine. I remember to lotion them up better than I do myself.
- I have been doing a lot of reading this month. I’ve settled into a groove of taking Noah outside and reading on the deck while he plays. It’s not super relaxing, since I have to get up and chase him away from the plants regularly. But then when Aria gets up he plays with her and is content to leave the plants alone. I currently have eight books going – one for a church discussion group, one for book club, two for work, three for personal use/pleasure, and one on my phone for when I’m stuck waiting somewhere. Tomorrow is the last day of the month, which means “What I’m Into”. I’ll fill you in on the reading details then.
- We went to the zoo on Wednesday with Cass and her kids and another good friend (Hannah) and her baby son. It was a gorgeous day to be out. Aria had a couple mishaps, one of which resulted in a skinned knee, and the other of which resulted in slight emotional trauma. She and Claire got in a safari jeep that sits out in the Africa exhibit, and had a gay ol’ time…until Claire got out and a couple other kids started crowding to get in. At that point Aria got a bit terrified. She does that when she loses track of me in a crowd. What was interesting about this time was that a day later she told me the story of how she “rode in the ‘poo bus’ (I think she was trying to say ‘school bus’…), and Claire got out and I got sad.” But then we totally got within a couple well-protected inches of the male lion, and that was SO exciting! More to me than Aria, but still.
Aria bonded with Hannah | Getting two toddlers to look at you at the same time is practically impossible.
