Is there a Teacher in the House?

Richard and Annabelle have been a little obsessed with the 200 water balloons we threw in our cart at the craft store the other day. Once I taught Annabelle to to tie them, dozens of blown-up balloons have populated the house, some with names, many with faces, still others hog-tied into bouquets.

What we hadn't used them for, until this morning, was water bombs, but at 9 AM I made good on my final promise of their visit and filled 30 balloons with water while the kids changed into their suits. We agreed on the rules in advance: stay within the boundary, no throwing from a range less than four feet, and no head-shots. In addition, the minute somebody cried, the battle was over, and everyone had to pick up the pieces.

The three of us had fun splatting balloons at each other's feet, although Richard did score a drenching hit on my back, and happily, none of us cried. When it was all over, picking up might have been a bit contentious were it not for my advance planning-- all of our balloons were color coded. Richard had blue and green, Annabelle pink and purple, and I orange and yellow, so there could be no excuse for leaving any latex behind.

A Tale of Two Cities and Knights

For many years my nephews and I have whiled away many a summer vacation hour playing a board game called The Settlers of Catan. Involving resources, trading, expansion, strategy and luck, the boys and I have enjoyed it since Treat and Josh were nine, and Riley and Eric were 12. Back then, those younger boys played their hearts out to beat the older guys, and sometimes I was glad that I was playing, too, so I didn't have to take sides.

This summer, it was time to initiate Richard into the tradition, and so Treat and I played a basic game with him a few days ago. Richard has a strategic mind, and although he lost, he did quite well for a newbie, and we have had had many discussions since about different game plans.

This afternoon, at Richard's request, the three of us took on the most complicated expansion version of the game. It was hard and a little stressful with the addition of Barbarians who relentlessly march on the island to pillage the cities we are trying to establish. The approach that was so successful for Richard in the first game turned out to be somewhat of a handicap to him in this one, and he became a little discouraged. Treat, on the other hand, embraced the complexity and had a great game.

Oh, I enjoyed the game, but I found myself once again torn between two boys, both so eager to do well, that I was sorry there could only be one winner, even if it turned out to be me.

(Which it didn't, by the way. Treat won the day, but Richard was downright chivalrous in defeat.)

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

Richard and Annabelle were sleepy this evening as we made our way home from Treat's birthday party. It had been another fun day packed with tie-dying, a pirate cruise on the Potomac, dinner at a restaurant, and then cake and presents back at Bill and Emily's, and it was close to 9 as we pulled into the parking lot.

A few blinks of light up near the woods caught Richard's eye, and in a flash he was on the hunt. I fetched a mason jar and mesh top from the house and the three of us set off across the grassy hills of the complex in search of fireflies. It was a little too late to catch very many, but we stayed at it because no one was ready to come in. 

"Can we do this again tomorrow night?" Annabelle asked when we got home. 

"Yes," I nodded as we opened the lid and watched all of our tiny captives crawl to the lip of the jar and then, in a blur of wings and a wink of light, regain their freedom.

Makin' Lemonade

We dragged Richard off to the farmer's market this morning: believe it or not, an almost 10-year-old boy thought he would rather stay home and play video games. Once we were there, though, he certainly made the best of it-- we were down 2 cucumbers, a pint of cherry tomatoes, half a basket of blackberries, 2 apple cider donuts, and a cup of nutella ice cream before we even made it back to the car!

Alarmist

"Oh no!" I said when I read the email message.

"What?" Annabelle asked with alarm.

"Somebody found a lost cat near the pool," I told her. "Heidi, have you seen Penelope lately?"

"How do you know that?" Annabelle said.

I read her the message: "Found a female cat this afternoon near the pool. She is about 4 years old and super friendly. If anyone knows of someone missing their cat, please ask them to call me at ***-***-****.

"Penelope is not four years old," Heidi said.

"And she definitely isn't super-friendly," Richard and Annabelle said together.

All true, and sure enough, our stand-offish 14-year-old cat was hiding under the bed.

Fresh and Local

This summer, as years past, we have a CSA farm share. Once a week we pick up a dozen eggs and a box of vegetables produced at an organic farm just a couple of hours south of here. As in most small agricultural enterprises, what we get relies upon the weather and varies quite a bit from year to year.

Last year, for example we got so many cucumbers that I started making old-fashioned lacto-fermented pickles. The results were like those giant dills we used to fish out of huge barrels at the deli counter with tongs and place in wax paper bags at the grocery store when I was a kid. 

As yummy as they were, I still cringed this morning when at least a quarter of our share was cucumbers. That was until Richard reminded me how much he loves cucumbers. In fact, he ate a big bowl of sliced cukes for breakfast, and believe it or not, 12 hours later? We are fresh out! 

Now if only he would start on the zucchini and turnips...

Christmas in July

At last two exciting gifts from this past Christmas were able to be properly used together.

Annabelle's mermaid tale and Heidi's underwater camera were reunited in the pool this afternoon.