Monday, August 20, 2007
Weekends and Projects
The week before last I was in New Jersey. It was a good bu sines trip but, of course, I missed all the good stuff the family does when I'm home to see it. Getting home at the end of the week proved to be a challenge. My flight got canceled and, due to two prior days of poor weather and flight cancellations, I wasn't able to get home until Saturday in the evening. The basic course of events: flight canceled Friday -missed Nora's birthday; Saturday flight had mechanical difficulties and was delayed -missed Nora's birthday dinner with her extended family; got home but the airline lost my luggage. Sunday morning I rushed out and bought Nora both flowers and jewelry.
But time passes and we're back on an even keel. Friday evening we went to the library after dinner and found a "made-for-tv" Herbie the Lovebug movie. We haven't finished watching it yet, but I'm pretty sure its the dumbest Herbie movie ever made. It also has supplanted all other Herbie movies as Pierce and Anna's all-time favorite (it features an evil, intelligent black VW bug as Herbie's archenemy).
Saturday morning we went to the annual butterfly festival at Powell Gardens (our local Botanical Garden). We met our long-time friends, the Deavers, there and spent the morning together. Fortunately, we got a break from the heat and had a very nice morning. Aside from the butterfly displays, we also walked the gardens and visited the glass-sided chapel where the Deavers got married. En route, the kids found a caterpillar. Let's just say that the story ends badly; they all wanted to hold the caterpillar, then freaked out when it wiggled and would either drop it or flip through the air. It some how ended up under Anna's shoe just as she was putting down her foot. Her comment? That sure is a lot of caterpillar poop (no hon, those are guts).
We spent Saturday afternoon at the pool with Nora's brother and his family then had them over for Costco pizza. They're always a lot of fun to spend time with and we were sorry the evening ended so quickly. The pool was interesting in that Anna has created a new game: save Dad. I sink under the water and she swims out to me and brings me back to the wall. She insists we play this game in the deep end. I wore goggles while we played, and I could watch her smile underwater as she swam out to me. With each successive save I would swim out farther from the wall before sinking. Towards the end, Anna was swimming all the way across the diving well and swimming with me in tow all the way back. Amazing.
Sunday was a "Project" day. I fixed a number of Pierce's broken train engines and even jury-rigged coupling hooks on several that needed them. Nora spent a late Saturday evening and Sunday decorating the interior of Anna's dollhouse. It now has clocks, tissue boxes, electrical outlets, and light switches. After finishing up Pierce's trains, I turned my attention to building a attic/roof for the house. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. It just needs to be shingled (a project for tonight). Anna has already made the attic the bedroom for all four of her Barbie houses. Nora's been taking pictures of the dollhouse as we've been working on it -I'll try and post some pictures soon.
-Eric (Dad)
But time passes and we're back on an even keel. Friday evening we went to the library after dinner and found a "made-for-tv" Herbie the Lovebug movie. We haven't finished watching it yet, but I'm pretty sure its the dumbest Herbie movie ever made. It also has supplanted all other Herbie movies as Pierce and Anna's all-time favorite (it features an evil, intelligent black VW bug as Herbie's archenemy).
Saturday morning we went to the annual butterfly festival at Powell Gardens (our local Botanical Garden). We met our long-time friends, the Deavers, there and spent the morning together. Fortunately, we got a break from the heat and had a very nice morning. Aside from the butterfly displays, we also walked the gardens and visited the glass-sided chapel where the Deavers got married. En route, the kids found a caterpillar. Let's just say that the story ends badly; they all wanted to hold the caterpillar, then freaked out when it wiggled and would either drop it or flip through the air. It some how ended up under Anna's shoe just as she was putting down her foot. Her comment? That sure is a lot of caterpillar poop (no hon, those are guts).
We spent Saturday afternoon at the pool with Nora's brother and his family then had them over for Costco pizza. They're always a lot of fun to spend time with and we were sorry the evening ended so quickly. The pool was interesting in that Anna has created a new game: save Dad. I sink under the water and she swims out to me and brings me back to the wall. She insists we play this game in the deep end. I wore goggles while we played, and I could watch her smile underwater as she swam out to me. With each successive save I would swim out farther from the wall before sinking. Towards the end, Anna was swimming all the way across the diving well and swimming with me in tow all the way back. Amazing.
Sunday was a "Project" day. I fixed a number of Pierce's broken train engines and even jury-rigged coupling hooks on several that needed them. Nora spent a late Saturday evening and Sunday decorating the interior of Anna's dollhouse. It now has clocks, tissue boxes, electrical outlets, and light switches. After finishing up Pierce's trains, I turned my attention to building a attic/roof for the house. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. It just needs to be shingled (a project for tonight). Anna has already made the attic the bedroom for all four of her Barbie houses. Nora's been taking pictures of the dollhouse as we've been working on it -I'll try and post some pictures soon.
-Eric (Dad)
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