22-23 June

WEEKEND DIARIES

Ah, the weekend has come and gone once again! My sister, Liz, is visiting for the week, and it's times like these that fly especially fast! Saturday we joined my sister-in-law and her family for their local "community day" parade. Every year the town has a parade and carnival to get together as a community and celebrate. We had a shady and close vantage point for the parade, and there was candy in abundance. The kids had a great time. Though I must say, I was amazed at how underwhelmed my kids were by the clowns. No excitement. No fear. What kind of people are we raising here?

That night we continued the fun and did a little camping as part of the Great American Backyard Campout. We have never camped with our three small children in a yard or elsewhere, primarily because I am a weak and timid human being. We left our pillows at home, the air mattresses we borrowed from the in-laws all deflated before the fireflies came out, V wouldn't sleep longer than 10 minutes at a time, and a violent storm arose around the 1 am hour. On the bright side, none of the parents had fallen asleep (or enjoyed any child free time around the camp fire) and were free to rush the children into the house before anyone was drenched and/or struck by lightning. 

top left photo by my sister Liz

We were also tenderly serenaded by the cacophonous sound of a car alarm. All night. One of the adults may or may not have finally called the police. Anyway, we survived, and I think that the kids actually had a great time. That's them up there on the top left catching bugs, and playing princess dress up. Us adults had many a laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, and more than one of us noted the irony of the chalkboard message hanging over our post-storm living room campsite. 

On Sunday we all needed to relax and recover. It was hot and humid so the kids played in the kiddie pool and we took our time unpacking the tents and sleeping bags and dirty laundry. We also enjoyed some of the fresh flavors of summer and I finished a book I've been working on for weeks. It is part tragedy and all comedy. You will either find it funny or offensive, so read at your own risk!