Emily, assisted by Uncle Kyle, walking on stilts.
Madeleine's turn on stilts.
Emily (standing) and Madeleine (kneeling) planting seeds with Aunt Chessy.After having been in Spokane (and at the lake) for about three weeks, we officially look and smell as if summer is upon us. In addition to Emily and Madeleine having sun-kissed cheeks, they also smell like sunblock most of the time; it invariably gets in their hair every afternoon and they spend 90% of the time looking as if their mother doesn't know how to bathe them. In fact there is a daily bath and periodic shampoo, but the next day's application of sunblock somehow negates the appearance of cleanliness. A vicious cycle really. My sweatshirt smells of the mosquito repellent I sprayed on it a week and half ago (yes I have washed it) and sand is everywhere.
Our first Saturday in Spokane we went to Uncle Kyle and Aunt Chessy's house for the afternoon. We brought our sunflower plants from Williamsburg and were able to plant them in the garden. (One of this spring's "Later Gators" was a gardening club. The girls joined. I thought, as did other mothers, the garden would be planted at school. Nope! The first week I was presented with two plastic cups each containing a sunflower seed. A gardener I am not and we are away for the summer....so I stuck the cups, now with gangly plants in the back row cupholders of the van and drove them across the country to their foster home.)
We watered (drowned) every other plant in sight, had our first stilts lesson and got to play with Uncle Kyle's Nerf gun, which we can now load and fire all on our own. Aunt Chessy showed us her "dumpster babies", plants she has rescued from the dumpster at work, and let us sprinkle the seeds for various vegetables. She suggested Madeleine and Emily could come back, pick the vegetables and eat a salad made out of them. The next day Emily suggested she and Madeleine can pick the vegetables and I can eat the salad.
We headed to the lake the following Monday and have basically been there since. "The lake" is really Coeur D Alene Lake, but the girls insist on calling it "Idaho Lake". At least they have the state right, I'm not rocking the boat. There are the annual pictures of swimming and driving the boat, but I haven't downloaded them yet, you'll have make do.
The swimming makes me shudder. The water is cold! Which is basically what you would expect early in the summer and after a rather cold and wet spring. However, Madeleine and Emily go charging in and hang-out until they are dragged, blue-lipped, from the water and promptly put in a warm bathtub. I remember being a kid and swimming, about the same time of year, much to the amusement/amazement of my grandparents...now, a "few" years later, I am on the side of my grandparents (a.k.a. the side of common sense) and can't believe people voluntarily hop in the water at this point in the season. More to the point, I hope I don't have to go in on a rescue mission and pluck one, or both, of the girls out.
Madeleine and Emily (back to the camera) playing Picture Tri-Ominos with Uncle Paul at the lake.
Madeleine, Emily watching Uncle Kyle skip rocks at the lake. The realization rocks can "skip" was met with utter amazement.We have gone to Coeur D Alene twice to partake in the Regal Family Film Festival. The folks of northern Idaho seem to take this a bit more seriously than those of Williamsburg. In Williamsburg, everyone blatantly carries in snacks and sippy cups abound. In Coeur D Alene they actually dim the lights all the way!
Emily and Madeleine are not at all fans of fireworks. It is felt they make too much noise (the same feeling holds for when blanks are fired from the cannon at Jamestown at home). However, today we screwed up our courage and bought six hens and a few ground flowers.
The girls watched the first ground flower from the kitchen window and came outside, impressed by their own bravery, to watch the second. Both hens, however, merited staying in the safety of the kitchen and watching through the window. We will save what is left for the pyro-expertise of the girls' uncles on Sunday.
Lest you think the only fireworks are those purchased at the fireworks stand...Emily and Madeleine enjoy playing in mud. I'm fine with this as long as they wear their old shoes and preferably clothing that is on the verge of being outgrown (and too ratty to be sold at the consignment store). One evening the girls were playing with mud and dirt. They were on the back side of the house with the planter boxes and gravel driveway (dirt galore). Mom and I were sitting on the deck on the opposite side of the house. There had been a few minor skirmishes, but nothing of note. Then the howling began. The type of howling that indicates someone is genuinely hurt and, more importantly, ticked off. I rounded the corner to find Emily clutching her back and claiming "Madeleine hit me with the shovel, the metal part!" As there was a small mark on Emily's back, the story was easily verified. However, the "shovel" is in fact a small gardening trowel. Madeleine was assertively marched into the house and placed at the top of the staircase for the longest time-out to date. Emily was consoled on the deck. While in time-out Madeleine proceeded to wail and sob to the point she gave herself a headache. During our end-of-time-out chat, a scowling puffy-eyed Madeleine expressed her outrage that "Emily took my dirt." I sympathized with the snatching of dirt, but reiterated that perhaps hitting our sister with a "shovel" is not a legitimate solution. At this point I was solemnly informed, "But Mommy, I didn't have anything else to hit her with!"
This afternoon, the girls decided to "make dinner" for the fairies and animals at the lake. This was done on the beach in lieu of swimming today. I believe the menu was soup (sand, pebbles, pine needles, flower blossoms), pebble tea and water. The beverages were served in sand buckets. It took quite a while to set out this lovely menu. I was pleased as: 1. There was little risk I'd have to go in and fish someone out of the water 2. It wasn't a game that involved a "teacher" as most of our games have lately; invariably a student revolt results. I thought the animals and fairies might leave a little thank you note, but it is rather late to be traipsing up and down the stairs, in the dark, at this point ...perhaps an alarm will be set and a note left in the morning.
