SuMmEr!

Happy summer everyone.  Hope you enjoyed your first day of summer--aka Memorial Day.  Rex asked several times what we celebrate at Memorial Day (for Easter and Christmas, Greg and I send a lot of time explaining and teaching and demonstrating why we celebrate the holidays), and I half-heartedly explained about remembering people who died in wars, but really what I wanted to say is SUMMER!  We pagen-ly welcome warm weather but donning our whitest whites,  roasting hot dogs, and worshiping the sun by sitting under it all day as it turns our winter white skin to a glossy shade of painful pink.  Those of us who don't despise shopping, do that.  (I'm such a good example of gratitude and patriotism I can hardly stand it--as a side note, Rex has also recently learned the definition of sarcasm).

We started the day with cleaning and trying to get all of Alice's stuff out of the nursery and into her now-shared room with Rex.  At noon we headed over to Parker's Paradise--a fire pit complete with flagstone and hammocks the neighbor boy built behind their house.  We were trying to have a Wheatley Compound cook out but our new neighbor didn't come.  Attempt at neighborliness and friendship made.  We roasted hot dogs and popsicles for a few hours with the Wheatley's despite the new neighbor's absence.

As soon as we got home we got in the car to go strawberry picking.  Greg was itching to make some jam.  We broke up into teams--Greg and Rex were to pick a gallon and Alice, Henry and I were to pick one.  I started down my first row, Alice holding the bucket behind me and Henry strapped to my chest and starting picking away.  Half way down the row, I turned to look in the bucket to see how I was doing: it was empty.  Alice had eaten all the strawberries.  Not to be deterred, I continued down the row and onto the next when Alice informed me that she was done and wanted to go back to the car.  And then she started whining.  And then crying.  And I continued to pick.  I showed her which strawberries to pick.  More whining.  Louder crying.  I picked my way over to Greg, surrendered my bucket, put a now screaming and crying Alice on my back and returned to the car. 

Look just sky!  I miss sky.

Alice sat down in the strawberry plants and cried/whined about going back to the car until I gave in.

She was much happier in the shade and relative cool of the car.

 By the time we got home, Alice's temperature was 102.something.  Oops.  I fed Henry then made waffles and smoothie with fresh strawberries, threw the hot dog/smoke/Popsicle/strawberry/syrup/etc. covered children in the bath and put everyone to bed--including myself.  So welcome summer.