Thursday, April 15, 2010

A Week with My Parents

My parents arrived here late last Thursday and left before dawn cracked this morning, and in between we had a marvelous week!  The only disappointment was Travis's, because he failed to convince my daddy to buy a Mac computer (my daddy is playing with the idea of a new computer, but Travis doesn't appreciate how long my dad can play with an idea!).  Travis thinks it would be really cool if someone in his family owned a Mac (as usual, I can't begin to explain), but he has the disadvantage of having been born into a stubbornly un-cool family.  Poor lamb, he'll learn eventually.
Friday was cold, so we puttered, but Saturday was Gorgeous and we took the kids hiking.




Poor little poppets moaned and lagged all the way up the mountain.  I keep thinking they'll learn to loving hiking, but it hasn't happened yet.  Actually, they sort of like the flat bits and the downhill parts are not too awful, but they claim that there is an excessive lot of "up."  We took them for ice cream afterwards anyway.

(You'll notice that Katie is unencumbered by a backpack.  That is because my mom is carrying her backpack, in which she packed The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and The Best Halloween Ever, by Barbara Robinson.  Because you never know when you'll want to sit down and read a book while on a day hike.)


And we left them at home on Tuesday, when we took the long trail (not the direct route, with picks and ropes) up Stone Mountain.  They didn't mind.


Oh, and we had a picnic before the ice cream.  Because it would be wrong to go straight to dessert.

My daddy was busily studying gardening books when we weren't otherwise distracting him.  He has a whole new vision for his acres in Maine, and he could hardly wait to begin to implement it.  This worked out nicely for me, as he bought me a forsythia and two beautiful hydrangeas and planted them.


With help, of course.  Katie loves digging.


Travis doesn't, but he does love having his picture taken.  He went to rest on the bench immediately after striking this pose.

My mom spent more time than she should have in the kitchen.  We ate like kings!  But she and I also got in some good talks and she reassured me about some of my mommy anxieties.  She is good that way.


Without the kids, the hike up Stone Mountain was spectacular!  And I hardly moaned at all.


My parents were kind enough to wait for me when I lagged.

 My mom, taking a picture of me taking a picture.  You can just about see California from up there.


There were lots of pretty little flowers along the trail.  My parents know all their names, and they told me what this one is but I forgot.

And this is a whomping big frog we saw by a stream.  He must have been at least a foot and a half long -- quite amazing!

More flowers.  I don't remember what these are called either, but they have funny little bunches of fluff at their ends.

My dad was impressed by how much Katie's checkers game has improved since he played her last.  She loves checkers!

We also played Blokus, which my parents enjoy (and Katie won a game, too!), Pictionary, and Cranium.  Pictionary was good, though my parents trounced us utterly, but my dad was not wild about Cranium.  Here he is linking arms with Travis, who is trying to pick up cubes in his toes and stack them.
And here is my dad, double checking to see if the card really is telling them to do something so absurd.  It did.

And, of course, there was play practice.  My mom came on Wednesday to see a dress rehearsal.  And she did watch, but she had a lot more fun holding little Piper.

I forgot to have Katie wear black pants.  I'll get it right tomorrow, for the play.  She is getting ready to toss a snake in the pot.


It was a wonderful visit!

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