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Cane You Dig It?
We were lucky this week to have some lovely cool days, so we spent much of the week just chilling out.
With just over two weeks before school starts up for the kiddos, Kira surveyed them to find out what things they want to squeeze into the summer. Carver said that he really wanted to go mini-golfing, so we set out to do that one evening. We also had wanted to keep the boys up one night so that they could enjoy the fireflies (who don’t come out until about 8:45 p.m.), and also do some more fireworks in the dark. We did all of that Wednesday, starting out with mini-golf in the late afternoon.
It was a good time, although I was pretty surprised by how rundown the course was. At least we were the only ones there, so that made it easier to wait for Merritt to try every hole until he got it just the way he wanted to.
Hakan has wanted a cane for several weeks now, for some reason. We sort of thought that maybe if we just stalled him long enough, he would forget about it. But he’s really persisted, and so we looked a bit online and then I remembered that I had a cane growing up that my aunt and uncle sent me from Germany. I had my brother send it out to us, and it was just the right size, so he’s very happy with it, and is having a blast, mostly just carrying it around and spinning it in the air, almost hitting somebody or something every time.
Hakan’s actually had a pretty interesting week, as he declined to join the rest of the family who were going out, and instead just stayed home to play by himself. He’s done that a few other days this week, seeming to get really interested in a couple of particular toys and then getting lost in his imagination for a couple of hours at a time. For example, he twice gathered the whole family around this week to do a puppet show. He mostly just had the dolls fall down, making Merritt crack up, but it was at least better than picking fights.
Carver joined in the fun, too, although I think Merritt had the most fun out of us all.
We had a bit of a scare one day this week when we noticed that Apollo’s cheek was swollen on his left side. He had acted a little moody, but not so much that we thought he was in pain, so we figure that it had to do with that. We think that maybe he had bitten a bee, or been stung, but in any case, it was gone after a few more hours, so we hope he’s all better now.
I made this week mostly a yard work week. I’d spend a few hours in the morning doing school preparation, and then head outside to get stuff done. I finally got up the motivation to rip out our weed garden. Who knows the last time it was used for growing anything, because it was just thick with weeds and has been since we moved in. I’ve been wanting to get the yard into better shape, so I (and sometimes Hannah) spent a few hours each day pulling the weeds. I want to then level it out and move the extra dirt to some sections of the yard that have been muddy when it rains, but I next need to aerate, so that the water has somewhere to go. I’ll then plant some more seed in the thin areas and get this place looking sharp. Anyway, I finished the weeding yesterday, so now we have a big patch of dirt (with Hakan’s carrots in a little section). It’s better than the stupid weeds, at least.
Kira and Hannah went to a Relief Society activity on Thursday night, and Avey was asked to babysit for a family in the branch. It was her first ever paid babysitting job, so I don’t know about anybody else, but I was pretty nervous for her. It turned out really well, though, and she came home with a wad of cash and a big smile on her face.
One of the days this week, Kira arranged for a neighbor to bring their puppy over for a play date with Apollo. We’ve been trying to come up with some dog friends for him so that we don’t have to drive the 8 miles or whatever to the dog park every time he needs some time with his own kind. The puppy is bigger than Apollo, and seems really friendly, so we tried it out. They mostly just wrestled, with Apollo seeming like he wanted to show the puppy that this was his yard, and he was in charge. The puppy wrestled back, but seemed not sure what the big deal was. Anyway, at one point, the puppy got a tooth stuck in Apollo’s collar. That got them both pretty freaked, as the puppy couldn’t get unstuck, and Apollo probably felt like he was being choked as the puppy tried to pull away. I managed to unbuckle his collar to salvage the situation, but I also got a scratch along my palm (it’s almost better now). Anyway, we hope that we didn’t scare them off, and hope that they can still be friends. The owners didn’t seem too worried by it, although Apollo seemed pretty shaken by the whole event for the rest of the day.
In other news, the kids’ new glasses came in, so they’re getting used to their new prescriptions and transition lenses. Avey’s frames are the same, so she doesn’t look any different, and Carver’s are just a little bigger than his last ones.
We don’t really have big plans this week, at least so far. There are a couple more days in the 70s forecasted, so we’ll be sure to enjoy those while they last!