American fireworks

Our city has two holidays: Memorial Day and the 4th of July. Legally, we have other holidays, but on those two days the party sign is out and friends from around the area come in celebrate. On our block of ten or eleven houses there were four backyard parties in the late afternoon and evening, and at dusk most of the city gets up and starts walking to the city center with blankets and wagons for the fireworks display.

Throughout the fireworks display, Genevieve sang loudly and Reesa plugged her ears. Genevieve's singing had so much volume that people in front of us turned around above the din of the display to see what the source of the noise was. And what was she singing? Beats me -- it was mostly a stream-of-whatever-crosses-her-mind.

Reesa needed cuddling for much of the show, was very impressed by any rocket that was a "sparkler" (and, no, I couldn't figure out exactly what she meant about that), and in the middle of the show started her own song, fingers still firmly planted in her ears. Her words were very minimalist (she'll make a good pop song writer), and went like this:
a-MER-I-can fire-works
a-aa-MER-I-CAN fire-woo-orks
a-MER-i-can fire-WO-OO-OO-ORKS!
a-Mer-i-CAN fire woooOOORKS!

So, it is a good thing that fireworks are loud, because they were relentless.

The day did not start so well for Genevieve. Our neighbor's daughter was over playing with our children this morning, riding bikes in the driveway, and Genevieve slowly rode past the friend and with her sister a little distance away quietly said "Hey, wanna go on the swing with me?"

There are only two swings on our swingset, and it seemed clear to me that Genevieve's intent was to cut her sister out of the swing action (like, maybe I'd seen this maneuver a few times before, hmmmmmmm?). However, Reesa's ears are sharp and mind keen and she wasn't on her bike, and immediately and without fanfare she bolted for the backyard swings. So did the friend -- after all, she had been asked to go swinging. Genevieve took a little smidge of time to dismount her bike and didn't realize that both other girls had a big headstart on the run to the backyard until too late, and ooooooooo, what a tantrum there was! Oh, her sister was a tricker and a sneak! And it wasn't FAIR (oh, that F word again).

I failed to be won over, which eventually earned me a big fat "I HATE YOU!!!!" Don't fret about me -- I was in good company, because she placed her mother and sister in the same boat. So, only Reesa got to go to the bike parade. This meant that She-Who-Would-Like-To-Be-Having-Fun-With-Our-Children ended up at home with the whirlwind child, which did break our "rule" of not having a consequence for a child be a consequence for an adult. Sometimes, it is unavoidable, and this was one of them. Next time, it will probably be my turn.

Grown-up stone

"I want to have a sleep-over at Sheila's. She has a magic stone that has special-er magic than my black stone." We were driving to Quaker meeting, and Genevieve had a captive audience.

"What does it do?" I asked.

"It only works for children. If a grown-up comes in, they would get poisoned, and I don't want you to get poisoned."

"So if you were there using it, you wouldn't want a grown-up to come in because it could poison them"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Well, that's very considerate of you." Good to know she's looking out for me. "So what kind of magic does it do?"

"Sheila didn't tell me yet, but I think I heard her say that it makes smoke to try to kill the grown-up, so that when the grown-up comes in, you forget where you're going and get lost, and it hates grown-ups."

"What does it do without grown-ups around?"

"Oh, well, the princess turns into an evil queen, and she has magic that makes you get lost, and ..."

...and on it goes with castles and rescues and danger, all rendered in spoken phrases not capable of being logically linked by a grown-up, but I'll bet that Reesa understood every word her sister said.

Vacation to MN, part one

Wednesday June 18

First thing in the morning, the family loads up the minivan and... goes to the rental car joint. Mommy isn't going on this trip (she has a job this weekend and weddings to prepare for on the following two weekends), so the girls and I are going to the north shore of Lake Superior in a rental car.

After only six potty stops in twelve hours, we arrive at the resort. We are being hosted by good friends of ours, and we are happy for the invitation. Everyone is happy. It was a good trip.

Thursday June 19

Alpine slide, gondola ride, hiking at the top, swimming at the bottom, Reesa got a nap, Genevieve got a little rest, and at the end of the day everyone is perfectly tired and not exhausted. It is nice being here with another family, we enjoy each other's company. Miss my wife. Lot of fun.

Friday June 20

Hike up and down a (short distance) of a river, play at a cold beach, eat doughnuts, and no naps. All but that final item were fun. As for the nilla wafer/ vanilla pudding surprise dessert -- Reesa misses it entirely by skipping out early on dinner, and Genevieve doesn't like the pudding. Reesa is getting downright belligerent, and both of the girls are beyond tired. My left heel hurts a lot, and getting the girls to sleep hits a nadir with a simultaneous 96 decibel double meltdown. Okay, this is still vacation, but bedtime was not fun.

Hydrocarbon

Photo by Betsy Haynes

Our friends Pete and Amy were over last night. They taught Genevieve how to say thank you in several languages, including Estonian, which Pete said was pronounced, "spankmeplease." Genevieve thought that Pete was a "tricker."

Among other Pete tricks was insisting the Amy was taller than he was (on his knees!), and that Amy was made of cheese and couldn't take a bath because she would turn into yogurt. And then, he changed his mind and insisted that Amy was made of hydrocarbons, and so was he, and so was Genevieve. This was obvious nonsense to Genevieve, who knows a tricker when she sees one, and laughed in his face.