The problem with the long, lazy days of summer is that while they’re long, they’re hardly lazy. Just ask Jack, who since school let out for the summer, has spent his free time helping Jim construct an obstacle course that was supposed to be for the girls but is probably more appropriate for the Marine Corps. He also helped dig a koi pond, volunteered at a recycle center in downtown Wichita and cleaned 10 years’ worth of dust and hay out of the horse barn.
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| I promise: this was supposed to be the right size for the girls! |
The barn was kind of his own fault: he was dragging through his last couple of weeks of school, noticeably unmotivated, so we decided he needed something to put his free time in perspective, like hard labor. Our conversation went something like this:
Me: “Jack, I’m going to talk with you later about what Dad and I have decided to do with you this summer.”
Jack: “What are my options?”
Me: “Oh, there won’t be any options.”
Jack : “Well. Then what are my chances?”
He did a pretty good job, though, coming back to the house each day sweaty and coated in gray dust and cobwebs, but grinning.
Lucy and Betsy enjoyed setting out the garden this year and have their own patch of tomatoes, bell peppers and herbs. The picture that came with the parsley plant showed a deviled egg with freshly chopped parsley sprinkled on top and Lucy frowning in confusion said, “Sooo … we’re gonna get eggs?”
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| Yes, Lucy. We're going to grow eggs. |
As if building the obstacle course weren’t enough to try to cram in before vacation, Jim realized after talking to our brother-in-law Josh (who hatches insane schemes almost as fast as Jim), that he wanted a koi pond. Immediately. So Jack left off splitting firewood to help dig a 3-foot deep pond. Jim rented a little backhoe to do the job, and it only rolled once, so he’s getting the hang of it.
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| Voila! Just add Jack and instant koi pond. |
And then there was vacation. We chose a new route up to Seattle, Wash., this time. It took us through small Kansas towns like Cawker City, which is home to the largest ball of sisal twine in the world. We stopped for the night in Buffalo, Wyo., and based on TripAdvisor’s highly favorable recommendation, ate at a little joint called Dash Inn. Here, the girls were able to order tacos, I ordered a patty melt which came with american cheese (sacrilege!), a chicken sandwich for Jim, and burgers and fries for the boys, all of which were seasoned with more salt than the average human should consume in a month. Outraged, and terribly thirsty, I said whoever recommended the place should be shot, and Jim replied thoughtfully, “I think they’re probably already dead.”
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| The biggest ball of sisal twine in the world. |
As it turns out, and much to Jim’s horror, my family walks to a lot of places. A lot. We walked to pick blackberries that grow like weeds along every road in western Washington. We walked to the Des Moines Marina for the farmers' market. We walked up the street to a park (uphill, all the way). We walked to the 7-11 on the other side of Des Moines to get slurpees. We walked 2.7 miles through the Snoqualmie Train Tunnel, not uphill, but in damp darkness, and then we had to turn around and walk 2.7 miles back. Granted, this last was a bona fide “hiking trail”, but I think what aggravated Jim was my insistence (in the beginning) that it was only a quarter of a mile long, and also the fact that he carried the backpack full of bottled waters for 13 people, plus he also carried Lucy for the first half of the hike. “I think you have me confused with somebody who likes to walk,” he complained bitterly, and we all laughed at him. The boys also were not impressed with the tunnel, and when other hikers passed us inside the tunnel, decked out (as we were) in headlamps and jackets that weren’t quite warm enough and asked us what was at the end, the boys responded a touch sarcastically, “A gift shop.”
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| Picking blackberries. |
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| Amanda makes blackberry cobbler. |
Woody chose these numerous outings to hone his talent for finding lost objects, especially objects nobody bothers to recover, such as rubber balls, slinkies, knit caps, ladies’ eyeglasses, dirty shirts, cracked frisbees and an old flip flop. It wouldn’t be so bad, except he tries on everything for effect, prompting us to yell, “Take it OFF!” which I bet you don’t hear on many family-friendly outings.
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| Snoqualmie Train Tunnel Hike |
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| Sally, Martha, Amanda |
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| Top Pot Donuts: Breakfast of Champions |
Lucy loved playing with her cousins, Ben and Eli, in part because for the first time she wasn’t the youngest, which automatically made her the boss. It helped that both boys accepted this arrangement with equanimity and obeyed her demands when it suited their purposes, ignored her when it didn’t, and didn’t seem the least offended when Lucy once said, in response to Ben’s chattering, “I hear what you’re saying, and I don’t care.” Which pretty much sums up the final stage of dating, so maybe she’s just preparing them for the future.
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| Elijah, Ben and Lucy |
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| Jack, Betsy, Woody, Skyla, Amanda, Lucy, Jacob, Gracie and Ty |
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| Feeding the birds at Point Defiance Zoo, Tacoma, Wash. |
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| Betsy, Gracie and friend |
Once Jim and the boys played paintball in Puyallup, Wash. Apparently, anybody who owns overgrown property can set up a paintball course and charge ridiculous fees for others to belly crawl (Jim and Jack) thru the undergrowth, roll into nettle patches (Jack), or just hunker down and hide until time’s up or the other team runs out of ammunition (Jacob and Woody). At one point Jim looked down and asked, “When did we change paint colors?” “We didn’t,” laughed the game manager who was there to take pictures for the Facebook page. “You’re bleeding.” Maybe he felt bad for laughing because he made a new rule then and there: “When Dad runs out of paintballs, you have to stop shooting him.”
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| At the Des Moines Marina, low tide. |
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| Lucy and dungeoness crab, Seahurst Park, Burien, Wash. |
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| Jacob and Gracie and Moonsnail. |
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| Beaches are kind of different from Hawaii or Florida beaches! |
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| At Boeing's 100th Anniversary celebration for their employees, Boeing Air Field. |
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| Jacob, Jim and Woody in front of a Boeing Dreamliner Engine. |
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| Sally, Lucy, Amanda and John visiting the cemetery. |
Now vacation is over and we have two weeks until school starts again. I fear I have a tough job ahead of me, un-teaching Lucy some things Jim has been teaching her, such as beginning sounds in words. In one game of Go Fish with cards featuring animals of the world, a recommended method for identifying beginning sounds might be to ask something like, “Do you have any D-D-Ducks?” Instead, I overheard Jim ask Lucy in a conversational tone, “Do you have any Qu-Qu-Orangutans?” Lucy replied, “Nope. Do you have any Unicorns of the Sea?” Any other five-year-old might call them narwhales, but not ours. She’s spent too much time learning things from Dad.
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| Some of Lucy's schoolwork. I think we have an orthopedic surgeon in the making. |
So that’s it. I'll have a 10th grader, 8th grader, 4th grader, kindergartener. And Jim. Prayers much appreciated. You all have a wonderful summer!
