Hi, everyone!
We have had a lot of very busy days recently! Until today, the weather has been mostly very warm and sunny, with some very hot days the end of last week. On Wednesday, Karin-chan and I helped Grandpa make ginger ice cream after day camp. We put some chocolate mint cookie crumbs in, as well as ginger snap crumbs. After dinner, we played Frisbee in the back yard.
On Thursday, Grandma and I took Karin-chan and Bill-kun into Fairport village to see the Erie Canal. The canal is almost 200 years old now — before there were motors for boats! When the canal opened, horses walking along the canal path towed the boats carrying cargo along the canal from the Hudson River at Albany to Lake Erie at Buffalo. Now, most of the boats on the canal are for sightseers and pleasure travelers. We liked the tiki party boat with a monkey! After we walked along the canal, we stopped for ice cream at the Ice Cream Factory. That was lucky, because while Karin was finishing eating her ice cream cone, the lift bridge went up to let a boat through! We got to watch it go up and down from right below the bridge!
Then Grandma took us to a new-to-us playground, at Kreag Road. That’s right along another section of the Erie Canal! The playground climbers are a little bit different from the ones at Perinton Park and Fellows Road Park. I liked the friendly dinosaur at one end of the little kids bouncy bridge! The big kids climber has lots of places to hang out on, too! It was a really hot day, so Bill-kun and Karin-chan cooled off at the water fountain!
When we got home from the park, we went right out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Uncle David says they can’t get Mexican food easily in Japan, and he misses it! While we were in Fairport village, I helped Bill-kun and Karin-chan buy picture postcards of the lift bridge. Then I helped Karin-chan write postcards to her friends.
On Friday morning, Bill-kun and Karin-chan had their last day of Allendale-Columbia Day Camp and James had his last half day of Peacemakers. Before Bill-kun and Karin-chan went to camp, they got to watch a chipmunk on the back deck. We have lots of chipmunks that live under the deck, but this one stayed where Bill-kun and Karin-chan could see it for a long time. Then Aunt Kara called to asked Grandma and me to pick up James at Peacemakers, because Grandma Ginny had to go see the doctor. James came home with us and went to pick up Bill-kun and Karin-chan. They brought home the tie-dye t-shirts that they made on Thursday. They made ones for James and Thomas, as well as ones for themselves! Karin-chan and James built a car for Hitsuji with Megablocks. When Grandma took James back to Grandma Ginny’s house, we found out that Grandma Ginny had to go to the hospital! We needed to pick up Uncle Steven from the airport and take him home to Thomas and James. Meanwhile, Uncle David and Karin-chan watched Kiki’s Delivery Service on Blu-ray.
On Saturday morning, Grandma and I took Uncle David and Bill-kun and Karin-chan to the Farmer’s Market in Fairport. We were looking for vegetables to make the special recipe of ratatouille from the movie of the same name. Grandma says we can only make it when we find skinny eggplants! We found some, and Uncle David met one of his high school friends, too! Karin-chan tried eating the market specialty food – a carrot dog. It was yummy!
On Saturday afternoon, Aunt Kara was back at the hospital with Grandma Ginny. The rest of us went to the Strong Museum. I spent most of my time with Thomas! Then we all came back to Grandma and Grandpa’s for dinner.
Sunday morning we all went to church at Mt. Rise because Thomas was being baptized! Baptism is a promise to help a child grow up to be a follower of Jesus’ teachings. The weather was beautiful, so the church service was held in the outdoor sanctuary. Aunt Kara’s sister Krista and her husband Mike are James’ and Thomas’ godparents. That means they promise to help Aunt Kara and Uncle Steven keep their promise to raise James and Thomas as caring persons. At Mt. Rise, everybody else also promises to help raise Thomas, too! Reverend Greg sprinkled water on Thomas’ head, then introduced him to his new church family. Thomas waved to all his new relatives! Later, when Thomas decided to take a walk around, one of his new grandmas made sure he didn’t fall down on the slope!
After church, everybody from both sides of James’ and Thomas’ family who came to the baptism had brunch at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Sunday was a little cooler than earlier in the week, so it was very pleasant to eat at the picnic table on the back deck. Mady Rose and William and James and Thomas and Bill-kun and Karin-chan played inside and outside. Uncle Steven is a flight test engineer, so he helped improve the flight of the wooden airplane Karin made at day camp and the paper airplanes everybody started making! By the time Krista and her family left, I needed a nap with Thomas’ magic blanket!
But Sunday wasn’t over yet! After my nap, I helped Grandma make the special ratatouille recipe from the vegetables we got at the Fairport Farmer’s Market. Then Grandpa and David bought fresh sweet corn and Karin-chan and Bill-kun helped Grandma shuck it. Grandma’s brother and sister-in-law, Great Uncle Bill and Great Aunt Betsy came for dinner. It’s been almost twenty years since they last saw Uncle David and Uncle Steven, and this was the first time they met Aunt Kara or any of Grandma and Grandpa’s grandchildren! After dinner, Bill-kun played Minecraft with Uncle Steven. They were hunting for zombies!
On Monday, Bill-kun and Karin-chan started their week of day camp at Rochester Museum and Science Center. The theme is “under the sea”. Uncle Steven’s family came for dinner, so we had another evening of after-dinner Frisbee. We even played Red Light, Green Light before bedtime!
Love,
Lion-san
It looks like you all had a busy week last week. We are back in Maine and the weather has been great. Even the water in the lake feels warm! We finished cutting down the trees that had been hurt(bent or broken) after a storm last Nov. It is nice you got to spend all that time with Bill-kun, Karin-chan, James and Thomas.