Hi, everyone!
The second week James and Thomas and Aunt Kara were here was another busy week! Grandma bought James and Thomas new firefighter pajamas and now they are the favorites to wear to bed. Thomas wanted to wear his to play outside, too! For the Peacemakers picnic, Aunt Kara and I helped Grandma bake spekkoek, a layered Dutch spice cake. Every stripe is a layer of batter spread over the top and then broiled! While the cake was cooling, I found James’ Panda under the table in the family room! The last time Panda was lost, in Arlington when James was little, I helped find him under the dresser! Panda thought the spekkoek looked yummy!
In the afternoon before the Peacemakers picnic, we met friends of Aunt Kara’s at the splash park in Edmund Lyons Park in East Rochester. Grandma and Aunt Kara didn’t even know the splash park existed until they made that plan! Little lions don’t like to get wet, but it was fun watching James and Thomas run around in the water! James even showed me how to turn the water back on after it cycles off!
When Thomas was done playing in the water, I helped him get dry. Then we went across the park to the playground equipment. Thomas really likes to climb! In the evening, Aunt Kara and Grandma and James and Thomas and I went to the Peacemakers picnic. When everybody played with the parachute, James and Thomas ended up in the hole in the middle!
Guess what else happened that week? James and Thomas discovered they could climb the apple trees in front of Grandma and Grandpa’s house! I’m proud I’ve helped Grandma prune those trees so they’re good for climbing!
Friday of that week was the end of Peacemakers. Then, on Saturday, Uncle Steven came! There was a big family picnic for Aunt Kara’s family on Sunday, so Thomas had to grab naps whenever he could!
Because Uncle Steven was still adjusting to New York time, he got up early every day. On Tuesday, he made yummy scones for everybody! We had a nice, leisurely breakfast with snuggles! Grandma even suspended the house rule about no electronics before getting dressed, since nobody had to go anywhere after breakfast!
Last Wednesday, everybody went out to the bay to stay overnight. The water level is really starting to go down! I helped Grandma scrub the weeds and scum off the parts of the deck that weren’t underwater any more. There was even enough dry space to store the kayak behind the sailboat! A plastic inflatable pizza slice floated in, so we put that away until we can find the owner.
There were lots of things to do at the bay! I helped Aunt Kara do some more pruning on the bank, so we can see the water better. We stopped when we got to a birds nest with eggs in it! Uncle Steven pushed James and Thomas on the swing. After dinner, Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara got out a videotape of the original Star Wars movie to show James and Thomas. Darth Vader was scary, so we stopped watching! Thomas wanted to do a big jigsaw puzzle with hot air balloons, but he lost interest after a few pieces. On Thursday, everybody else worked on the jigsaw puzzle, and Aunt Kara taught James how to play UNO. The kayak that didn’t go down to the deck became a spaceship!
Later on Thursday, Grandma launched the kayak from the deck and took Thomas and James for rides. Thomas just wanted a short ride to the blue boathouse, but James wanted to go out into the middle of the bay and had a really long ride all the way to Nicholas Point and back!
There was so much going on that Thomas needed a lot of naps! So did I!
We decided to stay a second night at the bay. Thomas discovered that Madge Ellen Duck was big enough to ride, and there was a pretty sunrise on Friday. James got another kayak ride, even though it was windy with some waves. Uncle Steven showed James how to play the antique video games in the loft at the bay. Then, after we came back into town, he played Super Mario on Wii while James and Thomas told him what adventures to choose. James built a Lego rocket that is almost as tall as he is!
On Sunday, it was time for Uncle Steven’s family to drive to Toronto for the flight back to Europe. There wasn’t room in the car for all of us, so Grandma and I said goodbye before they left with Grandpa. Then Grandma and I got to work painting the moldings on the garage fire door. We got two coats of paint on them and were finished before Grandpa got back from dropping Uncle Steven’s family off!
Sunday night, after a late dinner, Grandma and Grandpa and I went back to Sodus, so Grandpa could mow the lawn on Monday. Grandma kayaked to the wetlands where the rose mallows bloom, but they haven’t started to blossom yet. Then she went back to Clark Creek to check out the beaver dam. The water is high enough that she could see over the dam to the pond behind it! Guess what? The plants growing on top of the dam turn out to be buttonbushes, and they are in bloom! The flowers look like spiky ping pong balls! There were lots of water lilies blooming, too!
When Grandma put away the childproof latches for the kitchen cabinets, she said she felt a little sad. By the time James and Thomas visit again, they’ll be big enough that the latches won’t be needed! Grandpa reminded her that Thomas already knows how to open them, so they weren’t even very useful for this visit! Just before we had more rain, I went outside to see James’ and Thomas’ chalk running track directions one more time. I miss having them here already!
Love,
Lion-san
Moose-san and Tilly say ”Hi”. They watch me in swimming everyday. The lake is warm but Moose-san is kind of sad because there are no aquatic weeds. It is nice the water is going down in your lake and you got a good chance to kayak with both James and Thomas. I bet you do miss them a whole lot.