Hi, everyone!
We’re finishing off some of our projects! The tarry footprints by the door are all cleaned up! Uncle Steven got one of the jet skis running and got the trailer ready for the road. While he was having the trailer inspected, I saw the brick area where it is normally parked empty for the first time!
My groundhog friend spends some of its time lounging on the deck. The double daylilies in Fairport are blooming and Grandma has started a new project. She’s making a blanket for James out of crochet Lego blocks! James picked cyan and lilac colored yarns for his blanket, but Grandma practiced with the leftover yarn from Thomas’ blanket.
We’re still having a lot of record hot temperatures, but we did finally get some rain in big thunderstorms two weekends ago! Joe-san and Nancy-san brought Moose-san and Tilly out to the bay to spend the weekend. On Friday night, we could see a big thunderstorm cloud at sunset, and by Saturday we had heavy rain showers during the day. We were glad we had a nice protected spot to watch the rain!
Since it was a rainy day, Joe-san suggested we have cooking school! Joe-san and I taught Moose-san and Tilly how to make lemon risotto. First, I showed them how to grate parmesan cheese. Then, because it was lemon risotto, we had lessons in zesting and juicing a lemon. Neither Moose-san nor Tilly was tall enough to stir the rice in the big pot, so I gave them a demonstration.
The risotto was yummy! After we served it for dinner, we had a cooking school graduation. Moose-san and Tilly each were awarded their chef’s toques, but the sizes weren’t quite right!
On Sunday, we all worked on a jigsaw puzzle before Moose-san and Tilly went home. By Sunday evening, the storm clouds had cleared enough for a pretty post-sunset sky!
Monday morning, Grandma and I paddled over to Clark Creek to see whether the button bushes on the beaver dam were blooming. They were! Before we went back to Fairport, I made sure to say goodbye to all my flower friends in bloom along the bay edge of our lawn.
Two days later, James and Thomas stayed overnight with Grandma and Grandpa because Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara had an early morning appointment. Thomas moved right into the top bunk and showed me his first missing tooth and his new Minecraft creation. After dinner, James read to me and Grandpa.
Thursday morning, we had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast! I watched a video with James. When his electronics time was up, he set up a Monopoly game to play with Grandma and me. We didn’t have time to finish it before Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara came to get him and Thomas, so it’s still set up!
Last weekend we had better weather at the bay! Uncle Steven’s family came out on Friday and stayed till Saturday. The first thing we all did was take a powerboat ride! Then James laid out a board for Settlers of Catan and the rest of us played after Thomas went to bed.
When I got up on Saturday morning, James and Thomas were already on electronics! James was playing Factorio on the laptop computer, and Thomas had his iPad out on the porch working on Minecraft.
After breakfast, while the bay was still calm, Grandma said it was time to kayak! Thomas had first turn in the small kayak, and Grandma and Aunt Kara took the big ones. Thomas paddled all the way to the pink flamingo float at Grass Point!
When Thomas got back, James took the little kayak and Uncle Steven took Grandma’s kayak. James paddled over to the pink flamingo, too! While they were gone, Grandma and I helped Thomas fish off the dock. Then Thomas practiced his new skill of swinging standing up.
Sunday was a very hot day, so I stayed inside where it was cool all day. Monday was cooler, so Grandma took me paddling again. This time, we went under the Ridge Road bridge to the south end of the bay. The county dug some pools and channels two years ago in the marshes there to improve water flow. The weed harvesters were out keeping the channels open!
We saw a beaver house near the edge of the reeds, but Grandma couldn’t find the secret entrance to the pond with the other beaver house. We paddled to the end of the channel, then followed a swan into the southern set of ponds and narrow channels. When the swan waddled through an opening that was too small for us to follow, we had to backtrack to get back to the main channel! I saw lots of water lilies! There was a button bush blooming at Grass Point on our way back.
Grandma has been crocheting the Lego blocks for James’ blanket whenever she has some spare time. Guess what? She’s almost finished! She only needs to make one more block, then she can start to crochet them together in the pattern James designed!
Love,
Lion-san
I love the close up picture of you with the flowers. Yes, the chef hats are a bit large! pretty colors for the blanket!
Glad your groundhog friend is still visiting! It may be a loooooong time before Moose-san and Tilly grow into their chef’s hats! Maybe someone can alter them so they won’t have to wait so long! The button flowers are very cute – glad you got to see them in a couple of places! I heard that the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny were both essential workers, so Thomas’ tooth won’t have to wait until the quarantine is lifted!
Thank you for the great weekend. The thunder storm was awesome and Joe-san got his car washed for free! The cooking lesson was fun and well as the graduation ceremony. Tilly is sure that she can grow in to her hat but it may take a little longer. Tilly and I want to cook something for Nancy san but Tilly and Nancy-san aren’t too enthused about my suggestion of an aquatic weed soufflé. Maybe a cherry pie instead. It was nice that you got to spend a lot of time with James and Thomas on the sleep over and at the bay. The kayak rides were nice with the pretty flowers.