Back to the Pond.

Yesterday, (yes, after this post I will be caught up and current!) we woke up early and headed straight to the pond.  We've been a little cabin bound, and getting 1/4 of a mile away just felt like the right thing to do.

We ran most of the way the first time.  The second, third, and fourth times were a little slower.

All that grass on top of the pond is my fault, resulting form the weed whacking.  We had a few goals:  clean the surface, finish the stone dam, catch a frog, build a fire ring, and swim.  Annaliese caught a frog for 2 seconds before it got away, probably for the best considering the fate of the tad poles.  She's got a bit of a Lenny grip when it comes to slippery animals that threaten to escape.

You can't see it because of the shadowing, but a deer came bounding up the mountain across the pond from us, stopped in the road, and watched us for a while.  She is standing maybe 50 feet down the road, dead center.

We went back to the cabin to fetch a rock sled and the bug dope at one point.  The kids joint-towed that thing all the way back tot he pond without fighting. The trip back was less collaborative.

Pond clean, dam kind of finished, wate level up, fire ring built and tested, and I had a pleasant, and freezing cold swim before we left.  Caspian came wading with me, Annaliese watched.

Roughing it in the woods.  Fresh tomatoes, mozzarella made up the road, triple cream brie, crackers made somewhere nearby, organic and very tasty olive oil, and that salami from the Shrewsbury coop is amazing.

Yesterday was hot. Apparently a record breaking day.  After out morning at the pond, we tried for a nap.  and hour and a half later, the kids were not asleep, so I put them on the cot on the porch, and headed down the mountain with clippers to clear out the saplings.  The kids managed to get shoes on and wind their way through the brush to me without a single whine, and we cut our way down the mountain, sweating quite a bit.  We came back up after an hour or so, took cold showers, (my second of the day, after swimming, it was so hot the shower felt great,) and then we had one of the whiney-est afternoons of the summer. 


We had dinner early, baths, nail trimming for the kids, liberal application of neosporen for all the scrapes and bug bites, teeth brushing, and then to bed by 7.  Except at 9 the kids still hadn't stopped raising hell in the loft.


For the most part I was ok with that, having taken a solo swim at the pond and being pleasantly settled in on the porch with a good Heinlein, (Between Planets,) but after 9 they started dozing, and then waking up upset because they were too hot.


It got better, as there were two mosquitoes upstairs. By 11:30 I was sitting in the loft using myself as bait, waiting to kill the little buggers that kept waking the kids up.  Took 20 minutes.  I was very grumpy by the time I got to what should have been my peaceful, relaxing pad on the porch.




So this morning has been very slow and relaxing to compensate.  We were up at 6:30, but I have not moved from my lovely spot on the porch since breakfast.  The kids have been coloring and doing school work around me, they've taken a couple of walks by themselves, and we've had a series of snack times.  


And some cuddling.

Annaliese with bed head.

After some negotiations, Annaliese with a single pony tail.

And for the first time in a long time, this blog is up to date!