Berry Picking, again!

As anonymous has so ardently pointed out, we haven't been blogging like we should. Damn. But let's go back to Father's Day, about a week ago, and recall how these dexterous and much-discussed Vining sisters--

took us berry picking. It was Father's Day. Where was Arthur? He was skiing upon the glacier of Mount Hood. He missed a good time with these ladies, I can report. Ida and Elsie horsed around and told some secrets:

Theo suffered a strange injury where her eye swelled up!  Dr. Ella figured out a way to give her some benadryl in honey, and I think that problem was resolved.

The girls were also quite intent on making a hideout in the tall grass.  Later, they all peed in there.

Miki? She ate a carrot.  And why no pictures of actual berry picking?  I don't know.  We scored a lot of berries and then we sneaked out and had this delicious Father's Day lunch.

Later, at home, the girls got really all into how they wouldn't take a bath, but they would do it outside.  Considering that it was about fifty degrees, this was impressive.

Eventually they coldened on down and decided to a) take a warm bath, and b) wash my feet.  Just like baby Jesuses.

It's nice to have your feet washed by your daughters on Father's Day, let me tell you, Arthur.

By the next morning, Ida had cooled toward me, some, but more about that later on:

Father's Day, or actually before, but posted on FD

I'm happy, usually, at the good fortune of being a father to these young ladies, and especially feel fortunate to have sired them upon Ella. The other day I took them to get some haircuts. Talked Ida from pixie to bob:

Miki, who knows?

Wanted to make sure

That we went to a coffee shop and got a suitable treat.

Of course, other than Ida sucking on her hair and getting a rash on her face, these haircuts were necessary in order to be prepared for the ballet performance!

Here's Ida (and Maggie's chest), basking in a sense of accomplishment while watching the other classes perform.

The "hip-hopster" dancers really transfixed and bewildered them.

Let's not forget that it was also Theo's performance!

And Elsie, being a professional ballerina, knew to bring bouquets for everyone. Thanks, Elsie!

Many distinguished observers were in attendance:

Finally, here's Ida with a very proud Teacher Martha, who thanked her Dad for his help in learning how to be a good teacher.

AW.

A Life of Parties

Hello, we're your hosts! For the recent Tumbleweeds "Parents' Day," the girls insisted that Ella wear "a dress and a skirt" and I wear "your blue striped shirt, with a tie, and your blue Nike shoes."

This made Miki so happy she gave us this bag which held some home-made soap and bags of tea that looked suspiciously illicit.

Should we even go into what a rascal Miki has been lately?

A few short days later, we hit the triple Theodotia/Griffith/Sara birthday party.  Ida wanted a football painted on her face.

You may recall that I had my backpack stolen by thieves at a previous party.  I've had to resort to my old green and white "P" hat, in case you were wondering.

Here's a picture of Ida taking a picture of Kaito!

And here, miracle of miracles, is that very picture!

Always classy to have Maggie on her blog.  Here she is again:

Later, Ida got bitten in the chin by a rottweiler (she's okay, and not adequately scared; I mean, she was scared for fifteen minutes, but still approaches dogs with too little fear; she said, "Daddy, I guess it really is a wild world, like Cat Stevens said.")  (She also recently said, "Daddy, everyone makes mistakes, and no one knows where they belong."

Later at the party, Arthur surprised everyone by putting on his gorilla outfit and capering about!

What's next?  Ballet performance?

Back in Business / the end of Haddonsfield

Hello! Okay. Had to circumvent Google. Done. Let's catch up with where we were...Haddonsfield! You may have heard of the Haddonfield Garden Club and all the drama that surrounds it. Well, right in the middle of all that is our own Grandma-Toko! The girls were eager to pick all her flowers.

All kinds of work being done all the time. So busy. As G-Toko herself told me as we walked these verdant grounds, "Pete, you know I was going to write you when your cat died, but then I just got too busy, you know?

"...And besides, when you first got him I felt so bad about my cats because he looked so sleeeeek, you know, but then very quickly he began to age. Cats don't really age like that, you know, Pete, but he did, your cat."

Anyways, look at this ridiculously sculpted piece of landscape:

Listen, I'm Pete!  I went to Yale University like crazy and wear a tie all the time to disprove doubters!  ANd I'm here to tell you that summer is here, or kind of.  I'm promising to document the summer, now that I've outsmarted Google.

You pretty much know it's summer when the last indoor swimming lesson of the season is over.  Here's Ida, the Otter, with her teacher, Nancy.  High quality teacher.

G-Toko and Grandpa Vining!

On the same day we flew back here we went in to Philly to the Academy of Natural Sciences. An excellent outing!

Ida took a picture of pretty much every taxidermied animal we encountered. Here's a nice raccoon.

Here's a nice lady and a grizzly bear skull! Grr.

The girls petted a rabbit and man-handled a giant tortoise. Then they sat in a canoe:

And rode this giant brass tortoise.

I'm relatively certain that this is no terrapin.

Anyway, the video below is better, but here is a still shot of Ida and Grandpa Vining battling a live Triceratops!

And here are the girls with Grandpa Vining, checking out a Triceratops skeleton.

Thanks, Vinings! You both suffered many injustices and inconveniences, and we appreciate it so much! Even though or because you said so many strange things! 'til next time.

Guilford Beach!

Hello.  Moving back in time just a little to recapture some fine moments at Guilford Beach last Wednesday.  Ida and I went down there and had the whole place to ourselves.  Lots of shells there.  Many questions.

Ida was pretty much limited to a straw she found and her trusty Bud Light beer can, far as tools go, but then these "D.V."s showed up:

These guys don't play at playing.  They play.

Miki?  She's ferocious.  Don't start with her.  Just try to get her to give you some space.  And don't travel with her if you can help it.

Meanwhiles, Ida and D. Hawk had many adventures.  Did some homework together, made some terrifying masks, even played a game that was a winning game, where someone wins, which Ida abandoned.  ("Elsie and I don't like games where someone wins," she said.)

Ida is eating huge amounts of meat, though pushing us toward vegetarianism.  With tonight's dinner, she looked over the chicken and said, "What got shotted?"

(Tide coming in.)

I jetted down to the New York City early Thursday (thanks, DKV) for some big meetings with publishers and cohorts.  Ida made me this picture to take along and put on my bedside table.

Thanks, Guilford Vinings!  Note:  SHV was not captured on "film" because she was so busy cleaning up after us, and is also training for a ten mile race and therefore very quick.

Next:  more G-Toko and Grandpa V.

Narrow Escape from East Coast