Summer Endeth

Yes, it's bittersweet. So many, many adventures. But some sweet cousinly moments, too.

This was at Grace Arts Camp, where Elsie and Ida did all kinds of strange things. You can just see Ida, here, at the Yangtzee celebration:

The other day we were invited over by an old Eli buddy of Ella and now co-worker of Maggie. Eventually he admitted that he'd never really understood what was so great about S'mores. Ella kicked his butt.

Now this devil-dog!  How does one grow older and yet more handsome?

I was fortunate to spend some quality time chewing the fat with him while we watched our girls at swim class.  Very intense.  We really got DOWN to the heart of WHITE FANG, brother!

Taken by an interloping friend.

Other Badgery Cheeselike pleasures

So yes, lost photos from Grambee's phone have been found.  She took the girls to this farm experience at the Ephraim Historical Society where they wore bonnets and made apple butter.

Things also got a little weird...

On our way out of town, we got to stop in Shorewood with the D'Amatos again, and the girls were very excited to spend some time with big cousin Sophie, the swimming sensation.  She was quite patient with them.

It wasn't really that great when they swam around and got gross sand and algae all over their clothes and then refused to rinse off, though...

Also, always nice to spend a little quality time with Bo.

Ida brought him a bone, probably from a deer, found in the remnants of my Rabbit Hideout (can't tell you where that is).

Wisconsin, Wisconsin

There's just so much going on here in PDX, and yet we haven't sufficiently documented all we accomplished in Wisconsin. Let it be known that Ella worked with the girls on their gymnastics, drilling them like a sergeant:

She even donned an old wetsuit of mine to brave the cold waters:

A requisite trip to The Farm, where we met old friends...

...and made some new ones.

Yes, this is my sister Sara!  She loves The Farm!  One trip there caused us to get a beagle puppy!

Ida and Sylvia really mauled these kittens, who kept trying to escape.

Mostly I just wanted to stay at the Compound, on the lake.  And our fishing adventures were constantly beckoning.

Whoa, many people thought we would manage to avoid "Hands On" Pottery, but I girded my loins and opened my wallet, and now we have a new coffee mug and plate, painted by these ladies.

Back lakeside, they got involved in some serious business:

Harvesting seaweed, one of their favorite foods.

And yes, we'd be happy to cut Miki's bangs, or to put any kind of thing in there so she could see.  But that's not happening, so she's sheepdogging it.

A beautiful photo of Jim's wildflower field, taken by Ida:

Okay, back to business!

Grambee!!

As noted before, Jim was pretty popular. That beard and suspenders combo is pretty hard to resist...

But man, Grambee really stepped up, too!  Took the girls to a weird "day in the farmhouse" camp-like thing,

Went swimming with them in the cold waters when no other adult was game,

shouted encouragement the whole time...

And also regaled us with this, the "Lazy Daisy" face, which is something she learned from her own mother.  Grandmothers really can do this, but Miki is already getting a pretty good handle.

Have you had your spinach today?

The Dumbwaiter

I just downloaded some shots from Ida's camera. It's always interesting to see what she chooses to document. This time, some serious cousinly action:

Ida, Sylvia and Miki decided that the built in cupboard upstairs was a dumbwaiter, and set up a secret, very involved game.

For an amateur and French-Canadian, Sylvia seems to have a handle on both focus and flash.

Sometimes.

Miki's technique is a little more uneven:

Framing, Miki.  Framing.

Entertainments near Death's Door

My colleague Lillian engaged a very devious AGM ("Attention Getting Mechanism") by attaching some of these game magnet things to her barrettes, just to test people around her. Not even the magnetic pull on her brain could mask her anticipation of the s'mores on the beach (illegal! Ella!), though:

Does anyone love s'mores more than my 15 year old bride?

She's teaching the daughters, for certain:

They could still use guidance in some things, however.

Some quality cousin time.  ONly a few spills.  Sylvia kept trying to institute the "under 8 fun club" to her sister's dismay; at one point during dinner, Lillian interrupted me to say, "Do you think we might pursue a topic of conversation in which children might also participate?"  She had no ideas of her own, which infuriated her mother.  I tried farts as a topic, but it didn't go too far.

Once the Parisiennes left, alas (more Farm pictures, later), we headed to Peninsula State Park and did some spidery crafts:

Then the girls climbed all the way to the top of the TOWER.  This is terrifyingly high; way down there you can see the boats racing in the Ephraim Regatta.  I used to win that thing like every year.

And then Ida was stricken by "peak two" of that affliction we brought to everyone in America:

And yet she still wanted to fish.  She caught 6 large smallmouth bass...

...and we hooked into two other monsters who broke the line when they got close to the boat.  Seriously.