The past week

We went for walk along the weeping rock trail last week. It turned out to be a beautiful day and it was so fun to walk with the kids. And we got a funny story out of it as well. On the way back down the trail, Ian picked up a rock. This rock weighs about 5 pounds and is probably 8-10 inches across. He carried it all the way back down the trail and to the car. As we were driving home, he asked if he could keep the rock in his bed. I told him that it was a ‘wild’ rock and it would prefer to live outside in its natural habitat. Ian didn’t take that well. He really likes to argue things. So the whole way home he kept telling me how he was going to keep the rock in the house and he was going to keep it forever. When he grows up and moves out the rock is going to move with him and he’s planning on passing it down to his posterity who will all let the rock live in the house, too. I told him if he tried to keep the rock inside that it would run away. He said that rocks don’t have legs. I told them that they roll away. I told him that when we got home we would ask daddy if it was a ‘wild’ rock or a ‘house’ rock. As soon as we pulled in the driveway and saw Austin he grabbed his rock, jumped out of the car and asked, “Dad is this a wild rock?” Austin was a bit confused and looked at me. I said, “Honey, is this a ‘house’ rock like Ian says or is it a ‘wild’ rock like Mom says?” Fortunately for me, Austin is quick to catch on and told Ian that it was definitely a ‘wild’ rock. So the rock had to spend the night outside. Ian told us that the rock was sad and crying. He made us leave the back porch on so it wouldn’t be scared and he found it a couple of friends to keep it company. It’s still sitting out there happy as can be.

Thursday we had a fun St. Patrick’s Day. The boys both had a close run in with leprechauns in their classrooms. The one in kindergarten left the class new boxes of crayons and footprints all over. The one in first grade was locked in a cupboard under the sick, but when they finally tried to let it out it had left a leprechaun toy and lots of candy for the class to share. At lunch while making invisible kool-aid (it’s a new flavor they have) a leprechaun tricked us and turned it green. For dinner we ate corned beef and cabbage and the kids really enjoyed it (I was worried no one would touch it). And for snack we had rainbow parfaits with yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and mandarin oranges. I love making the holidays fun for the kids, they love the simplest things.


Friday the boys were out of school, but Austin had a training meeting so I took them to the aquarium. We saw seahorses (the babies were only about an inch tall and held onto the grasses with teeny little tails), a HUGE lobster, a sea turtle that was swimming with sharks, and some very playful penguins (that was one of the favorites). We even got to pet some rays, starfish and sea urchins. It was a full day and lots of fun.