As the Island Family Turns: More Gallimaufries

Here’s the latest drama in our lives, in no particular order:

In the spirit of “better late than never,” which I liberally apply or disregard as needed, here are a couple of Halloween shots of the small people.  The ninja, Indiana Jones and Ariel all rounded out the evening by completing their annual Candy Swap. A special shout-out goes to the person that gave my son an unwanted-by-him-but-wanted-by-me full-size Snickers. I can’t remember the last time I sat down with a full-size Snickers, but it was divine to have an excuse to be so indulgent.

This fall, we’ve taken to biking around the island on the weekends. In an effort to move at a pace that will allow us to at least get around the block before our retirement, LCB bought an attachment for his bike that allows Baby-girl to ride behind him. During one of these excursions, we learned that a Brigadoon-like playground exists on our new island. Yes, it’s true. I’m convinced I saw a playground by one of the beaches last spring, but alas, even after two hours of biking up and down the coast trying to find it, we couldn’t. The small people were so pleased that we spent two hours of their lives trying to find it. They also, naturally, being sane and all, now think I’m nuts. But I’ve seen Brigadoon twice, so I know better. Clearly, Alan Jay Lerner is writing from experience rather than creating fantasy.

Seriously. I’ve seen it live twice.

I’ve also learned that an alternate to pulling out my Thighs of Steel VHS tape is to just bike the beach going against the wind. I mention this in case any of you are mourning the loss of your 80s workout tapes, now threadbare from decades of religious use.

I’m sure I heard an “Amen” somewhere out there.

Also, notice the ruffle underneath Baby-girl’s shirt? The water’s getting colder and the air temperature varies quite a bit these days, but when we go out now, Baby-girl keeps her swimsuit on underneath “just in case” we decide to go swimming after all.

We’re in the thick of project time here, as I’m sure many of you are too. Truthfully, many of our projects are less than stellar, as I’m a firm believer in having kids make their own projects, even if it means they turn out rather ugly. (My boys will be the first to admit they often do.) This was one of our better batches, however, and excepting my efforts to source molding clay, the work was completely their own. Thus, with pride I document the rarity.

Finally, I leave you with a thought. Whenever life gets too stressful, stop for a moment and imagine you are doing this, sitting in a tidal pool watching the world around you.

As I mentioned in The Boys’ Bed Debacle, the post where I first introduced the idea of truth in blogging, sometimes the blooming of the azaleas isn’t enough to distract me from my daily woes. But it is also truth in blogging to say that sometimes, the thought of this is.