Memorial Day Weekend

Here it is Monday already. Shabbos passed fine without Jeffrey and the boys (though we missed them) who were camping with the Boy Scouts. The girls, the little ones and I had our meals, made it to shul for a little while, and even managed to attempt a walk in the park (which we don't normally try since it's outside the eruv). Addie walked happily about 1/2 mile from the house and then sat down and wouldn't budge another step. Gilad found a caterpillar on the path, put it on his arm, took it with him for quite a while, then shared it with Addie who wanted a turn. Then they put it back on the path to continue on its way, but they hoped to come back and pick it back up on our return. Unfortunately by the time we got back to it, it had been squished by a bicycle. For the record, Gilad had named it "Naruto."

Sunday, my mother, Tirtze, and I took Gilad and Addie to the zoo. We saw a lot of the animals, but Gilad's favorite part of the whole zoo trip was the mist machines they have up along the main path.

Jeffrey and the boys came home in the middle of the night last night. Kayla's out camping with the Girl Scouts now, and Tirtze's at her grandparents.

I've gotten very little knitting done, but I have finished the front and back of my "Boggart in the Window" sweater (so-named because I joked about Harry Potter book boggarts appearing to me in the form of a cable needle, and the sweater pattern is called "Windowpane."

Gilad thinks outside the tracks

While Zombie Addie and her monster Pibbie come to get you (Addie's the one on the right if you weren't sure):

And eventually vampire Kayla gets her:

(but Kayla made me delete the photo).

Meanwhile, in somewhat saner lands, Feivel and Jeffrey survived the Boy Scout ski trip today and had a good time.  Sachy had basketball practice, Kayla had Girl Scout Thinking Day, and Tirtze supposedly did all her homework.  Added bonus:  Kayla brought home vegetable California rolls and Sachy ate a ton of them.

Oh, and we started our Purim baking a little.

Sunday, Nutty Sunday

I started this morning with a spinning class, and I can now say I can spin long draw properly and successfully, yeah me!  But meanwhile, Gilad has a birthday party to attend (and they forgot to take the gift on the way out), Kayla has a Girl Scout activity, Feivel has a Boy Scout meeting, and Sachy has a Cub Scout popcorn booth sale to attend.  Then this evening I have SnB and I have to be sure to be there because someone is coming especially to try out my spinning wheel. 

So it's another quiet day in our house.

Oh, but Feivel's slippers fit!

They're outa here!

Feivel is at boy scout camp; Sachy and Jeffrey are at cub scout camp; and I drove Kayla up to girl scout camp. The men all left yesterday morning at 6:30; I drove Kayla up to Leesburg in the early afternoon. So now it's just me at home with Tirtze, Gilad and Addie.

Gilad took scraps of paper last night and told me he was writing postcards. He scribbled on each of them, then "read" them to me. They say:

Dear Tatty/Feivel/Sachy/Kayla,
I miss you.
Please come home tomorrow.
Love, Gilad

Unfortunately, yesterday I also engaged in acts of plumbing. With Grandpa's help, I replaced the insides of our toilet, which had some pipe leak that make the whole house knock when you flushed. When we re-connected everything, though, it turned out that now the connecting pipe between the water valve and the toilet had sprung a leak. Oma took the original so she could run to the hardware store for me today to get an identical one, but I figured I would go to the store myself and find the right thing and get it done last night. Needless to say, the one I got was the wrong size at one connector end, so the toilet is still not usable. Sigh.

However our big new is:
Gilad is now wearing big boy underpants.

Is it Over Yet?

We're a little worn out around here!

Everyone is at least home after a whirlwind weekend of camping and sleeping out. Jeffrey and Sachy were at a Cub Scout campout, Kayla was at a Girl Scout campout, Feivel was at a Boy Scout campout, and Tirtze and Gilad slept out last night at their Oma's house.
Would you believe that they let Feivel shoot .22s and engage in archery? Not to mention use an ax and a bow saw? Duck, that's all I can say.
Everyone is home now and everyone's worn out. Jeffrey was so tired he went to bed without eating dinner yet. I already told the boys they're going to bed early.
Everyone had a great time, though.