Saturday August 9 2008 Re-run
How to make a forest from branches. Pictures.
Family Land
I was up early this Saturday morning answering emails. Then we were off for the day to the Fire, Water and Ice Festival up in Salt Lake (or thereabouts).
On the way up, I had my laptop hooked up in the car and I made some good inroads into finishing up any client communication that needed to happen.
When we got there, there was a huge line waiting to get in. We had some Little Ceasar’s pizzas so we layed into those for a slightly early lunch. Tamie got the kids rubbed down with some sunscreen. Tamie’s sister was working there and so we were able to get a good spot by passing out lawn chairs over the fence to her. Plus we got free tickets!
The kids spent the day frolicking in the various water playgrounds. What does this mean for daddy? Following Griffin around to be sure he doesn’t get into any trouble. He has no sense of personal danger and if left unattended for five seconds will throw himself off the highest point. He is very dextrous and athletic. It was a magical time, being in the water with him, his dusty blonde hair plastered around his ice blue eyes; smiling and sputtering.
Both the boys need haircuts.
What else? I got a much needed mini-massage; melting away giant lumpy knots of stress. We ate some overpriced “hostage food” meat kabobs of some kind.
About five hours into the deal, I was spent. I headed out the car, turned on the AC and started pounding the keyboard and listening to some music (Rush, Quiet Riot, et. al.). I think I got it pretty much cleared out. If you are waiting for some kind of communication, you might want to re-send; I’m sorry about that.
I also walked down to the local grocery store. I would have driven but Tamie asked that I not lose our sweet, sweet parking spot. This paid off later when we had to leave and we got out right away. Here’s what I bought: peanut butter cookies, gummy worms, chocolate milk, two burger (from Arctic Circle), and ice.
In the afternoon, clouds gathered and cooled the scene down with a light spattering of rain. For about fifteen minutes, longabout 7pm there was a crack of thunder and a downpour culling some of the less dedicated pool-goers. My kids love that sort of stuff, and generally adapt well to new circumstances. This is bound to be the doing of the mother.
With the pools now empty, what was left was a thin “people soup” of skin flakes, hair, bandaids, and diluted urine.
Then the fireworks. I must be getting old. Fireworks are yawn-worthy. Even the kids are like “been there, done that”. Tamie insists though, she’s a stickler for traditional stuff like that. Fireworks? We’re going. It’s our civic duty.
On the way home, every one except the driver fell asleep. We were all completely and utterly exhausted. Griffin had some trouble, waking up distraught about an hour into the sleep cycle. We think he was just over stimulated. His little brain short-circuited.
Final Note: it is very strange for me to take a day off. It’s been years plowing away.