Xiaoniu 小妞

We got back from our trip to Canada late yesterday evening. I have plenty of pictures and video to post, but I have some work to tidy up before I can do that.

We decided to hit up a pick your own farm that Amy and Mike went to about a month ago. There was supposed to be blueberries and strawberries to pick. We wanted to keep the kids busy so we all headed out. It was about a 45 minute drive, but we took our time, had lunch and ended up killing the day.

I was a little leery about strawberries in August, but sure enough they had a field full of bright red, ripe, sweet strawberries. Sue and the girls stayed with Amy and her clan to pick berries. I headed out to find the beans. After numerous back and forth trips and plenty of walking down rows of weeds I found them. Their string bean bushes, but some were picked nearly clean and they all were crowded out by humongous weeds. I made one more trip and ended up bringing James and Emelia out to pick beans. They both did well, but with the heat and with Emelia breaking plants I filled my bag quickly and got out of there.

We checked out the squash and cucumbers before moving onto blueberries. They were both looking awful. There was plenty of swiss chard, but we don’t really care much for it. The blueberries looked picked clean, but there was about 10 rows of bushes left with plenty of berries. We picked a huge amount. Emelia did a wonderful job picking the right ones and not crushing any. By this time Caitlin was wiped out and asked us to bring out the stroller so that she could sit and watch us pick.

In the end we ended up with a few pounds of strawberries, a couple pounds of beans and about three or four pints of blueberries. We left with full bellies too. The fruit were great, but the veggies (other than the beans) were a disappointment. It could be a bit late in the year for some of them as well. My zucchini plant is already gone. The kids had a great time too. They even got a chance to check out some really free range chickens that had free rein of the front (despite the fence).

We finished off the day with some decent pizza and headed home. A round of showers and dinner, then the kids were off to bed. We picked a lot of strawberries, but we have nearly none left already. I figured they would last a day or two, but they didn’t make it past 12 hours. I packed a couple pints of them for Sue and my lunch tomorrow. I then made up a bowl for each of us and now they’re all gone. The blueberries will likely be gone in a couple days too. They are going fast, but the trip was well worth it. I can’t wait for apple picking season.

Thankfully for us Caitlin now likes getting her nails cut. No more trying to cut them when she is asleep.

I spent over an hour in the basement deconstructing some contraption that the previous owner built to hide the heating/cooling cucts. I’ve been meaning to get started on the basement remodeling and today seemed like a good time to start.

My initial goal was to seal of a vent that was added to the duct work. Even closed the vent leaked so much that it is downright chilly in the basement when the a/c is running and quite warm in the winter. Some caulk, flashing and screws later it’s all sealed up. Very nice. And having that box gone I can actually walk in my basement without having to hunch over.

Removing the box revealed some more dampers I didn’t realize existed and would have no chance reaching had I know of them. I made some adjustments to the dampers, but it didn’t make much difference.

Next up is hoofing out the all the crap I tore down. I may have to take a day off just to get rid of it. Not to mention all that work made me sore. Yes, I’m out of shape, but that isn’t the problem. Working on a computer at a desk in a nice comfy chair doesn’t really lead to tough, calloused hands. Working on the computer leads to soft, dainty hands. Not good for real work. Oh well.

I’ve debated with myself on whether to post this picture, but I’ve broken down. I couldn’t help, but post that smirk of hers. All of a sudden she just made a weird face when I had the camera out. It’s too cute not to share. Just ignore the dirty one-sie. Somebody just finished eating when I took this one.

July 4th weekend we made a long round trip to see both sides of the family. We started off visiting my side at Bobby and Pat’s house.

Grandma and Emelia sharing a moment.

Grandpa trying to stay cool (no pun intended).

Emelia outside in the heat blowing bubbles with grandma and Bridget.

James and Marc playing ladder ball. From what I hear James one every game, but that came from his mouth, not mine.

Grandparents and grandchildren time.

Time to reapply sunscreen.

Hanging out in the shade.

Getting ready to leave.

That’s all for now.

On the Friday before July 4th we went to the girls’ daycare to enjoy a lunch with them. Lunch was hotdogs, salads, chips and drinks. Typical, easy to eat junk food.

Sue poses with Caitlin on her lap. Caitlin already ate her lunch at this point, but she was too clingy for me to take any pictures of her.

Emelia with a smirk.

Just like last year one of the parent’s brought in plain cupcakes and three tubs of frosting for the kids to put together. Emelia did well this year.

Yummy! Check out the silly bandz on her wrist. Somebody brought them in for all the kids. They’re banned in school, but not pre-school.

A few of Emelia’s friends at daycare. The one on the left is also named Caitlin, but I’m not sure of the spelling. There are two other kids named Emelia at daycare (not pictured), one named Amelia and another Emilia. The other two kids at the table have been in daycare as long as Emelia.

Little Miss Meticulous took her sweet time frosting her cupcake. I think she forgot that she was getting it ready to eat.

At least one of the kids end up with their hands covered in icing. This year it was Emelia’s friend. He split his time between putting frosting on his hands and licking it off.

In the end she ended up eating some of her cupcake.

At 3:30 on Tuesday I got a call from daycare to take Caitlin home. They suspected that she had come down with coxsackievirus. She had red spots in her mouth and on her bum. Not much we can do other than wait for her to get better. The kids ended up in bed early. Emelia skipped dinner and was asleep very early. I checked her throat on Wednesday and sure enough her throat was red too. I ended up staying home with both kids on Wednesday, thinking that Sue could take them on Thursday and if necessary I could watch them on Friday, which I had already taken off.

Somehow we (just the three of us) made it through the day. I wasn’t so sure how I could do with the girls since both were sick and Caitlin is very attached to mommy and difficult to deal with when sick. I got lucky and Caitlin took a quick nap in her high chair after eating lunch.

Emelia wanted to take a nap on the couch. She surprised me by actually sleeping there. I made her a “bed” out of the love seat and a tucked in blanket. Emelia slept well, but Caitlin woke up after 40 minutes and proceeded to torture me for another 40 minutes. By three o’clock I broke down and took the girls out for a ride. The little one took a nice short nap. We had ourselves some ice pops to soothe throats.

Unfortunately, they ended up getting me sick. I did my best to avoid it by washing my hands, not sharing with them, etc, but it’s likely I got sick the same time Emelia did, I just didn’t realize it immediately. I almost went to work on Thursday, but ended up staying home again. This time Sue stayed home to watch the girls. We ended up taking turns, but she still took the lion share of the work. One fortunate thing was that the kids are nearly fully back to normal. It’s a quick sickness.

Sue kept Emelia busy with painting. Caitlin spent time “coloring”.

Sue teaching Emelia to paint some sun catchers that we bought months ago for Easter.

Caitlin’s masterpiece being made.

Caitlin had more fun putting the crayons back into the bag and then dump them than she did actually coloring.

A little video of the kids being creative.

Being Creative from xiaoniu on Vimeo.

By Friday morning it appeared that both girls were almost completely healthy again. They went to daycare I was good enough to take advantage of my already scheduled day off. High humidity and hot temps kept me from doing all the work I wanted to do, but it was a very productive day overall. The car finally got washed after many months and waxed for the first time ever. All I can say is that I’ll be glad to go back to work on Monday. Having a few days off, albeit sick most of the time did wonders for my mental health. Couple that time off with weekends front and back, and a couple days of atypical work and I’ve been able to clear my mind. Finally, for once I’m not thinking about work.