Weekend snapshots

Craig has some actual snapshots from our weekend, but here are word-snapshots of some of my favorite moments:

- Team ChloEffie: These two were practically inseparable. They did art together, played chess together, made a giant sidewalk-chalk gameboard (with sharks and piranhas and a move-ahead-three-spaces current) plus the giant six-sided paper die to go with it, read together, and finished off the weekend by making a "just one more minute, Dad" paper chessboard and pieces.

- Feasting with Frank: Frank went heavy into his "to let a guest feel a moment's hunger is a sin" mode and kept us supplied with a succession of tasty treats. At various times, we had spaghetti, grilled sandwiches, chicken and smashed potatoes, pancakes, bacon and cheesy eggs, and shrimp and veggie kabobs. This morning, his offer to cook again was met with a round of groans.

- Concoctions with Fergus: I'm not sure which of us was looking forward to this more, but our blender certainly got a healthy workout. I liked the fruity ones, but Fergus' favorite was Darth Malts, and they are very tasty indeed: Whoppers, vanilla ice cream, and a splash of milk. When the Whoppers ran out, we switched to Corvallis Ovaltine. Slurp!

- Concoctions with Craig: Craig was our designated evening mixologist, producing a steady stream of seemingly increasingly potent strawberry margaritas. At one point, I was driven to say, "Geez, Craig, what did you do to these things?!" Let's just say the kids found us by turns irritating or amusing.

- Story hours: Last night, Effie and I sat down to read a couple of books together. Before long, I was surrounded by Effie, Fergus, MJ, and Chloe, with some irritating or amusing adults in the peanut gallery. MJ and Chloe kept returning to their rooms for stashes of childrens books that I didn't even know they still had. With various readers taking turns, we probably read 25 books and some of those more than once.

Name that childrens book:
"...little, warm and tasty, fast asleep."
"Oops."
"The trouble was, They wanted more!"
"Do you like my hat?"

- Ronnie discovers Fergus-style wrestling: Fergus and I wrestled on the couch a lot. Fergus' wrestling style is very physical and involves lots of headlocks and giggly sharing of body odors. But it was neat to watch how he regulated the intensity all on his own. He would launch himself at me, we'd wrestle, and then he'd switch to cuddling or back off completely for a minute, before starting the whole cycle again. And it was also cool how my willingness to wrestle seemed to put a lock on our concoction-inspired friendship. I got lots of hugs and easy conversation all weekend, a big improvement from last year's, "You weren't so good, but now you are."

- Fergus and Frank have the place to themselves: While the rest of us made a run to Trader Joe's and Target, Frank and Fergus hung out at home. Gillian and I both suffered a jolt of anxiety when my cellphone rang, but Frank was only calling to request additional vanilla ice cream for concoctions. In other words, the boys were well occupied.

- Ronnie and Effie hang out: Effie and I had a lovely couple of hours together yesterday afternoon. We did some art, talked about how different people learn to read at different ages, played the piranha game, and walked the neighborhood, and then I timed her while she did her very best to wear herself out running up and down our front steps. (I got worn out just watching her, so I didn't need to do any actual running.)

It was a really special weekend, as our weekends with unschoolers so often are. Thanks, Mayers, for making the trek across the ferry and over the border! We're so glad you came!