here’s some stuff that happened in may.
firstly, some cardinal eggs we found in one of my azalea bushes while we were hiding easter eggs finally hatched. i was able to stick my phone in and get good photos and we could sort of see them through the hall window, so it was a fun little nature project for us. well. until… one day, i poked my camera in and one baby jumped out. i caught it and as i put it in, the other baby jumped out. when i caught that one and put it back in, they both jumped out. i figured i was adding stress and i should leave them alone and see if the parents would fix the situation. over the course of the rest of the day, we watched the mom and dad, swoop in and out, squawking and chirping, and by the end of the day, i guess they had moved away. or, i hoped they had moved away that is.
in other yard related news, derek lidbom is working hard to get us a more grassy and less muddy lawn. so far, his efforts have paid off.
derek bought a fancy sprinkler to water the hopeful grass patches, so the old sprinkler became a lovely way to cool off in the back yard. of course no one put on bathing suits, because actually preparing to get wet takes all the fun out of it.
we’ve been working on a few home improvement projects lately. which includes a certain teenager patching up some holes that may or may not have been intentionally created by said certain teenager. in unrelated news, derek bought me some sweet buffalo bills zubaz pants for mothers day. or maybe our anniversary. or both. or for my future superbowl victory gift.
for my mother’s day gift, which also happened to be anna’s birthday, i requested a solo tent camping trip to hanging rock. but then i had a super annoying sore throat and cough that i couldn’t imagine dealing with in a tent on a mat on the ground, so i postponed a week.
i set brought some books, my hammock, some keto foods, and spent the entire time lounging around and reading. it was very relaxing, and i came home refreshed but exhausted (i think i crossed the age threshold where one can comfortably sleep on a mat on the ground). oh, and i was completely covered in bug bites.
while i camped, derek did fun things with the kids. like mini golf.
i camped through our nineteenth anniversary, but came home the next day, and derek’s parents watched the kids while we went out to dinner at bleu. so fancy. but not fancy enough to cook my ribeye medium rare. but fancy enough to give me a free dessert to make up for it. :).
and now for some hazel themed “art” and/or humor. she had a sliver in her foot. she does not handle this sort of thing well. we tried to get it out, but it was in there pretty good and she decided to live with it for a bit instead of resorting to more drastic removal efforts. lest i forget that she had said sliver and the details of this tragedy, she drew a complete diagram of her foot and leg. (update: the sliver came out on it’s own after a day of swimming). second pic. i don’t even know what was in this letter. but the address makes me laugh.
we had high hopes for a memorial day weekend camping trip to the beach, so we busted the camper out of her winter slumber, cleaned her up, and started packing. unfortunately, the weather forecast seemed unpromising, and since gas is a jillion dollars, we didn’t want to take the risk. instead, we spent the weekend at forest lake, the very same nearby campground we stayed at three years ago to the day, while we were waiting to move into the gross brady bunch mansion.
it was nice to just camp. to not worry about hikes or adventures. to have full hookups. it’s a different vibe than our usual M.O.
the girls mostly just wanted to swim. i was glad to sit at the pool with a book and let them have at it. unfortunately, i did not properly apply sunblock (or possibly had some expired old sunblock) and suffered some randomly shaped patches of sunburn. no fun. and of course we got ice cream during each day of swimming. and by we, i mean the girls.
i guess i haven’t mentioned it on the blog, but ike got a job. he found out that culver’s will hire 15 year olds and lined up references and applied online. he interviewed two days later and got the job and started three days after that. crazy. it’s really cool, except his work schedule adds another layer of logistics planning for our family. for example, he had to go in for a shift on memorial day weekend.
i’m not really sure how ruby feels about camping. she definitely loves to lounge around on her tie out and grumble at passers by. and she likes to go for long walks. but at home, she has unrestrained free range of our entire property and there’s lots of comfy spots in the house for her relaxations needs. mostly i think she’s a dog and doesn’t actually give it much thought and just enjoys the moments.
i came home a little early on memorial day because i had a couple of cakes that i wanted to get a head start on. anna and derek stayed behind to fish and hang out. hazel helped with cake batter taste testing and quality control. and pre-cleanup. but then she crashed hard and it turned out she wasn’t feeling so hot.
and now. for some miscellaneous ruby photos that found no home in this blog post.
and lastly. a picture of cute hazel. at wendy’s. during one of our last days together without other kiddos.
and then it was june.