Day 2: How do you spell p-r-o-f-a-n-i-t-y?
This morning, we got up a bit late. We have blinds in the RV that are thick, like hotel curtains, so if we don’t set an alarm, it’s easy to sleep in. Richard and I worked while the children found things to do other than video games and television. They’re not allowed to watch TV unless the weather is bad or it’s dark outside. Frank whittled wood with his Dremel tool. I’m not sure if that’s technically considered whittling…but I’d rather he play with a Dremel than a knife! Max played with Play-doh outside (Play-doh and dirt do NOT mix) while Ali listened to her little radio and read a book. Percy perched by the door most of the day, alerting us to all other passing doggies.
The other day, Frank said a bad word (douche bag). After we quizzed him on the meaning of the word, and lectured him on saying words you don’t know the definition of, we made him look it up in the dictionary. Unfortunately, much to the amusement of the children, it took Richard and me about five minutes to figure out how to spell it. Frank could then only find the first part of the word in the dictionary (sigh). You can imagine the look on Frank’s face when he figured out what the word meant. Anyway, today, we caught Ali and Frank looking up bad words in the dictionary. At least they were USING the dictionary! Here they are, looking up a word. I won’t type the word here, but the definition, according to The American Heritage Dictionary Office Edition is: “Any of several hoofed, long-eared mammals resembling and closely related to the horse.”
Later this afternoon, despite the chilly, late-afternoon air, Frank and Ali took Max swimming. We haven’t ever been able to get him to let go of us in the pool. He just completed a month of private swimming lessons and he still would never let go of us, or his instructor. However, today, Ali and Frank convinced him to let go. Yes, he had a lifejacket on, and he loved the freedom of being able to paddle around all by himself! On the way back from the pool, Richard sat down at the campground’s group bonfire pit and sang Kum ba yah. Not really. I just made him pose there so I could write that.
Frank made me a tiny shadow box today using a kit he got at the gift shop here. Isn’t it cute? I love shadow boxes. And here’s a photo of Frank eating New Hampshire Maple Syrup right out of the bottle. Mmmm. A spoonful of the BEST sugar!
Tomorrow, we’re heading west, through a strong cold front that will make traveling a bit treacherous. The front produced two dozen tornadoes in Wisconsin yesterday. The children have always wanted to see a tornado in real life. Really! But, don’t worry. We’ll just be pretending to be storm chasers tomorrow. If we really do happen to see a tornado, we’ll definitely NOT start chasing it!
Weather- and time-permitting, we’ll be stopping by Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory tomorrow, too. Yea!!!