Weekend Wowzas

Well, thank goodness the world didn't end after all because we had a great time this week. The boys and I headed down to visit my folks and to help celebrate my dad's retirement. He's ending his teaching career this year--yay for him! I'm not sure I'll have the stamina to make it in education as long as he has--32 years--but he's been a wonderful example of the teacher I hope to be, who genuinely cares about his kids and their success, who doesn't rest on his laurels. Congratulations, dad.

We also went to the City Museum in St. Louis--one of the coolest places I've ever been. It's filled with sculptures and labyrinths constructed from the refuse of demolished buildings. Logan had a blast in the ball pits, which weren't filled with your typical small plastic balls, but bouncy playground balls. I was a little afraid to take him through the labyrinths. I was picturing him freaking out in the middle of the trip and having to back up, he crying hysterically, through the tunnel that is only big enough to fit one person at a time, while the other museum-goers would have to move back as well in order for him to escape. I'm looking forward to next time we're all in St. Louis. Eric, who couldn't go this time because of work, will love this place. I was really proud of myself, who's always the scaredy-cat. I actually slid down the three-story high slide, which was really fun.

And when I returned home, I was impressed to find Eric had done quite a lot around the house...in a good way! He put in a nice flower bed next to our patio, put together a small shed to house our lawn equipment since our garage was impassable from all of the stuff we've collected. He had mowed AND weed-whipped. What's more, the house was still pretty clean. Like I said, impressive!

Tonight we enjoyed a first treat from our garden: lettuce salads to accompany our pizza. The first night of the workweek, Eric always asks for pizza, so today we at least had something healthy to eat with it. I had forgotten the downside of harvesting your own lettuce though: you have to rinse every piece thoroughly! I found four teeny slugs on the leaves while I was washing the colander-full I had collected, and by the time the salads were ready to be eaten I was completely paranoid that I had missed one and would sink my teeth into it. Thankfully, that didn't happen...at least if it did, I'm none the wiser.

I'm hoping we'll have a decent crop of veggies this year. They've nearly been drowned with all of this rain we've been having, so everything looks kind of soggy and bedraggled thus far. Gardening with a nine-month old has proven challenging as well. Auden's favorite pastime is picking the heads off dandelions and popping them in his mouth. They must be delicious or the texture must be fascinating. Of course, he's also drawn to dirt. Eric's grandmother always had a saying that "you eat about a peck of dirt in your lifetime." Well, I think Auden will probably meet his allotment this summer if he keeps up at the rate he's going. Logan, on the other hand, is pretty hands-off while we're gardening. He's happy to play in his sandbox or dig for worms or rolly-polies. He even avoids crushing things we've planted...excepting that spirea he sat on while I was weeding. No worries though-it bounced back surprisingly well.