The Monday After Friday

So, after the previous sunshiney Friday joy and a whole weekend of sunshine, most of which we spent outside, Monday came with doom and gloom and more rain in the forecast.

While I was setting up for school the girls huddled, and then Keira (my diplomat who knows her mother and my dislike for this weather very well) and suggested (her words, not mine) that perhaps we should hang onto the joy of the beautiful weekend for a bit longer and disregard the fact that it was gray, and head for the park with lunch to do school.

This plan sounded brilliant to me, so we did. And it turned out pretty awesome, because we were the only people at the park for most of the day. Mental Note: Mondays are good days to hit the waterfront.

I was worried that they would be distracted and have a hard time getting everything done, but they ended up doing their book work a lot faster at the park. I think because I was worried about them getting cold, so I'd have them do a few pages and then go play for 5-10 minutes to warm up a bit. That incentive worked very well, and they blazed through everything quickly.

SO, SO, SO gray!!!

Pretty Pink Navel Oranges.

What Garrett affectionately refers to as our "Pacific Northwest Tuxedos". Keens and North Face Jackets.

Counting drills on the slide makes counting drills much more fun! 

Always upside down and backwards on the slide for this one.

I love this peanut butter and jam face, with the wind tussled hair. She's working her way through counting by three's here.

These are MY socks!! They fit HER feet. I DO NOT like this.

I told the kids we could play till three, and then we had to go home. It was gray and mildly drizzly all day, until I took this picture at about 2. Then it was still dark and gray where we were, but we noticed the break in the clouds south of us. 

Yes, they know it is cold, and they just don't care. I think it could be snowing and they'd still insist upon taking their shoes and socks off to play in the water. We have an agreement that as long as they don't shriek and dance around like little girls because the water is cold then they're allowed to do it. 

My baby. She is BEYOND excited about being "the middle kid." Apparently it's the best of both worlds to be the middle kid--you have one older than you, and one younger than you. :-)

In Wenatchee we had quails everywhere. Here we have seagulls. I keep telling myself they have their own kind of charm. They like to sit on my chimney and CAW! This is amplified by the chimney and fireplace acoustics, and is very, very, very loud.

There's not much in the way of waves here. But, when a ship comes through we know its coming before we can see it--the waves get huge, comparatively speaking, and then dissipate as it goes by. 

And at about 2:55 the sunshine finally broke free of the clouds for us, right over head. I stubbornly announced that it was time to go, and was met with outraged howls, as if I'd personally planned the day so the sun would come out as it was time to leave. I was met with resounding choruses of "BUT THE SUN JUST CAME OUT!" as if they'd just spotted Big Foot, and I'd suggested it was time to leave the forest. Their logic did not escape me, so I gave them 15 more minutes.

Then knowledge of my daunting to-do list at home took over, and I herded them up to head back to our castle.

It was a really great day, and I'm glad we did it. I'm really proud of how well they did on their work in a different environment, and mixing it up a bit really seemed to help morale... mine and theirs. It also really seems to help us deal with this weather--to just go out in it, instead of holing up at home. I MUST remember that. We'll have to do it again soon.