Fat Cat Fibers: Ups and Downs

Two whole months have passed since my last post. Ack! In my defense, we have been busy. I'm sad to report that no further progress has been made on the kitchen. It looks exactly as it did in that last photo, awful faux-brass light fixtures and all. I could give a bunch of excuses here, most mostly I just need to get my butt back in gear!

First, I will recap our adventures over the last eight weeks:

End of May: Jonah finished up first grade at his Montessori school. He brought home a ton of excellent art work, writing, science papers and math works. The school had a fun "End of Year Celebration" concert at the swanky Edgeworth Club here in Sewickley, where Jonah sang "Back in the U.S.S.R." while dressed as a Sri Lanka-themed nesting doll. I use the term "dressed" lightly. It was really more akin to sticking one's face through a painted wooden cutout at the fair, only the cutout was made of styrofoam insulation so it could be easily carried. I have to say, they did a nice job of mixing all things Asian in one concert (their focus of study for the year was on Asia).

There was also the end of year school picnic at a great local park. It features the Little Sewickley Creek, which is fairly wide but quite shallow. Perfect for kids to tromp through and find critters. Of course, Jonah and his friends hiked quite a ways from the picnic area to find the one area deep enough to jump into (feet first), and made good use of this little spot before coming back to let their parents know where they'd been. "Show me," I said, when he showed up, sopping wet. We all traipsed back to the spot for a demonstration. You can see how they cycled in and out, over and over:

The picnic also gave us an excuse to make some fun cupcakes, which Jonah and I designed. We both drew kitty faces on paper. I then traced over the pencil lines in melted chocolate onto a piece of wax paper. Once that cooled, I covered the whole head with different-colored melted white chocolate. After layer cooled, they could be peeled off the paper and placed upside-down on top to the cupcakes. I just love Jonah's sad kitties!

Beginning of June: Jonah finished up his first season of Little League. It's amazing how much a bunch of 6-to-8-year-olds can improve over two months of play. The last few games were genuinely exciting to watch. Jonah says he wants to play baseball "forever." We're just happy he had a great time.

The kids and I took a trip to Kentucky the first weekend in June, just for a visit. They loved swimming and playing with their cousins and visiting with the family.

Jonah went to a week of Eco-Explorers camp, ending with an overnight campout at his teacher Mrs. Edson's house. He managed to make it through the whole night in the tent, though three of his tent-mates went home. "I stayed up 'til one a.m.!" he proudly told me the next morning. They were up by 5 a.m. for pancakes and playing. The chaperones were looking pretty bedraggled by 8 a.m. By 9 a.m. Jonah was asleep in his bed, for a 4-hour nap.

End of June: Another great week at Kiawah Island, SC with Ben's family. They've been going there about every other year since Ben was a kid, but lately we've been going every year. It's a great wide, uncrowded beach, and the house has a screened-in porch with a perfect view of the ocean.

Sleepy Passenger on the Morning Walk

Castle Thursday Builders

Hat Popper, Wave Jumper

Mommy Mattress on the Beach

Jonah spent the week after with Nina and Papaw, while Ben, Eliza and I flew home. We did some house projects--well, I did and Ben spent some quality time with his daughter. We did take a day trip through scenic western PA, past the site of Falling Water, to Ohiopyle State Park, with its own rapids and falls.

Terrible Sunglasses at the Falls

On the way home, we wanted to continue on the scenic the route, so we told the GPS to avoid toll roads (it wanted to take us to the Pa Turnpike). What happened from there defies all logic, unless the people at Garmin were trying to punish us for avoiding payment of tolls. The GPS directed us only an increasingly narrow and windy road, which eventually became a one-lane gravel road. It went up and down steep hills, through the forest, sometimes with a steep drop-off on one side and huge hill on the other. We did not meet any other cars, thankfully. We thought about turning around at one point, but by then we were already as close to the end (we hoped) as we were to the beginning. After a somewhat terrifying 5-mile trek (with free-flowing curses), we returned to asphalt (hoorah!) and quickly realized that we had travelled in one giant loop! Damn you Garmin! Thankfully, Eliza snoozed through the whole adventure.

Beginning of July: We headed back to Kentucky for the 4th of July weekend and to retrieve our sorely missed Jonah. Fun times with the family, including a family reunion with Mom's family (featuring a visit from Uncle Johnny Hawaii):