Guess where we're going today!

Not that we're excited or anything... Rachel even made paper hoops for her dolphin to jump through. We'll have to tell you all about it later!

Strawberries

Today we went strawberry picking. (Thanks to Jacob and Lily for inviting us to harvest your berries while you're away!) It was lots of fun. We picked and picked and picked. We got in the car with about 8 cups of berries. Somehow, we got home with 3 cups of berries. I can't say for certain what happened to them on the way home, but there were two little people with red fingers and faces who got out of the car. I have my suspicions.

Dry ice

So, most people, when they get Omaha Steaks in the mail (Thanks, Grandmerr and Grandpa!), they probably heed the strident warnings on the dry ice wrapper and set it outside and let the gas dissipate safely. Am I right? Is that what most people do? Hmm. Well, that's not what chemistry teacher-moms do. We had a gas with the dry ice! (Pun fully intended.) At first we were just putting it in a bowl of water and making it sing with a butter knife, which was plenty cool.

This reminded Rachel of witches, so she went inside to get hats for herself and Nathan. They looked pretty witchy. Still quite fun, right?

But then I did read the strident warnings, one of which cautioned against putting the dry ice in an airtight container. Brilliant! (Thinks the chemistry teacher, specially trained in knowing when to heed such warnings and how to flout them safely.) So then we started putting bits of it in film canisters and watching as the lids flew as high as the peak of our roof. It was pretty awesome.

A couple of caveats here: When I say "We" were doing these things, I mean that I was doing them, with my small-fry audience firmly seated out of harm's way. (The photo of them near the film canisters was staged, with the lids off, so no explosions were imminent.) I am trying to walk that fine line between stimulating their curiosity and teaching them to be inquisitive little folks (and sharing awesome chemistry demos with them) on the one hand and making them fearless, careless, danger-prone individuals. Here's hoping it works out, on balance! Okay, enough with the safety soliloquy for now. It was way cool!

Day 3

And then there was the last day of our trip--more swimming in the hotel pool, followed by another hike. Not nearly so good as the first, unfortunately. We climbed Starved Rock, which involved a lot of stairs, a lot of moaning and groaning from Rachel, and an insistence that he be carried from Nathan. Still, it was beautiful up there. We'll go back in a few years. It was nice family time.

Sunday

The second day of our trip was likewise lots of fun. To start, Nathan put on his own sunscreen. (Doesn't he look like he's been hanging out with some statues?)

We went for a bike ride, and Rachel tried out (and LOVED) the new tagalong bike. She did great--and it was a 10-mile round trip, with lunch in the middle!

Rachel and Nathan were both quite enamored of rocks and pebbles throughout this trip, for some reason.

And there were trees to climb. What could be better?

Rock climbers

On the first day of our recent vacation, our children revealed themselves to be first-class hikers. They took to the trails. Nathan counted stairs at bridges. Rachel explained to Nathan how the ripples in sandy creek bottoms form. They climbed rocks. It was great. We loved St. Louis Canyon!

Natalie came for a visit!

Rachel and Nathan were over the moon the other day when Natalie visited with Nana. They were all up in her face, presenting her with toy after toy (We'd had a pre-visit discussion of which toys were good for babies, so they wanted to make sure she saw all the good ones.), and giving play-by-play commentary of her every move. "Baby Natalie just bounced a little bit!" "Baby Natalie just laughed a little bit!" (These from Nathan, of course.) Natalie played right along, grabbing them (in Rachel's case, by the hair; you'll note that Nathan has gotten his all cut off, so she had to grab him by the shoulders), pulling them close, and giving them big wet smooches on whatever part was closest to her mouth. Fun for all! Rachel wanted to feed Natalie, and Nathan was not satisfied with his role of burp-cloth holder, so he had a turn to feed her, too. Natalie was a good sport about the mid-feeding switch. Thanks, Nana and Natalie, for a good time!

Visiting Grammy

Look at this cute bunch! (And note the awesome hair on Baby Cousin.) We have a book that says something about great-grandma coming to visit when the baby is born and having more years herself than "the three of us together." This great-grandma is slightly older than these three together.

Thanks, GM and GP!

It's hot, hot, hot here, and so what a treat it was for Rachel and Nathan to get cards from their grandparents with money for an ice cream cone! We exercised our cone options this afternoon, and what a thrill! Nathan, of course, made his last about 90 minutes. It takes time to sculpt something so carefully. (Can you imagine what happened next? Structural integrity is not yet his strong suit.)

Rachel, too, savored each bite.

Then, when we went back outside into the oven-hot air, it didn't feel nearly so bad! Thanks, GM and GP!

All by himself!

Nathan is very fond lately of telling us something he's done, finishing with: "And I not need ANY help, I do it ALL BY MYSELF, 'cause I a BIG boy!" Today it was climbing a tree--and he really did do it all by himself! (Mom was just the spotter.) He proceeded to sit there for about 30 minutes, partly because it was awesome, and partly because as soon as he got down it would be Rachel's turn to climb the tree, and something Nathan is not very fond of lately is taking turns! But she got her chance, too...