Lovelihood

By the week's end it'll be back to the usual forecast of wet and cool. And we'll still venture outside, bundled up and complaining about rain. But today, the first 70° day of the year, I, like any good Seattle parent, threw open all the doors and shoved the kids out back to play. Bear quickly ditched socks and shoes, scampering around, slimy-toed, while her brother consorted with the neighbor girl, hashing out plans to force a hole in the fence, through which they would set their own playdates. The cat, not one to pass up an open door opportunity, stayed close by, lest the door close on her prematurely.

Today was the kind of Girls' Day (minus the handful of mini-tantrums Bear throws at me on any given day) that makes me happy to have had some one on one time with her. And so nice of the weather to oblige us for an active day of running, biking, ice-cream-eating and playground-scrambling.

The Boy is off at a chess tournament, giddy at the novelty of hotel-staying and event-swag accumulation. Us girls, left behind, have to make our own excitement, today, in the form of microwave potato chips dusted with paprika and kosher salt. Not bad at all.

Took the kids on a rain-day zoo excursion today (with a pocket-ful of expendable change), and all we have to show for it is a souvenir pressed penny.

The tree out back has begun to dump its flora in bulk, littering the deck and yard with clumps of red-pink flowers. And The Boy, who's been admonished before for plucking specimens directly off their stems, assured me that this one he brought in was selected for me loose from the ground.

The brand new house key, cut to replace the one that inexplicably detached itself from my possession.

The only race photos we've ever purchased were for The Boy's runs. The one's with tongues awag are clearly the best.