We had a pretty quiet weekend at home, which is nice because it seems like most of the weekends in June or July will be busy with visitors or taking a few small trips.
On Saturday, Grandma Jan and Grandpa Steve (and about 8 plants) came to our house to help finish our landscaping project. As usual, Charlie loved the one-on-one time with them but I failed to take any pictures.
Steve and Jan left for a few hours to go to a graduation party and a wedding reception, so we headed to our friend Birdie and Zinn's house to a pizza party. Well, the guys had a pizza party and Zinn and I went out to eat. We figured that after spending Friday night golfing and celebrating their golf game together, BJ and Birdie could entertain the boys while Zinn and I had a "girls only" dinner. Charlie loved playing with Zach, Drew and Jake, as evidenced by the picture below.
When Steve and Jan came home from the wedding reception, BJ and I decided to go to a late movie. The 9:30 show was sold out so we bought tickets to the 10:15 show. I knew that I was pretty lame (I eat frosted shredded mini wheats and listen to NPR), but I had no idea that the general public still engages in social activities after 8:00. I kept asking BJ if he was as shocked as me that the 9:30 and later movies were sold out - how crazy is that? He was not as shocked and quickly tired of my need to discuss the amount of people at the movie theatre. For those of you reading this post, no, you will not get these few minutes of your life back.
On Sunday morning we woke up and all marveled at how the back of Charlie's head forms perfect curls while he sleeps. I would have loved the ability to generate these curls in high school. I even bought hot rollers and a large can a Vavoom in an attempt to create curls and the only thing I ended up with was a slight burn on my finger from the curlers and highly flammable hair from using too much hair spray.
One of Charlie's new toys is a little vacuum cleaner and he is obsessed. BJ and I keep thinking that the batteries have got to die pretty soon because ironically, a toy vacuum cleaner makes an as annoying sound as a real vacuum cleaner. If Charlie's current obsession with vacuuming and mowing the lawn are any indication, we'll be set for a few years of child labor when he gets older.
Before Charlie got his tubes, I worried that he might have a hearing problem because of the multiple ear infections and the fact that he seemed to like my singing. I no longer have any worries about his hearing. Earlier today we were heading home after running some errands and I began to sing Wheels on the Bus to kill some time. I looked back and Charlie was shaking his head and covering his ears. Well played Charlie, well played.
I don't have any pictures to go with the following memories but still feel the need to share these stories. For the last few weeks, there have been two ducks that have been regulars at our lake. We would always point out the ducks and tell them good morning, etc., but did not form a particular attachment to them. On Wednesday night, we were on our nightly walk and we noticed that one of the ducks was sitting near the sidewalk but on the bank of the lake. We were surprised that (s)he was not moving as we got closer and closer and then we saw it...his/her friend/spouse/partner was floating in the lake a few feet away. It was very sad. BJ and I stopped to assess the situation and before we knew it, Charlie was muttering "dead duck, dead duck"...not the word combinations that we've been working on.
After our walk we were playing in the front yard when our neighbor Miss Patty came by to ask if we had seen "Mr. Quackers." I asked if she meant the dead duck or the duck that was grieving by the side of the lake. Patty informed me that Mr. Quackers was the duck that was grieving and that it was Mrs. Quackers that had kicked the bucket. Patty continued by explaining that she had been in her basement (you know, because her husband has chronic pain and she sleeps downstairs) when she began watching the ducks on a regular basis (and to make sure that those neighbor dogs that are labs weren't frequenting her yard to much) when she...(I started to zone out at this point because BJ and Charlie abandoned me and were in the garage while I was getting unsolicited updates on landscapers in the area, her two dogs and other neighbors). Fast forward an hour and Charlie was in bed and I looked out at the lake and saw that Mr. Quackers was still watching Mrs. Quackers floating. It was very sad so amidst BJ giving me a hard time, I walked out to give Mr. Quackers a piece of bread. I justified that ducks can't be too different from humans and we typically drop off a casserole and what-not when a loved one dies so how was this any different? Anywho, the sun had almost set so it was difficult to see the water but I quickly found Mr. Quackers and he was very pleased to see me because although I gave him a few feet distance, he waddled over to me and began eating pieces of bread. I couldn't stand there and NOT acknowledge that he lost his soul mate, so I started talking to him telling him that it will be ok, he needs to find a new lake and a new friend when I hear, "Are you alright?" I look up to see a woman standing on the sidewalk a few feet away and I hear BJ laughing from the deck of our house. Apparently this woman walked up behind me and had been eavesdropping on our conversation the entire time. In trying to explain what I was doing, I ended up sounding like a crazy person. I started by saying, "Mr. Quackers...well, I didn't name him, I'm not that crazy, is here grieving because his wife is dead, do you see her floating?" [No, it was too dark to see anything floating] "So I thought that I would bring him a piece of bread because that is what we do when humans are grieving..." Silence. "That is my husband up on the deck and he is laughing right now because he knows that I've made a fool of myself." Finally, the woman gave me a half smile and said to have a good night. And to think that an hour earlier I was thinking that Patty had the title of crazy neighbor.
The next random memory also involves Patty. BJ had Friday off and was working on our landscape project when he realized that Copper was gone. We have an underground fence and Copper is so scared of it that we haven't been using his collar lately. Well, don't let your guard down around old Squirrel Pup because he apparently saw a chance to escape and went all Shawshank Redemption on us. Anywho, BJ started walking up and down our street (probably crying) yelling for him when he heard Patty yell "Are you looking for your dog?" Turns out, Copper was in her backyard (two houses from our house) when she coaxed him into a kennel with a treat. First, I'm not sure how long Patty was planning on keeping Copper in that kennel, but if the homeowners association had any say, I'm sure that it would have been indefinitely. Second, I doubt that the treat was on the "Copper's allergic to everything except kangaroo meat" approved list of foods so the treat alone probably shaved 2 years off of his life and the fact that he was placed in a kennel probably shaved another 6 months off of his life. Third, I wonder what Patty named him since she's established herself as the neighborhood namer of all wayward animals.
Finally, yesterday was my dad's (Grandpa Bill) birthday. We hope that you had a great day and we'll see you in a few weeks. Here's to hoping that there aren't any more impromptu duck grieving sessions this week.
