New game.

We spent a lot of the day outside. I helped out a bit at the pool's workday. The kids started outside, but it was a little chilly so they read in the car instead. Then we walked to a friend's house and home. Q4 did NOT want to walk there, but I managed to get her onto the sidewalk and interested in the journey there by suggesting that they count the spots of bird poop on the sidewalk. It worked. By the time we hit Jefferson St. We'd gotten up to 67 spots of bird poop. Fascinating.

Then after we returned home, and had a wee bit of quiet time they decided to play outside again. I'm not sure exactly what it was they were playing, but it involved parasols (umbrellas), books, shoes, and flowers. I wasn't thrilled, but have come to expect, that many many of the flowers in our yard will be picked. Just so. Today they were picked and replanted in a veggie box.

There was some reading ... or was it sliding? ... going on, too.




Notice this picture includes a book, shoes, umbrella, and ... the flowers in the flower raised bed are just out of the photos.

We ate dinner outside and then finally to bed.

Crafty crafts

I made the girls some recycled notebooks from cereal cardboard and paper ... C6 generously took the Honey Bunches of Oats notebook, because Q4 wanted the grey one with a (smudged) sun on the front.





C5 took the opportunity to decorate the inside covers, and Q4 drew pictures.



I then made some bunnies for the girls to sew.



We are part-way there. Q4 has one ear sewn, and her eyes, and C6 has her eyes and part of an ear. We'll pull them out again when they need something to do. But I doubt it will be tomorrow, because I think it will be park weather.

Cinnamon nuggets

I bought some cinnamon nuggets from KAF with the thought they they'd be more cinnamon-y than cinnamon chips. But in the bag they look like ... hamster food. I have a strong urge to make cinnamon scones, I just need to find the right recipe, now. Hope the nuggets are good,otherwise I will have a whole pound of them to use up ...

New shoes!

Trying out the no-drop barefoot running trend ...



If I manage it right it should be good for knees and hips!

Cherry blossoms

My Sunday morning walk was cancelled this morning, so instead I suggested we go walk around the tidal basin. Earlyish, so we could maybe find a parking space at the FDR Memorial and not have to walk so far to GET to the tidal basin to see the cherry blossoms.

Great idea. Everybody was in for it. We drove downtown and ... realized that today was the 40th annual Cherry Blossom 10-miler.

Ug. Not a problem, really, it was nice that all those roads were blocked off, in some respects. It was easy to cross roads that were closed. But in other respects .... the extra 15,000 runners (and their friends and families!) makes for one crowded area!! And Parking was at a premium. And we couldn't get on the road to get to the FDR Memorial. It was closed for the race.

We ended up parking about a mile away from the tidal basin. We did get to take a little jaunt by the Washington Monument, which is, of course, a treat in and of itself.



Walk, walk, walk. We entered the Tidal Basin by the paddle boats, still locked up as it was not yet 9 am. And the walk around the Basin commenced. There were many photo opportunities. The girls loved getting their photos taken with the trunks, the blossoms, the stumps of the cherry trees.



We got a family photo taken by a woman who'd been following us on the path.




The next best thing after the blossoms was the dogs. Oh, my, the dogs. Everywhere! They petted every single dog they could get their hands on. Most owners were so nice and so patient with them, more than me, after stopping for our 500th dog. But finally, we reached the FDR memorial.

C6 liked climbing on the big rocks. You can't see it here but she is atop of the pile of jumbled rocks that say "I HATE WAR"




Q4 liked the statues. The first is of a man sitting on a chair listening to the radio. I explained that he was listening to the radio, worrying about the depression. Q4 wondered at first if they used a real chair, then she observed that if she got inside his arms it would look like he was giving her a hug. So she did. You can see her fiddling with the radio knobs while inside this hug. The third is a photo with a statue of Fala, FDR's dog.



We ripped them away from the memorial and dragged them back onto the Tidal Basin for more photos, dogs, and walking.






We breezed through the George Mason Memorial, to which I'd never been. Both girls enjoyed it, it was a break from the walking.



We hit the Jefferson Memorial, which was packed. By this time the road race was over, streets were opening up, and all the runners and their families and anybody and everybody else in town was down on the Tidal Basin. It was very very crowded. And Q4 was beginning to droop. She'd walk, walk, waaaalk, and kind for drop into a duck walk and flop on the ground. She appeared to be falling asleep on her feet. She didn't complain or ask to be picked up, but we did, because she was so pathetic. And usually just a short carry would help and she could walk a block or so again. Later C41 measured it and it was about 4.5 miles. No wonder she was tired!!

Final photos:






Now I've gotten my cherry blossom fix that will satisfy me for a fair number of years until I've forgotten them again. Now I'd like to go to an apple blossom festival ... wouldn't that smell divine?

Cooking

Q4 LOVES to cook. Bake. Stir. Dump. Roll. Etc. All of it. So this morning when I was making pizza dough for this evening's dinner, I asked her if she wanted to knead the dough.

Heck yes. I gave her a primer and away she went.



What she liked best about kneading was the eating the dough off her hands after she was done!

New Puzzle

Fallout from the talent has been moderate. C6 is acknowledged in public as the states girl, the Human Almanac, a patriot. All true, of course, but I think she's glad the show is over. Back to normal, no more practices, no more reciting the states (although, honestly, I never had learned the 50 states before this winter, so this was an added benefit for me). But C6 does still love the states, and wasn't so glad that it was over that she wasn't thrilled when a new puzzle came in the mail the other day.





Wowza, great puzzle! Quite a hit, actually, both girls love it, and love the sheer size of it. That, and the fact that it has ALL of the STATES on it.

Q4 proudly put together the banner at the top, and did the occasional state. C6 has focused on the states.

Unfortunately for them, the puzzle keeps getting pulled out, started, and put away before it gets done, just because of timing. One of these days we'll get it finished!