And Then There Were Five

This is how things work in our household: At the beginning of the week we generally have no idea what wild experience will come our way by the end of the week. Often the excitement comes to us from an outside source, but even more often we are the authors of our own adventure.

The week started normally enough with a trip to Greenfield Village for Macy’s 2nd Monday with Analee and Megan and their children. 

Flowers in her hair

Homemade pennant 

On Tuesday, Hallie and Landon went to the movies (again! Two weeks in a row. Mike is jealous), this time to see Brave.

The craziness began on Wednesday. We had been toying in very vaguely hypothetical terms about getting the kids a dog. Dan and Doreen next door recently got a working dog for their son Elliot, who has autism, and Landon has been obsessed with the dog’s behaviors. Also, the people at Kaufman have said that pets can help kids with SPD. Still, we parents were wary. Both of us had pets when we were young, so we know that they’re good to have, but we also know that they require a lot of work, need a lot of attention, and hamper a family’s ability to go on spontaneous adventures.

We had recently begun slowly warming up to the idea of a dog in the future. Mike suggested to Landon that once he could take care of himself (independently get dressed, get ready for bed, help with bigger chores, etc.) we could get a dog. That would buy us a year or two, right? Well, conspiring forces decided to unite on a different plan. Hallie had started looking at pet adoption websites on Tuesday night and shared some links for available animals with Sara and Mike on Wednesday morning. Before too long, “Lucy and Ethel” (as Mike has decided to start calling them) got all enthusiastic about going out to Westland (about 45 minutes away) to see an available chocolate Lab. As Sara put it, looking at the dogs and thinking about actually getting one “is like crack to me!”

Sara and Chase came by in her SUV (the better to hold the dog we might take home), and the four of us plus Priscilia joined them for what was supposed to be a couple of hours to Westland and back to look at the dog. Five hours and two viewed dogs later, we had signed paperwork to take home a six-month old male Labrador retriever/hound mix who had come up with his litter-mate from South Carolina on Monday.

The dog came to us named Blaze (his brother was Rambo), but we decided to change it to Leo (for Landon and Eliza Owens). Hallie put the name “Dr. LEO” on his collar tag. Mike even invented a backstory: Dr. Leopold is the son of a star-crossed union between a charming Southern Belle and a tall, dark, and handsome Atlantic Canadian drifter.

It has not been all lollipops and rainbows as we have gotten used to each other. Leo may have suffered abuse wherever he lived before relating to his potty training because when he had a couple of accidents today he got very edgy each time Mike found out, including growling at us. Good thing Mike will be home next week to see if he can help Leo retrain. We are crate training, and we ran into a little hiccup when the dog messed in his crate. Once everything got washed, Leo happily went back to his crate.

Overall, the biggest challenge of this whole experience is that we really are not ready to own a dog. That said, being ready is probably overrated. Some experiences you just have to leap into realizing that millions of people are doing the same thing all the time. Leo’s a beautiful dog who is very affectionate, obedient, and eager to please. He’s taken to Mike as the Alpha of the pack and has spent his time either not far from Mike’s side or pining for Mike. Landon and Eliza seem equal parts excited and scared of their new “sibling” (three under five, and two not potty trained—what were we thinking?). Hallie likes Leo (except when he barks). Anyway, more Leo-centric stories are sure to follow soon.

Tired puppy! He kept sitting up while his head slowly began to d-r-o-o-p. 

In other news, Hallie and Landon attended a couple of parties at the local park for our neighbors. Elliot celebrated his birthday, and Gabi graduated from high school. We learned that parties can be overwhelming for the boy. He had a bit of trouble at Elliot’s birthday party, but he was able to gather himself together and have a calmer, better time at Gabi’s. He even charmed Gabi’s grandma into giving him a bag of penny candy!

Steamy Waterworks and Fireworks, Thanks to Mother Nature

We suffered through the heat, thankful every day (and every night) that we have air conditioning. Fortunately, the kids don’t seem to notice. The area of the yard the kids play in is generally shady for most of the day, so we just send them out to play in the water. Dad discovered for himself while playing with them that once you’re wet, even with the humidity, the heat doesn’t feel so bad. We could have spent the whole heat wave this way, except that during the middle of the week we had thunderstorms, so Mother Nature provided the fireworks along with the waterworks. Felt like a steam bath out there! Landon and Mom beat the heat by going to the movies to see Madagascar 3.

We received our weekly email from Sister Evans on Monday. She welcomed a new companion, Sister Anderson, to her missionary area and a new president, Matthew Riggs, to her mission. They all seemed to weather the east coast storm and power outage. When they offered to help others who had lost power, no one seemed interested. Bummer.

The garden seems to be responding pretty well to all the heat and water. We have lots of raspberries to snack on and share with the pesky robins. A particularly brazen one swooped down onto the lawn next to a low-hanging branch, plucked one off with its beak, and dined while we sat watching him only a few feet away. One of the tomato pots is not draining well, so all the rain has flooded it. In spite of efforts to pour the water out, it appears that we’re down that plant. Mike salvaged one ripening tomato, and there are two more small ones on the vine that may turn out. The strong winds knocked over another tomato plant, dislodging two more green ones. Perhaps we can fry them up, Southern style.

We celebrated Independence Day Wednesday indoors mostly, with a wet trip to the backyard in the afternoon and a uniquely American dinner (burritos made from teriyaki-marinated chicken topped with parmesan cheese—quite tasty). Hallie and Landon had seen a couple of fireworks shows on nights earlier in the week, but Mike had stayed home with Eliza. Sara called offering tickets to the ball game and post-game fireworks, so Mike figured he and Landon could put up with the heat. Rain threatened as game time approached, and as they left the house, the water came down.

To pass time during the rain delay, they drove up to the 7-Eleven for Slurpees. By drove up, we mean they drove to the next county over. OK, side note: Here’s a little tidbit about life in the Grosse Pointes. In many ways, the communities appear to want to preserve a small-town feel. To that end, zoning restrictions discourage chain stores and restaurants from coming in. While this move does seem to help small businesses and preserve the notion that you’re not in some cookie cutter suburb, 1) it can feel a bit pretentious (some higher-end chains do make the grade), and 2) it means that a lot of places we would like to go are maddeningly far away. We could always move closer to the shops. . . . Anyway, there are no 7-Elevens in Grosse Pointe. Moreover, for reasons we do not know, there are no 7-Elevens in the city of Detroit (plenty of party stores, the Michigan name for liquor/convenience stores). So, if on the off chance you want a Slurpee, you have to go north of 8 Mile Road and into Macomb County.

Anyway, Mike figured that by the time the boys drove up to the 7-Eleven and back they would know whether the game was delayed or cancelled. By 8 o’clock it was still delayed, so they decided not to go (the game eventually was played, and fireworks went off at around midnight. Happy Birthday, USA!). Landon seemed OK with his frozen treat, especially since Mike accidently got him one the next size up from what he’s had before.   

Saturday morning was brutal. All the humidity from the previous days’ rain came up along with heat that felt like 90 degrees at 9 AM. Hallie went down to the farmers market with the kids, and they all looked like they had melted by the time they got back home. She ran some errands with Priscilia and her daughter Corali (visiting from Venezuela), and in the meantime Mike took the kids to play in the sprinklers in the backyard. Again, once you’re wet, the humidity doesn’t feel quite so bad.

By Saturday afternoon, the high heat and humidity had broken, and cool breezes drifted down from the north. It seemed like everyone noticed, because neighbors all around came out to play and walk and otherwise enjoy getting out of the house. Landon helped Owen from next door learn how to ride his bike without training wheels, and once Owen got comfortable, they raced on their bikes along the sidewalk. Eliza even joined in on her little four wheeled kiddie car.

Landon provided the photos this week. Enjoy!

Self portait

Travel companion

Chauffeur

Meal ticket

Lake

A grand day out

Mom and Priscilia

Current favorite cereal

Have you ever stopped to consider what you look like from the perspective of a four-year-old? They look up a lot of  noses. Keep 'em clean, people.

Ready for church

Soft glow around Mommy

And now for some shots from the yard today:

Whoa!

Idle Parents Know: Get Outside

Last week Mike revisited some information he had read in our efforts to learn how to be better parents and meet our kids’ needs. He came across material on slow parenting and literature based on Tom Hodgkinson’s work in The Idler and elsewhere. He requested Hodgkinson’s The Idle Parent from the university library through interlibrary loan (ILL is a godsend Mike has used for years for both academic and pleasure reading. Seriously: free books, CDs, DVDs, etc., and all you have to do is request them and pick them up from the service desk. Libraries are amazing!).

At first glance, a reading of the idle parent manifesto would seem incompatible with what many assume to be true about good parenting in particular and what our church teaches generally about parenting and work. However, as Mike read the book, he gleaned quite a few insights about simply letting the kids alone that make genuine sense. In fact, Mike read two of the author’s primary sources of inspiration (John Locke’s Some Thoughts Concerning Education and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Émile, or On Education) for an educational foundations class at BYU. It doesn’t mean we will stop the road trips and other family activities, but it does mean that we’ll be sending the kids out to the yard to entertain themselves by themselves more often.  

Speaking of yards and the outdoors generally, Monday through Wednesday can only be described as perfect! Mike worked from his outdoor office, he and the kids took turns drinking a ceramic mate gourd full of iced tea made from our garden’s herbs and everyone busied themselves with important tasks such as digging and getting in water fights. Mind you, electronics and water do not mix, so the kids used their water at a safe distance. Mike poured some playground sand into a pit Landon had dug, and Landon thought that was fun.

We had visitors Monday night/Tuesday morning. Two young women from the branch stayed overnight and Hallie helped get them their last-minute items for Girls Camp. On Tuesday morning Hallie drove the girls up to a camp in Brighton. She saw some beautiful homes along the lakeshores. Now Mike wants to go see!

On Tuesday night, Hallie had a bunch of ladies over for a Thirty-One party. Thirty-One is like Tupperware for organizational items. They all seemed to have a lot of fun, and Hallie was complimented on how much charm our home has. Gotta love our craftsman style bungalow, squeaky floors and all.  

If squeaky floors were our only concern, life would be peachy. Unfortunately, on Monday night we discovered that an intermittent funny smell from the general vicinity of the sink had to do with water leaking from our old rusted garbage disposal. We held off replacing it until Wednesday, after Hallie’s party.

Mike and Landon camped in the backyard on Wednesday night. The breeze kept the day and night from getting too muggy, and the humidity waited to arrive until later on Thursday. Eliza joined the boys as they roasted marshmallows, then once she went to bed, the boys added a few more logs to the fire and watched it burn down before bedding down. They’re super tough outdoorsmen, because they don’t have sleeping pads, so they just slept in sleeping bags inside the tent on the back lawn which was not quite as soft as Mike hoped it would be. While the boys were playing in the backyard Hallie had the opportunity to escort Linda Lawson to the temple for her first time. Hallie has really loved getting to be an escort. This is her fourth time and she is honored to be asked. After the endowment she then attended the sealing of Willie and Linda in the temple for time and all eternity. What an exciting time in this couple's life. Hopefully, the boys will do marshmallows again soon so she can have some too.
  

Roasting special super-sized marshmallows

It's as big as a planet!

By rubbing the coals on the underside of the log, Landon created what he called "fireballs." 

Trees, moon, and power lines: Camping in the 'burbs

All this week Mike has taken Landon to gymnastics camp. He spent his days swinging on ropes into a pit full of foam cubes, doing flips and spins, jumping on the long trampoline, and participating in themed art activities. 

So fast, he's a blur!

In the mean time Mike has gone to one of the Warren public libraries. Again, Mike was struck by what a gift libraries are, what with their quiet work areas and free Internet. Honestly, libraries are amazing!

On Friday morning, all Landon’s hard play during the days and staying up late at night finally caught up with him. He could not drag himself out of bed, so we gave him a little extra time and went late to his last day of gymnastics camp. Landon started a new chore in his repertoire helping with the dishes. He rinsed the dirty dishes and helped Dad unload the clean ones from the washer. It almost didn’t even feel like work. . . .

We had baseball Saturday morning. Landon first had his pictures taken and then had his practice and game. He’s going a great job for a four year old with his batting and fielding. The coaches helped keep him and the other kids focused instead of digging in the dirt too much.

Eliza has the right idea

When we got home, Landon headed straight for the backyard for more digging in the sand. Looks like the sand pit is a great idea. Time to invest in another bag or two.

Derek and Janel and their kids joined us at the pool in the afternoon. We enticed them over with promises of Wally’s Frozen Custard which is being sold at the snack shack this year. We had perfect swimming weather and couldn’t keep the kids out of the pool, except for the mandated fifteen minutes each hour of “adult swim” (Adult swim? What the heck? We can tell stories of some decidedly adult behavior in our pool today right in front of our little ones that the couples involved should have taken indoors. Seriously. Get a room!).

We had the first of our garden’s tomatoes with dinner. After the kids went down, Hallie invited Priscilia to go see the fireworks in Grosse Pointe Farms at Sara’s house. At the pool earlier in the day, Derek observed that people spend weeks celebrating Independence Day around here. Judging by the way the fireworks shows and festivals are spread out this year, it does feel like it.  

Cultivating Green Thumbs

The weather started out hot and humid this week but ended pleasant and mild. As much as possible, we tried to send the kids outdoors to play. The garden is coming along. Would that Mike could say he has a green thumb. Most of what he’s trying to do is just keep the lushness planted by our home’s previous owners down to a low roar. It doesn’t look very pretty with some of the ground cover Mike is using to keep the weeds down, but the plants are starting to flower and we hope to see new fruit of the vine soon. He has just let the raspberries and mint plants grow where they please, and they have gradually moved to parts of the garden where they are easier to harvest. We have already sampled our first sweet raspberries of the season and look forward to a bumper crop this July.

We only recently figured out that our mint plants are something other than peppermint or spearmint. Now that they are just beginning to flower, Mike cut some down to dry and found that while they smell minty right when they are cut, they don’t taste quite so minty. He experimented with a couple of drying techniques, and he was able to get them to keep a fairly strong aroma, but they still did not smell quite like mint. In fact, they smelled like chocolate. So he went to the interwebs to investigate. Sure enough, there is such a thing as a chocolate mint plant! Go figure.

Eliza sampling the chocolate mint-infused mate. Landon, who did not know about the chocolate mint, said, "Dad! This tastes like chocolate!" when he tried it. Apparently he has a discriminating palate. 

While the back yard has mostly been allowed to run wild, we are trying to do some minor landscaping to the front yard with Miles’ help. Now that the roses have bloomed, Mike cut them way back in order to give them a chance to bush out and bloom again later this summer (he hopes). Miles has painted the front yard with orange spray paint to mark out where he is going to dig. Right now it doesn’t look pretty, but we hope he’ll be done by next Tuesday.  

The kids had fun helping Mike in the yard with watering the plants, sampling the berries, and cutting the mint. Landon especially enjoyed getting soaked—er, watering—with Priscilia and (later in the week) with Dad.

Makeshift shelter from Priscilia's onslaught

Trying to gain the upper hand

Apparently water-soaked shorts get heavy. 

Not all our activities this week related to the yard. Grandpa O. sent Landon a National Geographic Outdoor Explorer's pack, complete with magnifying glass, compass, and flashlights that clip on shoes. 

Landon's new favorite toy. He's been asking for a magnifying glass for a while now. Good call, Gramps! 

Eliza and Landon went to story time at the library on Wednesday, and they and Hallie joined the Moms Club for story time at Barnes and Noble on Thursday. On Friday Hallie went to Windsor, Ontario, to stock up on our Canadian staples.

Landon started T-ball Saturday. He plays for the Angels (yay, So Cal namesake!).

Ours is number 4. When asked which number he wanted, he said, "I'm 4!" That was easy.

This dirt looks so much more interesting. 

The coaches were really patient and helpful.

Seriously, check out this dirt! 

Landon has had a hard time going to sleep once he goes to bed lately. On Sunday, this meant that Hallie decided to take him to see the fireworks. Lucky!