2022, August 22-28

August is going out like a lamb. Or some other hot-weather animal that is not as fierce as the dragon August rode in on. We participated in activities modern, athletic, artistic, culinary, and historical this week. 

Fergus found lots of laps this week. He doesn't often sit on Hallie's, but this week we caught him on her lap at least twice (usually when Mike was gone). He had nowhere else to go except for her lap. Poor Fergus!

Eliza went with Hallie to the Springville Junior High PTA meeting. She was thrilled, not. We were not sure how long the meeting was going to last, but we now know two hours is too long for Eliza even with coloring and Hallie's phone. She's still winding up to when she goes to Yates Place, so we're doing ad hoc school in the meantime by reviewing her skills and getting her set up with the online materials she'll be using. Below she is taking selfies with Hallie's phone while trying to pass the time.

In the afternoon, she went riding at Guide N Gallop. Amber, one of the trainers who works at the stable, has been helping Eliza learn a bit about barrel riding. Eliza is so happy to be learning something new even when it is 95 outside.

Hallie and her mom ran some errands and did some window shopping.

Landon loves that Fergus sometimes chooses his lap. 

All this week, Mike has had university conference in preparation for the coming academic year. On Thursday, Mike had his department meeting. We spent the very end of it bowling. Mike did pretty well, relatively speaking, bowling 115 and tying for second place. 

Here is his colleague (and former professor), MacLeans Geo-JaJa, who had never bowled before. The guy was a ringer though! He bowled a couple of strikes and a 113 overall. 

Our team did not win. We weren't last, but we still didn't get the winning "Nacho Average Bowler" shirts. 

Another part of our department meeting included a presentation on the art of kintsugi (金継ぎ, "golden joinery"), also known as kintsukuroi. We're familiar with the art form and its metaphor use encouraging us to keep growing and moving forward. This article does a nice rundown of what it is and some of the philosophy around it.  We didn't have time to actually do kintsugi on Thursday, so after Mike got home, he set to work on materials he received at the meeting. 

This is kintsugi-inspired rather than actual kintsugi, which requires special resins, actual gold powder, and plenty of patience and skill.  

Here is the finished product, the "gold" drawn in with a gold metallic paint pen. All of the spirit with quite a bit less work! 

On Friday evening after Landon got done with gym, we went to Thanksgiving Point to participate in the Utah Renaissance Faire. It's a large event with many activities and vendors. It's not quite as big as the Michigan or Southern California Faires, but it holds its own. Landon brought a sword and shield, and he said that maybe next year he will wear a costume.

Eliza is a good sport for taking pictures.

Here we see the royal court on the way to the joust. 

We ate some (not quite) authentic medieval fare. 

The girls got henna paint. 

Landon found his place. 

After spending a few hours at the faire, we drove by a shaved ice truck in American Fork for some treats. With September on the horizon, a lot of food trucks and favorite places are closing for the season, so we have to catch some of our favorite treats before they are gone until next year.

They had a nice setup with corn hole games and Adirondack chairs for relaxing.

  

Saturday morning found us enjoying a mostly quiet day at home. Landon worked most of the day and had a closing work party in the evening, and Eliza had chores. Hallie ran errands and did plenty of her own chores at the house along with trying to encourage Eliza to do her chores. Fergus had to get his beauty sleep. 

In the afternoon, Mike and Eliza drove up to the Michael's in Orem to do one of their art projects. This starry-themed one was the take-home project. 

These were the paintings we did at the store using white paint and chains. We're not sure anybody knew what they were supposed to be doing. 

Later in the day, Hallie and Eliza went out for frozen bananas, then they picked Mike up and they got Slurpees for a 7-Eleven promotion. 

On Sunday morning, Eliza decided she wanted to cook eggs. She did a great job! Eliza said she loves scrambled eggs.

Later, she went fishing and found a tadpole and a small fish that she put in the same container of Mom's she used for her Slurpee last night. Hallie may not be totally impressed with Eliza's thinking out of the box.

GQ Landon loves knowing he's a favorite. He said, "If I died right now, I'd be happy."