Hello, summer

Hey kids,

This is what it looked like a couple weekends ago. Driving snow and gale-force winds.



But the last two weekends have been relatively mild and sunny, and in the case of today, downright HOT. We took advantage and spent lots of time outdoors.

Last weekend was the weekend of errands. Jakob likes to count off all the things we did. Last Saturday, we did 15 things, fun stuff interspersed with errand-like activities:

1) Got gas at AM/PM
2) Got an oil change at Jiffy Lube
3) Went to Starbux
4) Went to the post office
6) Went to Target to buy patio chairs
7) Bought lunch at various places
8) Took lunch to Mills Park for a picnic
9) Played at playground
10) Went to train museum and rode train
11) Trader Joes for dinner items
12) Got Jakob a haircut
13) Went home to set up chairs and new patio table
14) BBQ'd dogs and salmon patties for dinner
15) Made s'mores

Yeah, I know, the list kind of breaks down there towards the end, but you kids get the idea. It was a busy day. Here you are riding the train:



Today wasn't quite so ambitious. We stopped at Borders first to take advantage of a 40%-off coupon that we forgot to bring, plus Momma wanted to get (oh deary me... so embarrassed...) a copy of the brand-new "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner," another installment in the Twilight book franchise. Jakob, you got a workbook entitled "What Every First Grader Should Know: Reading" and you have already worked your way through about half of it. It is waaaaaay beneath you. And Wavy, you got another book about faeries. Plus I also picked up a couple copies of The Associated Press Stylebook. I'm going to keep one for myself, and surprise my editor with the other one; his current copy is about 10 years old.

We made it to Reno by 1 pm to catch a matinee of "How to Drain Your Dragon" at the Grand Sierra for only $3 apiece. It was easily the best movie I've seen all year. I laughed, I cried.

The Grand Sierra theater is located in the bottom level of the Grand Sierra Hotel Casino. It's like this whole 'nother world down there, with dimly lit corridors and useless shops like Starlight Mints by the Pound, overpriced shoe boutiques and endless convention rooms. (Today the lower level was filled with Jehovah's Witness and Tax Professional conventioneers. Whoot! Would love to see THAT afterparty!) But the theaters themselves have rows and rows of loveseats with endtables towards the back, with the regular, traditional seating up towards the front. We snagged a couple of the loveseats and spread out just like we were at home.

Wavy, this was your first full-on theater experience. You've gone to the planetarium numerous times, but never to a regular, feature-length movie. You did amazingly well, and were very well-behaved. (Unlike the ditz behind us, who actually TOOK A PHONE CALL during the middle of the movie and proceeded to ARGUE LOUDLY with whoever was on the other end. No amount of shushing from the other patrons got through to her. Gah.) You might have been just a wee more interested in the popcorn than you were in the movie, but still and all, We undoubtedly will be taking you to more movies from now on.

Afterwards, dinner at Denny's (kids eat free on Saturdays after 4 p.m.!) then a bit of a hike to work it all off.

We explored the Carson River up around Hope Valley, where the snowmelt runoff has the river topped up to near-record levels.



And you STILL hadn't had enough, so we stopped off at the playground for an hour before we finally came home. Actually, Wavy, YOU might have found your limit, because you puked up a goodly amount of your free Denny's spaghetti after one turn down the slide. But then you perked right back up again and went back for more.

So here we are now. You guys are asleep and I'm contemplating turning on the AC for a bit, because it's ungawdly HOT in the house right now. No matter how hot it is outside during the day, the house is relatively cool, but for some reason, once the sun sets, all the hot air stored in the attic seeps down through the rest of the house and slow-roasts us all night.

Anyway, tomorrow: Valhalla Renaissance Faire! Tarry not in the morn, my good lad and lady, for I desire to arrive before all Ye Olde Parking Spaces are frickin' filled up. Last year we wound up parking and walking a mile down the side of a busy highway.

And then the day after that... you go to Cali grandma's for a month. Boo. Hiss.

Love you. Sleep tight.