Aaron on S'mores & misc.

"Kitty Cat!"

"It's funny!" (anytime she gets startled or wiggles)

"Gee Pig... wee wee!"

He gets so excited by her that he giggles wildly and trips over himself. It's comical and definitely dangerous. Today he opened her fence twice by accident - she has a little portable fence so she can play outside - and fortunately she moves slowly enough that I caught her. This all drives Mr. Responsible Pet Owner Luke batty. I'm going to have to start tying the fence gate together.

I am really enjoying her - I like bringing her with me when I go outside and feeding her garden bits. I remember when I was little that my Aunt Diane had guinea pigs that she'd let out in the backyard of my grandparents' house, and that my golden retriever Rosie was fiercely protective of them.

Aaron had a big breakthrough at swimming tonight - he realized that it's really FUN to jump in the water, even if it does mean that you briefly go under. When Luke made that discovery he was a riot; jumping so far that he'd either crash into me or drench me.

I'm finally relaxed, for the first time in months, it seems. I spent the morning sorting photos online and the afternoon staining our big swing. It was a relief to goof off guilt free. I decided that since we spend all of our outside time in the front of the house that I'm going to make it into our summer living room. I've gradually been improving the garden area with nice perennials (Tracey helped me pick out some unusual native ferns yesterday) and mom and I put some big potted plants by the front door a few weeks ago. My brainstorm is to close in the space between the garden and the carport because it's so unsightly, then paint two big murals based on the barn quilts that are going up in this part of the country. I'm really excited about this -- lovely, traditional quilt block patterns, and I'm thinking about using several that were used to communicate messages on the Underground Railroad. I'm excited to have that part of the house be functional and beautiful - we're talking about extending the rock wall at the edge of the carport and putting in an outdoor fireplace, and ways to make the area more kid friendly.