A Monday meander: With the boys

At the Point on a rainy day.

No child ever receives a box of colored crayons and says, “What’s the point? I can’t draw.” Nor does she reject a jar of modeling dough because sculpture is too complicated. If you give him a guitar, he gets sounds out of it without fuss. If you ask her to sing, she doesn’t refuse to because she doesn’t know the words or because she hasn’t got a perfect voice: she simply takes a breath, opens her mouth and belts it out!

~ Fabiana Fondevila, Where Wonder Lives

Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present.

~ Albert Camus

We looked at roses in the morning.

It’s relatively quiet here in the house right now.  It was noisy earlier with the sounds of the chimney sweep cleaning out the chimney and the clamor of mowing and edging and weed whacking.  But there are no sounds of little boys running and wrestling, laughing and giggling, chattering and singing, and that makes the house feel just a little bit empty right now.

Morning clouds and sunbeams greeted us one day.

We had a wonderful visit with the Little Wookie and the Little Peanut.  I guess I will have to drop the “Little” part sometime in the near future.  Both boys are growing like summer cornstalks, tall and quick.  I think Peanut will ultimately outgrow Wookie in height, but it’s not something I can say for sure at the moment.  Growth spurts come when it’s time and not a moment before.

Walking in the water with Gramps.

We fit in an amazing number of activities considering the lack of cooperation from the weather.  It rained pretty much every single day.  Fortunately, most days were not a complete washout.  Only one day, I think, kept us mostly inside.  Even then, we managed to fit in a hike on what the Wookie called the Monster Path.  It’s one of the paths through the New Woods where the trees hang over it, creating all kinds of darkness on a gloomy day, the kind that might resemble the hands of monsters if you’re a five year old or an adult with a good imagination.

Wait for me!  (You can see the rain on the horizon.)

The remnants of Fred got swept out this way along with a front or trough or something of that nature, bringing about 4 inches of rain.  That was the day we played and danced and went swimming in the rain.  I don’t know why, but the Wookie thought swimming in the rain was the greatest thing.  Perhaps he liked the small splashes of the raindrops.  Fred brought a lot of precipitation but no thunder and lightning.  Then Henri came by and his outer bands brought a great deal of rain.  Henri did not play as nicely as Fred did.  He brought his lightning strikes with him.

Making a splash.

We went to the Point to swim and play in the sand.  The boys did not have water shoes with them and that was unfortunate.  The beach and bottom of the river at the Point is often littered with broken glass and sharp oyster and mussel shells.  Wookie cut his big toe and so ended our adventures at the Point.  No worries, though.  It was practically healed by the time they left here on Sunday morning.  It didn’t hamper his play, either.  I’m sorry I didn’t think to get water shoes for them although we did go out and look after the event, to no avail.  The stores are ready for autumn and winter, and have cleared out their summer things.

Getting ready to put the crab trap in the water.

We hiked around the ranch, did a lot of swimming in the pool, and we caught some crabs for the boys to look at.  We didn’t keep or cook the crabs.  The boys preferred to catch and release.  We didn’t break out the fishing poles.  We can save that for their next visit.

Trying to sneak up on a bunny (which was about as successful as you’d expect from a 5-year-old).

We went to Assateague one morning, but did not look for the horses.  It was the first time in the ocean for the boys and they were quite excited about it.  Both tried out the boogie boards, lying on them to ride in a few small waves.  Poor Peanut face-planted on one of his rides in, catching a mouthful of water and sand.  He shook it off fairly well, but decided that playing in the sand or running to and fro with the waves was more his speed right now.

After cleaning up in the bath house at the state park, we went to Ocean City for lunch so the boys could take a short walk on the boardwalk, eat some pizza, boardwalk fries, and soft serve ice cream.  It was not the best time for it.  We were out in the heat and sun, and even I struggled with having ice cream in that kind of heat (it melted!  everywhere!  imagine that…lol!).  None of us were any worse for wear.  We learned a good lesson.  Wait until late afternoon or evening, when the sun goes behind the buildings, to visit the boardwalk.  That’s especially true on hot, humid, August days.

Pulling up the crab trap. It was quite an exciting moment.

We visited the Discovery Museum where we watched the otters play and learned about steam ships, sailing, and how they used to pull up oysters from the Chesapeake Bay.  We visited a playground (another heat-of-the-day moment that was probably not ideal, but they did get in some play time).  M took them out on his boat for a couple of hours.  Back at home, we watched a couple of movies that involved toys that come alive and dragons that are trained.  We painted rocks and drew funny pictures.  We rode bikes up and down the lane (driveway) which is plenty of length for children their age.  We bought the boys some new boots (you can see the pink boots that Peanut picked out in the photo below) and taught their dad about going to Tractor Supply for things like boots that are reasonably priced and well made.  We read books, snuggled, and exchanged a lot of hugs and kisses.  When it was necessary to do so, the boys were quite good about wearing their masks.

My favorite activity was chatting with Wookie in the early morning.  He would come into our bedroom to wake us up and then stay for about a half hour, chatting and snuggling.  He is better than a cup of coffee when it comes to waking up and starting off the day cheerfully.

One of three we caught. He didn’t want to let go. All three were males. M showed the boys how to tell if the crab was a jimmy (male) or a sook (mature female).

It was, as I think I mentioned somewhere above, a wonderful week.  I’m so grateful to have had time with some of my favorite guys doing things we love to do.  I hope they remember this trip.  Wookie might.  Peanut, being only three years old, might not.

Wookie with his dad, checking out the ocean for the first time.

I still have to sort through the photos I took.  I didn’t carry the camera with me a lot and the one I did carry was usually the little blue everything-proof camera.  Given all the rain and water, it seemed the prudent thing to do.

Peanut approaching the sea on his own for the first time.  I love his body language.  You can almost see the hesitancy in his stance.

Thank you so much for dropping by today and joining me on another meander.  I’m sure I’ll have more to share soon.  I wish I could show you some of the best photographs I have of the boys, but I agreed not to show their faces so these from-the-back mystery shots will have to do.

Let’s meet at the Point for sunset this evening.  The rain has finally cleared out and there is a lovely breeze.  It might help keep the bugs away.  If not, there’s always insect repellent or smoke sticks to help them along.  Sunset is scheduled for 7:45 PM.  I’ll be there early, just to get in a little walk.

Please be safe, be well, and don’t forget to keep an eye out for beauty.  (The Wookie, Peanut, and I did a good job of finding beautiful things quite often during the week.)

Our stuff, waiting for us to come back. I think this was the sunniest day we had. One of the hottest, too.

A few of the 10,000 reasons to be happy:  1,841)  A week with Wookie and Peanut.  It was awesome, in the truest sense of the word.  1,842)  Watching the boys as they approached the ocean and waves.  Also awesome.  1,843)  Feeling some of their awe and excitement as I watched them.  1,844)  Long days with lots of activities that exhausted us all into a good night’s sleep.  1,845)  Settling back into routine and the quietness.

Construction zone.