As I have mentioned earlier, we have been busy. Lots of fun happenings and lots of summer busyness. Last week, Clover and the kids were up all week. And then on Sunday, we had David and Rachel over for the day and then yesterday we went to Mary's for the afternoon. All three visits were lots of fun and the kids had a blast, with all their friends/cousins. So today, I am just going to post kid sort of pictures from the past couple days.
I was reading an article this morning about a no-kids movement, with several restaurants, as well as first class cabins on some airlines and even Whole Foods in Missouri creating kid free areas, times, or simply banning children under 6 all together. I have divided feelings on this. I understand that people who are eating in a restaurant, watching a movie in a theater, or flying on a 6 hour flight all feel that they have the right to enjoy what they paid for without a child kicking and screaming at them. And back in the day, kid free restaurants, movie theaters, and airplanes, were simply a matter of course, since parents didn't take their kids out as much. So we can't really blame this on our selfish, egocentric society. But the other part of me thinks this is a.... what is the phrase I am looking for? It is taking society and trying to remove the unpleasant or unsettling parts, simply to make life more pleasant for some. This is loosely tied in to what I was mentioning awhile ago about Down Syndrome--90% of pregnancies with positive Downs diagnoses are terminated. Partly because parents feel unable to deal with something like that. An understandable feeling taken to a.... well almost playing God level. It is simply making society more homogonized and less unsettling. Will they be banning old people next, since listening to repeated stories is so tedious and watching what we might ourselves become is too much like considering our own mortality? Life is life. It includes all kind of things. Then another part of me thought of me doing a couple transactions at Walgreens the other day and Orianna and Lily running back and forth down the aisle while they waited for me. And I realized this is exactly what these people are trying to prevent, out of control kids making life difficult for everyone else. Like society is disciplining you AND your kid because you can't keep your kids under control. Sigh. I feel like a bad mother and a social pariah.When I discipline, I am being terrible, and if I don't discipline, I will soon be banned.
Anyway, I was going to put up pictures wasn't I? That is all to say that this is not a kid free post, so be warned.
There is a little train at the Moira Historical Society
Elliott was a fan.
Walking to get ice cream from Leroux's
Posing for Cheyenne
Cheyenne was using my little camera and there was a lot of posing going on
He looks like he is making a serious point that can't be taken seriously because he has an ice cream goatee.
Gilbert was trying to beg as many licks as he could...
...even though he had his own ice cream (well shared with Mum)
Ice cream facial features run in the family
My cute boys on a hot hot day
Laura Lundell let the kids take movies on her ipod touch, so Laura was fabulously cool.
Gilbert loves playing with 16 penny nails. I know, I am a bad mother. I did take them away from him after this picture.
I never check what setting my camera is on. As you can see in the next bunch of pictures.
On her way here, Laura ran into a deer. Or the deer ran in to her. Either way, her car was squashed. It meant we saw Laura longer than we thought we would. Yay! But not yay for the squashed car.
Gilbert practicing hanging around cars.
Gilbert and Ethan were dressed by their sisters.
I think this is Orianna.
Nate and Jay Jay the jet plane.
Ethan going somewhere with a basket and a horse
Sweet!!!
A cake picnic on the front steps
Looking in the basement window
Picking black raspberries
Looking for the baby bunny that Mary saved by chasing away the alpha male cat. Seriously, some cats are cruel. If they were people, they would be sociopaths. I haven't seen a cat killing something in a long time and it was freshly shocking. The cat just sat there and let the rabbit hop around, while keeping within a jump of it in case it decided to make a break for it. Poor cats. It must be rotten to be heartless all the time. Oh wait. They don't care. :-)
Isn't this a cute birdhouse? Andrew made it.
Gilbert found some rainwater
And then we decided to go see the river and wade a bit
This is right at the back of Mary's place. Isn't it awesome?
And there is Lily in the water.
Gilbert was already wet from the rainwater tent puddle, so he just got in the water
Towing Lily along
His excitement at the water
Trying to chase a leaf
It quickly went from wading to swimming in their clothes
Lily shivering
Mary went to bring her back. Gilbert wanted to go.
Mary is so patient
Holly being a something or other
Hayden was walking along the rock punching his fist in the air. Obviously he won.
Flower pots I got the other day.
Then they fell over
He was a lot more concerned with falling than Lily was
