Today I woke up late. I was going to go on a bike-ride, but it’s been so rainy that my friend and I postponed for one week.
As soon as I woke up, I had a Zoom call with my AXB college group. I was so excited to talk to them to process with them all that is happening in the world. One of my AXB friends, Andrew, has devoted a large share of his life to improving a distressed neighborhood in Philadelphia, and all of my AXB brothers have sensitive hearts when it comes to social justice. It was so healing and informative to talk to them.
After that, I played in the sandbox with my children. It was sooooo much fun! It actually took me back and made me think of when I used to play in my friend Anthony’s sandbox as a child. We’d build up river banks, and then bring in the hose in and frantically try to build and repair the banks as the water eroded them. With the children, we did a lot of landscaping. We built tunnels, rivers, castles, and bridges. When the water came in repairs needed to be made! I had such a good time. It totally drew me in and entertained the kids. At one point, Lydia turned to me and said, “Dad, if I could have one thing in the world, you know what it would be?” I told her I didn’t know. She said, “Nothing.” Fathers live for moments like that. She asked me what I would want if I could have anything in the world. I just said that other people who don’t share our privileges could have better lives. More on that in tomorrow’s blog.
We had Lily’s amazing potato pancakes for lunch. I LOVE Lily’s potato pancakes.
Lily was super busy in the morning exercising, cooking and being productive, but she slowed down in the afternoon, which I was grateful to see because of how hard she’s been pushing it. I for sure was taking it easy. I did do a lot of housework, but it was all at a pretty gentle pace, and felt like recovery because the work week strains my mind, not my body, so picking up toys etc, feels quite nice to me on a Saturday and a great mental break.
Around 4:00 I played Zingo with Mary. She has been progressing down her hundred chart for eye exercises, and one of the rewards she requested was a daddy day. I said I wouldn’t do a fully daddy day, but I’d love to have a daddy hour with her. The plan was to play Zing, get a treat together and maybe (if time) build a boat together for Lydia’s Olympics.
Around 4:30 or 5:00 we ran family errands. We returned some things to the gap. Lily went into Trader Joe’s, and I got some sprinkler parts from Lowe’s. While Lily was in Trader Joe’s I played a game with the three kids (Lydia was at home with Georgia) in which we threw the ball to each other, and whoever caught it had to say a yummy thing they liked. Ammon and Clarissa were beside themselves with laughter as they said yucky things (like dog poop) instead of yummy things and I reacted dramatically. Then Mary and I went to ColdStone. ColdStone shared space with Cinnabun, and Mary said that is what she wanted. It was a perfect choice for a rainy day, so we got Cinnabuns for the family.
At home we all had dinner, and then ate our Cinnabun. Here is a video of Clarissa with her’s.
After dinner, I watched the next Dark Crystal with the kids. It was sooooooo good. After putting the babies to sleep, I met Mary in the basement for the final portion of our daddy daughter time.
It was so sweet! When I went to the basement, Mary was all ready for me with her cat blanket laid down and materials all prepared for our project. We worked happily together. I made a boat, and she made a creature. We decided to make her creature the driver of my boat. It was another moment of pure bliss today. I.Love.My.Family.
