Darais Days

Today I read a book to Clarissa, who spent the next four hours playing continually with magna tiles, Lincoln Logs, and Legos. She had a very elaborate city and game going!

I then dropped off Mary for her last day volunteering at VBS and then I went over to Ridge Road to swim. I swam very gently because of my back and hip flexor issues, and I was a little shocked at how dirty the pool is this year. But it was still peaceful and fun, and I always love being there. After I showered, got ready, and then it was time to pick Mary up. Ammon slept in and lounged almost until noon.

Mary and the kids helped me extensively clean out the car and begin putting away things from the garage, after which Mary and I sweat it out cleaning the car at the car wash. It was a HOT day, but we powered through. The car looks amazing (compared to its previous deteriorated condition) and she is feeling better about hosting girls in the car on the way to Girl’s Camp this Tuesday. She is very excited about this week and has been saying it will be the greatest week of the year. We picked up some things at Whole Foods on the way home.

When we came home, I practiced with Clarissa for an hour and watched a tutorial with the girls on how to make a lemon meringue pie. I realized it was too advanced for them to do independently so Mary made brownies while I took Clarissa to swim. Clarissa did AMAZING at swim! Just a few months ago she was struggling so much, and today her form was so amazing on the butterfly that the instructor had all of the kids watch her do a 50 and then clap after. She did incredible. She also won all of her mini little races. She has some bug bites on her face that reacted with her goggles, so the coach pulled her and suggested she go home a bit early because her face was really swelling.

We came home, I fed the kids meat loaf, and then the locksmith I really liked broke my heart by totally overcharging me to fix a minor problem with the garage lock. I told the kids after he left that they are never to strip the lock and I think they seemed to internalize that. He charged me $235 for 5 minutes of labor. It was crazy.

And now I am on the bed next to Abe, who is going to work a 16 hour day most likely. He is typing away while I blog. Maybe the kids and I will watch something together, but it is getting late and they sound very happily engaged. Also, Lydia comes home tomorrow! Hooray!!

At first Clarissa was very scared of the swing bar, then she got the “hang” of it: https://photos.app.goo.gl/nmn1KKszjZ2KUTfs9

Movement video game: https://photos.app.goo.gl/LFof6MdRDECXd9UB8

Clarissa and Ammon’s tricks: https://photos.app.goo.gl/k8gcutCYAFKbrr3v7

Clarissa and Ammon both swinging: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2tHnNjbMXzbxHLkg9

Ammon was instructed to land on his back or bum: https://photos.app.goo.gl/3hAHaaLxmpKiD21fA

Clarissa did it correctly: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hd52Wa7CXCfTET6RA

Clarissa’s flip: https://photos.app.goo.gl/HehdUyg3MearUboy7

Clarissa flips and cartwheels: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8WqavZxoHmv938eG6

Ammon’s flip: https://photos.app.goo.gl/NsgTHwjpBVbPiTnv6

Running (ish) flips: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Hqv8bmBXJWjxWRFo6

Kids on the ninja course: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Gpztp4GBqL4ZNMk78

Dad on the ninja course: https://photos.app.goo.gl/JUfTV5QbTqNc2ef79

Clarissa made these boards, inspired by Lily’s board cookbook:

After lunch, Clarissa asked us to shop at HomeGoods. It’s a store she discovered (along with TJMAX) with Danny, Kimberly, Aiden and Marina when they stopped by there while giving her a ride home from Ammon’s dance recital. Also, Clarissa recently invested in TJX, the parent company of HomeGoods! Recently, I (Abe) asked each of the kids to pick a stock to start learning about investing. Clarissa said she couldn’t decide between TJMax and HomeGoods and we were delighted to learn that they are both owned by the same company. We reviewed the stock performance and saw that it was very strong and Clarissa decided to move forward with it.

At HomeGoods, Clarissa bought the cutest lamp for herself and she was so excited. She said she wanted to stat planning for how to decorate for when Lydia leaves.

After shopping at HomeGoods, I dropped off Lily, Lydia and Mary, and I took Ammon and Clarissa to the arcade.

Motorcycles at the arcade: https://photos.app.goo.gl/1ons9aFoP1vpEPt2A

Jet flying at the arcade: https://photos.app.goo.gl/NKfsg3JQbt7yaD3x6

This was an awesome day. It burns bright in my memory and Clarissa said she had even more fun than her New York birthday trip, and that she had no regrets. I’m sure she had some recency bias, but It was a perfect day.