Whirl-a-weekend

I had such a great weekend ~ far too entertaining to pause in the midst of it and blog. It is that time of year, however, when I want to spend all my time outside. Kayaking, playing in the dirt, going for walks, just sitting on the patio watching birds splash in the fountain... anything and everything. I didn't read a thing all weekend. Barely watched t.v. (excepting, of course, for Battlestar Galactica), didn't want to cook, absolutely no interest in the computer... ah what bliss.

Friday, for my birthday, seven of us went to a new restaurant in town... Mi Famiglia. The ambiance is so elegantly swanky. We did not go for dinner, no, we went for cocktails and desserts. We ordered seven different desserts and then shared them all. The best part: each dessert came with a candle in it, and we lit all the candles. Then my friends held them all up for me to blow out after singing Happy Birthday. Very, very fun. We stayed three hours. Laughed ourselves silly.

Saturday, we had the family birthday party. We loaded up the nephews and niece, along with Gabi's brother and mom, and all headed out to Lake Maria State Park. We took the kayaks, although it was too windy for the boys to venture far from shore. I took a tour of the lake and saw blue and green herons, deer, turtles and lots of pelicans. Also had a couple (only) swells come over the side of the kayak when I was on the far side of the lake where the wind/wave momentum had some time to build. Thank goodness for the skirt! I was still soaked. But it was very fun.


(green heron pic from 10000birds.com)

After picnicking and kayaking we loaded up and went to another part of the park where we hiked out to a more secluded little lake. It was mating time for the toads, and their chorus was incredibly loud. The kids spent about 45 minutes investigating and catching toads before we walked back. I think we all were exhausted by the time we got home.

Sunday was cold and rainy, and we spent the day cleaning house and grading tests and homework. Gabi needed to get a huge pile of work done so that she could post grades today ~ and so certain kids would have the time, should they also have the inclination, to rescue their grades before the end of the year.

We had an amazing hail storm on Sunday. Fortunately, there aren't too many flowers out right now (the garden is about 10 days behind schedule). The only hail damage we found is some torn daylily leaves. Most of the hail was nickel or dime sized, although there were a few that were much bigger. After the hail came an impressive rainstorm. Dumped about 1/2 an inch of rain in a matter of minutes. Thank goodness, however, that we were spared the tornadoes. I've watched news footage of Hugo, MN and, as always, am dumbfounded by the devastation they bring.






Fortunately the iris buds are still tight ~ no damage from the hail.