We had our annual parish meeting today. It went pretty well. It's funny how the nine children (ages 7 and under), when they have the freedom to go in and out of the church, prefer to be out, and will, 98% of the time, stay out. But when they have been told they must stay outside with Rose, they stand and stare through the door like forlorn puppies.
After church I took the middle three to the high school parking lot to ride bikes again. Max, who used to be gung ho about his bike, is now uninterested because we took his training wheels off. So he spent the time in the parking lot running back and forth on the sidewalks. Meggy would scream at him if he got too close, "Max! You're nervousing me!!" About 100 feet away from where I sat in the car, Max plopped himself in front of a styrofoam cup with a lid and a straw that had been deposited in the parking lot. I was watching him, but wasn't terribly concerned about his doing the unthinkable. But, being 1000% rough and tumble boy, he did it. He took a drink.
High school parking lot + cup + weekend = I don't want to even imagine what was in there. And I will leave it at that.
We went home for a few minutes to get some iced tea. Instead of returning to the high school we went to the new elementary school just 30 seconds from our house. The parking lot is newly paved and the medians are sandy and unmanicured right now. The girls loved the smooth ride and rode around for an hour. I enjoyed myself, although it was hot, there was a nice breeze and it was fun watching the kids play. Needing to be reminded that we are in a fallen world however, there was an irksome housefly (at least it looked like one) that wanted to land on my legs. It wouldn't have been terribly pesky, except that it bit me everytime it landed.
Max wandered off and discovered a fire hydrant which he sat beside and stroked as if it were a golden idol. When I called him back near the car he decided to play in the sand. Then he began burying his legs and feet in the hot, dusty parking lot sand. He did this for nearly 30 minutes.
Margaret, who had dropped by the car to get a drink of tea told me what he was doing. "He is making ant hills on his legs," she announced, "I told him 'Good job, Max! They look just like 'em."
We're headed for Charleston tomorrow for a field trip to the Old Exchange and Charles Towne Landing--then to the beach for probably our last swim of the season.
