Interesting Times

We (individually and collectively) have been getting into all sorts of trouble lately. Let's see, we'll back up a little over a week ago. Last week started out with gorgeous weather: sunny and clear, low humidity, hot in a summery way rather than in an oppressive way. By midweek, the humidity and the heat were both on the climb, so we arranged to meet our local adopted grandma at the beach. The Madison area is just filthy with lakes, but I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I hadn't been swimming in a lake in at least two decades. The ocean, yes. Pool, indoor and out, yes and as often as possible, but lakes or rivers? Nope.

So on Wednesday, we set out for a swim in Lake Wingra. Since it is a shallow lake, it was as warm as bathwater. The kids had a blast! We brought sand toys and splashed and played and dug and poured all afternoon. Beeb hung out at the shoreline and had a great time digging and splashing. I managed to suppress my squeamishness at swimming in a lake and had a better time than I thought I would. Needless to say, there was sand everywhere by the time we were ready to head home. We hosed off with a shower before we left, but even so, I had a major case of the screaming heebie-jeebies the whole way home with the sand and the vegetation and everything on me.

Once we got home, we had all took proper showers and got out of swimsuits. At this point, I would like to apologize to the City of Madison for taking home Vilas Beach in its entirety. We really should have left some behind for others to use. I thought we had washed most of it down the drain when I sprayed out the bathtub, but it turns out I was wrong. I had significantly underestimated how much sand Beeb had put in his mouth. For DAYS after, every time he pooped, there was more sand in his diaper than had been in the swim diaper when we got home. Yeah, one of those things they don't tell you about before you become a parent. With three kids, we have had plenty of technicolor poops from chewing on crayons, but even those didn't prepare me for the sheer volume of sand this little dude was processing.

All said, I'm not in a huge rush to get back to a beach anytime soon, but on the other hand, I really do need to work on getting over my lake-phobia with all the nice lakes and beaches nearby (and so much cheaper than the swimming pool, since we will be losing our apartment swimming pool with the move.)

The next grand adventure was Friday night Knitting at The Sow's Ear. Prior to the evening in question, Dale-Harriet had put out the call (oink, I say, oink) for a little Hog-n-Blog meetup in the back room of the Sow's Ear. Let me tell you, the turnout was grand! There was Chocolatesheep Beth, Molly Bee, and Elizabeth SABLE representing the Hog-n-Bloggers. JaalaDay joined Beth and Elizabeth for the release of a new issue of Knit Circus and CathyCate had made the trip to Madtown and has posted some great pictures of the insanity here. Let's just say there was much laughter, some well-deserved escape from non-fiber life, and tattoos in places not available to the general public (they were temporary tattoos brought by CathyCate, and Cindy, I snagged one for you after our meme inspired tattoo discussion. I'll bring it to Last Saturday Knitting).

On Monday, Beeb mastered a new skill. I went upstairs to throw in a load of laundry and came around the corner to find him looking very pleased with himself in the upstairs hallway.



Mad skillz. He gots em.

Tuesday was a quick trip to the zoo since the humidity had broken and the weather was nice again. In the Herpetarium, we heard the tortoise "talking," so we went to investigate, since the most active we have ever seen the two tortoises is maybe blinking.

Oh. *ahem* Moving on...