Chess Is Easier than Pie

There was a giant chess board at the Youth Week day camp last week . . .

. . . which rekindled Joy's interest in the game (which then fueled everyone else's interest too).  Joy has even started taking chess lessons on chess.com . . .

. . . so she wins most of the time . . .

. . . but not always.

Anna has joined the chess craze too . . .

. . . when she isn't helping me with a pie.  Which reminds me--why do people say "easy as pie"?  Pies are hard to make!  Half the time my pies either don't set up or they fall apart when I serve them (like this one did).  Oh well--at least it was yummy. :P

Smoky Skies

I noticed something kind of odd today.

The sunlight shining on our deck and through our windows looked orange.  The only times I've ever seen that before were back in drought-ridden California, when wildfires were filling the air with brown smoke.

Could there possibly be a wildfire somewhere in green Massachusetts, even though we've gotten so much extra rain this summer that funky mushrooms are popping up in our lawn?

Nope!  I later learned that smoke from some massive West Coast wildfires had drifted all the way across North America to tint our sunlight and fill me with a little reflexive dread.  I thought we left smoky skies behind when we moved east, and it feels kind of surreal to see them again, even though the fires themselves are on the other side of a continent.

Cool Ship, Underwhelming Rock

After the Cliff Walk yesterday morning, we and the Andersons left Rhode Island . . .

. . . and returned to good old Massachusetts to tour Plymouth.  Although the Ocean State had been hot and sunny . . .

. . . the Bay State decided to cloud up and rain on us.  That's New England weather for you.

We checked out Plymouth Rock (or what's left of it) . . .

. . . the Mayflower II (a reproduction of the Pilgrims' ship) . . .

. . . and the Pilgrim Mother fountain, honoring the courageous Pilgrim women who braved the unknown in order to stay true to their faith.

As the sun started going down, we made our own little pilgrimage to Ocho Cafe, to have dinner with our friends before they resumed their cross-country road trip.

And yes, Mike was very happy to receive all of the root beer we purchased on his behalf.

The Rhode Island Cliff Walk

This morning we took a drive . . .

. . . to our next-door neighbor Rhode Island . . .

. . . to meet our friends the Andersons at the Cliff Walk trail in Newport.

The trail took us past cool Gilded Age mansions . . .

. . and a beach full of cairns stacked by past hikers . . .

. . . but all Joy wanted to do was get off the trail and climb on some rocks.  Of course, as soon as she started doing that, all of the other kids wanted to do it too.

Moms: "Um, I don't think letting eight kids climb on a bunch of big, slippery rocks sounds very safe."

Dads: "Sounds fun to me!  Let's go!"

Moms (torn between fostering fond family memories and keeping their offspring alive until adulthood): "OK, fine.  It's fine.  I'm sure everybody will be fine."

And they were.

Swimming Together

 Anna and Todd have made a lot of progress in their swim lessons.

Todd still needs a pool noodle for support, and Anna still gets nervous about being in the deep end . . .

. . . but they've both become a lot more comfortable in the water, and learned to enjoy swimming (at least on warm days).

This afternoon, Todd even invited Anna to take his hand and make an extra trip to the deep end and back.

She accepted, and they cheerfully ventured there and back again.  Swimming is more fun when you do it with people you love.

Our Berry Patch Harvest

Anna and I have really enjoyed . . .

. . . harvesting berries from our little berry patch lately.

Our raspberry plants are off to a slow start (I hear that the rainy summer hasn't been great for them) . . .

. . . but we got a nice little crop of blueberries (which you have to cover with netting so the birds don't eat them before you do).

We've also had fun harvesting little alpine strawberries.  They're much smaller than regular strawberries, but they're also a lot easier to grow.  And they're really tasty.

Berries make me happy. :)

Trying New Things

Sometimes it's just fun to try new things . . .

. . . like indoor tennis . . .

. . . tater tot shepherd's pie . . .

. . . high heels (which we didn't purchase) . . .

. . . and a bunch of different kinds of root beer.  Our friends the Andersons are coming into town soon, and Mike Anderson asked if we knew of any local root beers that he might want to stock up on.  Phillip went to a couple stores and bought six brands of root beer, a birch beer, and two ginger brews, so we could try them all.  Some were yummy, some were just OK, and a few were really weird.  Phillip and I hated the bubble-gum-flavored root beer, but our kids loved it.  To each their own.

Birthday Brouhaha

 It's my birthday today . . .

. . . and the first activity on my birthday agenda was piecing together a cool puzzle my mom gave me.  It's the word puzzle we had a lot of fun doing in California a few weeks ago.

After the kids and I finished putting it together, they asked me to take pictures of their favorite words . . .

. . . like "brouhaha" . . .

. . . "gobbledygook" . . .

. . . and "scuttlebutt!"

Then the kids took the puzzle apart and started doing it again.  It's just that fun. :)

Our New Yamaha Isn't a Motorcycle

 A few of our friends came over today . . .

. . . to help us move . . .

. . . a new piano into our living room.  A friend's parents were selling their Yamaha for a really great price, and when Daniel and Phillip went to try it out, they fell in love with its responsive keys and resonant sound.  Our old piano is getting close to retirement age, so we decided to invest in this newer one that should last us for many years to come.

After placing the Yamaha in its new location, Phillip and our very strong friends moved our old piano in front of the fireplace, where it will wait for us to find it a new home.

Patriotic Cookies

 Independence Day fell on a rainy Sunday this year, so rather than going out to do something patriotic, Anna and I decided to make some cookies.

We tried to at least make the cookies a little patriotic by adding food coloring to the dough, but instead of achieving red and dark blue, we got light blue and brown (I guess we should have skipped the cocoa).

At least the sprinkles helped.

Fluffernutter says the cookies turned out delicious, and that's what really matters.

Just for fun, I wrapped a bit of blue dough inside some chocolate dough, so it looked the same as all the other "red" cookies.  Todd won the prize for finding the blue-centered cookie at dessert time.  Even when the prize is just a coin, it's still fun to win. :)

Daniel's First Temple Trip

It was rainy in Massachusetts this morning, but that's OK . . .

. . . because we were planning to get wet at the temple anyway!

Our temple is finally back open for proxy baptisms!  Daniel has been old enough to attend the temple since January, but due to COVID restrictions this was the first time he has actually been able to go inside.  I loved being able to share that sacred experience with him.