Mom for a Week - English Style

Lovely, just lovely as I heard on the playground each morning. Quite the grand time standing in for Heather.


The three oldest were off to school each day. Quite the administrative task to get all the varied uniform pieces together. Heather left an oft referred to chart for each day's requirements. And in the dining room, each day had its own stack of accoutrements to take to school. Not the cotton hat today, Owen, the felt one. Oh these are Owens socks, I need mine. But today is a sports day and we wear a different uniform. Oh, don't forget the soccer shoes, the swim bag, the snack, the backpack, where's your homework, did you sign my reading book? But we did get to school each day along the one route I had practiced for three days before Sam and Heather took off. It included a wickedly narrow country road that quickened my heartbeat and raised my blood pressure with each passing vehicle! But no busy roundabouts. Whew!! I rejoiced on the last drive of the last day!!

Laney with hat. I had a hard time remembering the hat.

School boys. Yes, that is Owen clowning to the delight of his classmates.

I arrived EARLY each day to avoid the congestion in the school parking lot. That gave us quite a bit of time to spend in the car before heading out to the play area with everyone.


Gee, does she have three brothers????

That gave me lots of time with AJ!

Jumping for joy - exuberance defined.

Oh so GOOD.

Oh so BAD! This is anger, not sorrow or pain.

AJ loved to race to the fence and back in his back yard.

Short order cook did manage to please most of the time. Although this double plater was enjoying the lasagna Heather left in the freezer for me! We thought we would practice for China with chopsticks.

Burnt toast?? REJECT!! Save for Pops!

Evening and Weekend Pastimes

Stair Sliding



Daily Guitar practice - with clown

Reading - Spencer has a book all the time!

Sword fighting - so nice to see the shields pulled out!

Helping - Kitchen floor got a bit of cleaning, too!

Puzzles - Fancy Nancy inspired quite the room decor for Mom!

Coloring

Counting the days.

Daily baths with extra bubbles

But the real fun happened when Sam and Heather returned: Chariot racing!!

Anza-Borrego Trip March 9 and 10.

Off we go on a Family Trip!!

What a treat! Mom, Phil, John and I took off to Palomar Mountain to see the observatory, then down the mountain to the Borrego desert to see the wild flowers. Mountain snow to desert blooms all in one day.

After lunch at a restaurant reminiscent of Desi and Luci and a tour of the Visitor's Center, we head for the best spot for flowers, Surprise Canyon.







John and Mom stopped to build some rock stacks.


Phil and I continued up the canyon and discovered more flowers.



While the Borrego Springs Spa was a great place to spend the night, the restaurant with its $13 mac and cheese wasn't quite as inviting. So Phil and I went scouting and found The French Corner. Belgian meatballs, beouf bourguignon, steamed mussels (Bait! I heard someone exclaim), a terrific thin crepe dessert, a smattering of French exchanged. Great Fun.



Next day Phil spotted the only agave flower in bloom in the entire desert! We saw hundreds of last year's soldiers, but only this one single impressive bloom.



The surprise delight of the trip were the sculptures along Borrego Springs Road. Dozens of these metal sculptures "roam" the valley -- wild horses, saber tooth cats, giant birds, raptors, pigs, horses, mammoths. So down the dirt roads we tracked these sweet and not so sweet creatures.





Then one last photo and home again home again lickety-split!