A walk and the park

Sunday's big event was a planned walk to Kerry Park "to burn off the doughnuts". With the hangout and other activities, this plan didn't go into effect until the afternoon. Fortunately, the weather held. Nicole peeled off from the group most of the way to the park to use the restroom at the library. Rachel went with her to pick up some books she had on hold. The other kids went down to the playground below the scenic overlook. There were a few other people there, but it wasn't crowded.

Eric was complaining of thirst as we were leaving. Luckily, Kerry Park has a water fountain. That satisfied him for a little while. Our next stop was the book store, to pick up an order that had originally been intended for Eric's birthday, but will probably serve for Christmas instead. I gave Eric a piggyback ride because he was so "tired", but only to the top of the hill. He seemed to do fine after that, and wanted to go to another park.

After the book store, Nicole went to Trader Joe's while the rest of us headed to Big Howe for more playground fun. Before long, one of Eric's birthday party friends also appeared, and they played on the merry-go-round together until the swings freed up. I think I carried Eric almost all the way home. He didn't even want to get down to kick the horse chestnuts. Somehow he started asking for a slurpee. I guess we had passed 7-Eleven earlier. He had to settle for a small serving of root beer when we got home. He was disappointed with the portion size, I guess you could say. Eventually he accepted a bowl of cereal as a substitute.

Paola and family came over for dinner in the garage again. We talked for a while, including making plans for carpooling, now that Flavia also won't be able to take the bus to school. Then we played the last puzzle in our most recent Unlock! box, a puzzle version of Around the World in 80 Days. It went pretty well. Finally, we finished off Eric's birthday cake before they went home.

Back inside, I interleaved baking bread for tomorrow with reading to the boys before bed, watching "curriculum night" videos from middle school teachers, and writing this blog post. Now I'm going to put one loaf in the freezer and call it a night.