01 SEP 25

It's early for a holiday morning but Patience is already in the kitchen making a stack of pancakes on the stovetop...

“Mom!” Yali hurries over to me... “My snake ate four worms!” // “Wow he's a hungry boy today... did you... guys... why is the box of fruit snacks empty? How did you both eat 36 packs of fruit snacks in a day and a half?”... no one seems to have any good answers to that question...

Meanwhile Yali has spun his attentions to preparing a treasure map in a kombucha bottle asking for help to draw the islands... show him how to trace around creek rocks and boil some tea as he asks sort of woefully... “Can't we do something fun before school starts tomorrow?”... his head's probably already stacked with unsolvable math calculations and complex writing assignments...

...so after we brush some tea on the treasure map to “age” it... have the kids pack up for a few hours “out on the town”...

Laumeier Sculpture Park... a little crowded... but they explore all acreage and sculptures... pausing to play with a stick bug for awhile at Alexander Liberman's giant volcano red cement cylinders... where Patience announces... “This place makes me think of sauerkraut”...

Then slide over to Target for late summer goodies... Yali asking as we arrive... “Will there ever be another 2025?”... BBQ Dots pretzels for Patience and Skittles for Yali... pleased kids...

Home is coolness and mostly quiet in the yard but for a few simple birds and quiet crickets... and Yali practicing death falls off the trampoline...