Afternoon Adventures

Joe texted me between Tampa and Detroit, back from a week of sunburn and Central America. I believe he told me he ran up the Mayan ruins and that said ruins were, in fact, “sick.”

But we wouldn’t hear stories for hours still, because the rest of Sunday was still waiting for us.

El Oso left early to play “Bluegrass Sunday” at Old Church while Puck and I took the Mazda much later after breakfast. Puck was having qualms with my selection of fruit for meals:

“Can’t we just get oranges next time, Mom?”

“Cuties are like oranges. They just peel easier. Why do you like oranges better than cuties?”

“Because they’re bigger. And they have more proportions. Did you ever fink of that?”

I guess I hadn’t.

A quiet morning service, luncheon while Carrie worked the bunny expo, while conspiring plans for the afternoon: Cahokia, of course.

But first we sat around in the living room at the Big House and listened to El Oso and Ricky plunk around on any available instrument lying around, including Irish’s ukulele. Puck’s opinion on the whole free style jam, or whatever it was called, went over better this time:

“Well, it’s not as bad as the violin!”

This kid is going to be a musician; I can feel it.

Anyway, Cahokia.

Most of the trip there was a gigglefest between Ricky, Rose, and Puck in the back seat playing the “yellow car” game, until that got completely out of hand. Mostly loud.

And in the muggy heat of a summer-like hour, we climbed that mound again, enjoying the sky way too much, in typical Snicketts-fashion, clouds rolled out in their own mounds, white, blue, and gray.

After trolling the museum again, we made a rare stop through the gift shop where El Oso bought me a book and double Cahokia baseballs for Puck. Ricky found matching glow-in-the-dark-howling-wolves t-shirts for himself and Rose. And Irish got a pair of early handmade Native American turquoise earrings for her birthday.

At the Big House, Joe and Jaya joined us late with stories about Mahogany Bay, room service cookies, getting sick on the winding roads of Belize, while Francis crafted goggles for Puck out of clear plastic drinking cups and electrical tape for Puck. And Ricky sang Spanish songs with Irish’s guitar.

Adoption Status Estimate: Down: 4 yrs, 9 mos; To Go: 1 yr, 6 mo.