five yesterdays

Last week, Jed had his first sleep-away camp . . . at Grandma and Grandpa's!

While he was there, he went to Five Yesterdays at Old Salem (basically "history camp). This was something I did and absolutely loved. He went for a three-day version last year and loved it, too, but I think a bit of luster had worn off by this summer. However, he had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa, and who wouldn't? Doritos anytime, multiple Chilck-fil-A meals, plenty of attention, and no little bro!

More importantly, I didn't get a midnight homesick phone call and Grandma and Grandpa didn't seem too exhausted when I came to pick him up at the end of the week.

But boy was someone happy to see Jed at pick-up on Friday . . .

(this ended in a crash/tackle rather than a hug)

Caroline and I both did Five Yesterdays when we were kids, and this year, Caroline's daughter, Lucy, joined in. Lucy and Jed were in the same group, and as Caroline noted on Facebook, the best part of the week for the parents was seeing (or for me, hearing) about the two of them getting to know each other better. We were both hoping for a costumed "then and now" photo, but the weather was deemed too hot for the full costumes, so they came out with hats only . . . or Jed came out with a hat; Lucy demured. 

This is the closest comparison shot I could get, but Caroline and I are older, probably about 11, vs. Lucy and Jed at 6 and 7. 

And a quick look back a Father's Day . . . everyone except Macon says, "Happy Father's Day!"

happy father's day!

You'll need to turn up the volume and listen closely to catch Jed's responses.

new specs

and my first and last (hopefully) selfie of just me

the start of summer

Jed's last day of 1st grade was on Monday. I can't believe he's a 2nd grader!

And here's a look back at the first day of 1st grade . . . 

On Tuesday, we took our first summer trip of the season when we visited Stagville State Historic Site. The guided tour was said to last an hour, so I thought we'd start it and if we needed to duck out, so be it. But it took over twice as long!

So how did that work for us? Amazingly well. 

The site was the original seat of a tremendous plantation and visitors can see an eighteenth century farm house and a collection of unusual two-story houses for enslaved people. In the main house, the boys were well-behaved and attentive and both asked some really good questions, and they both seemed pretty happy to have spent about an hour looking at and talking about an old house. 

When we moved to the slave houses, Macon started getting ancy after the first room. Given that he'd been touring for over an hour, I was only surprised that he had made it this long, plus I was hungry, too, so when the group moved to the next room, I suggested to Jed that we split off and have our picnic. Jed, however, was invested. He wanted to stay with the group, so Macon and I went outside and competed in a few footraces until Jed emerged. 

The next stop was The Great Barn, which is exactly what you might think: a really, really big barn. I took another opportunity to part from the tour, but Jed was seeing this thing through to the end. He took off with the group while Macon and I stayed outside and listened to Macon cry and complain about heat, grass, bugs, and hunger, all of which were relatively valid concerns, with the exception of the heat.

At the end, many of the other tourists (we were in a group of about 10), gave me many fine compliments on their behavior and I have to say that they really deserved every word and more. We all had a wonderful visit and I am so proud of them!  

I don't have any pictures from Stagville, but I do have some non-kid photos from Hyde County, where I traveled for work on Thursday. I only saw one snake, so it was a good expedition. Enjoy! 

birthday weekend recap

Last weekend, we headed to the zoo on Saturday. Eric's office had organized a family outing and as a special treat, a zookeeper with a hawk named Braveheart visited with us, much to the boys' delight. 

photo credit: Jed David

After our visit with a native species, we went to Africa where the elephants put on a show. The rhinos were visible at a great distance, but thankfully, Eric had suggested taking binoculars and the boys were able to see them pretty well. As you might imagine, the drive home was, in a word, peaceful.

The chimpanzee enclosure was very crowded . . .  

. . . but the boys eventually got a front-row look at feeding time. 

Don't worry, Grandma: that's just a sculpture. 

Then on Sunday afternoon, we gathered for a Star Wars party at Pullen Park. The boys battled with homemade lightsabers (foam pipe insulation wrapped in tape) and a variety of masks. They cooled off with Yoda Soda (lemon sparkling water mixed with lime sherbet) and munched on cupcakes, Doritos (the birthday boy's newly-discovered delicacy) and popcorn. I believe a very good time was had by all, but I have almost no photos because I spent most of the time repairing broken lightsabers. 

attempting to light candles in the wind

Happy Birthday to our favorite 7-year-old!