Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Virginia, part 2: thar be pirates


Lucy's favorite book right now is a Great Illustrated Classics version of Peter Pan. We have read the entire book over and over, and despite some outdated gender overtones and the fact that Mr. Darling exhibits some very disconcerting behavior (Why is he pouring his medicine into the dog's bowl? Why is he sleeping in Nana's kennel when the children come home from Neverland?), it's definitely a fun read.

We should have known that the Welders would be able to deliver on all pirate-themed dreams. They were well stocked with hats, wigs, swords, axes, sticks, and buried treasure from many years of pirate love, and Lucy spent literal hours exploring in the giant back yard with Jordan, piling treasure, uncovering long buried potions in old Tabasco bottles (that even Jordan had forgotten about, and that required all of Aunt Wendell's powers of negotiation to convince Lucy not to open), and killing Aunt Wendell dead.

Lucy learned to draw pirate maps, and on a later visit to the river she stopped to study the map of the Island, then pointed at the X and told us "this means we are here".  







Tuesday, December 18, 2012

tell me a story

Here is a beautiful golden bracelet.
It was mine a long time ago when I was just a little girl planting seeds.
Before I found my beautiful dress and became a ballerina.
I was out picking flowers for my mommy.
But first, I married you.
But then I became a ballerina. I just put that dress on, and the dress was pretty, so that's how I became a ballerina.
It was just lying on the ground. I thought the dress was a flower, but it had princess things on it.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Virginia, part 1: the sun, the leaves, the full-belly rubbing


As long as you publish Thanksgiving photos before Christmas, that's not belated, right?

We had a great time on our annual trip to Virginia. The grown-ups got some grown-up time, Lucy got lots of Gramme and Grandpa and aunt and uncle and cousin and pirate time, and Oscar got to meet all the relatives on his dad's side that have been waiting soooooo long to say hello. He didn't disappoint!

There was leaf crunching and jumping, silly-box sitting, deep-friend turkey carcass-picking, seeing of old college friends, tuna and scungilli and brocollini eating, horse-head wearing, sun enjoying, beer-flight tasting, apple chewing, and flower-petal fighting.

Here are some pictures:













Sunday, December 16, 2012

Friday, December 14, 2012