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Neko and my mom have been working on growing avacados. Or making the seeds sprout. Or the pits. Or whatever…I don’t know the correct terminology. Regardless, they’re doing that thing where you put an avacado seed in water and wait for it to sprout. And at some point you have an avacado plant.

My mom was over the other day and was happy to report that the seed had broken open and was sprouting, and that Neko should come down and check on the progress. We decided, for the first time, she could walk down the driveway all by herself. But she didn’t walk—she sprinted. She was so excited to be doing it all by herself. And when she came back, she had to immediately turn around and go back again on the premise that she had to “deliver Doot flowers” as she hastily grabbed for clover from the yard.

When I finally got her in the house, she was busting at the seams, telling Shep all about her trip down to Doot’s house and how she went all by herself, and that is what you get to do when are a BIG KID.

Today was day two of No Husband. But I had a game plan.

First stop: the zoo. It was a special day where they park all sorts of big trucks and vehicles in the lot and let kids climb in and out of them. It was the first year of this event, and it showed. They could have used about 10-20 more things. Maybe a dump truck and a cement mixer. How about a tractor? We spent most of our time waiting in lines and climbing in and out of the stroller.

But the zoo is always fun, and we got there early, so we got to see a bunch of stuff without fighting the crowd.

Second stop: haircuts. Shep was a trooper, Neko was a nightmare. Her hair looks a bit choppy, but I’m willing to look past it so I don’t have to go through the whole experience again. It’s edgy, right?

Third stop: Home for naps. Except Neko didn’t nap. And Ellery was spotty.

Fourth stop: Susie and Doug play the role of Angelic Superheroes and take my kids for a few hours. All three of them. And I ran around like a crazy person, trying to get things done in the house that I can’t do with kids there.

Fifth stop: bed. Except they hadn’t really been home all day, so they managed to stay up until nearly 9:30pm. Which is too late for this tired lady.

Drawn on the back patio. Erased by pool water just a few hours later.

There was also an amazing mural of a city, complete with buildings, railroad, bulldozer (digging in a big hole), and a big monster, taller than all the buildings. I just couldn’t get a decent photo of that. But it was awesome.

Vacation. Good.

Today we headed to the airport playground followed by lunch at a restaurant that overlooks the airstrip.

The playground is one of our favorites. It’s huge and has tons of places to run and play, but also has this excellent fence on the perimeter, minimizing the chance that your child turns into the next Houdini. Of course, we had to laugh because with all the great playground equipment, the kids spent the most time on this ancient climbing thing in the first photo.

In the middle of it all, this amazing thing happened. Two pre-teen girls were passing a ball around, and invited our kids to play. And all of a sudden they had them all sitting in a circle listening to directions to a game and it was like some divine entity had appeared on the earth to teach “Duck, Duck, Goose” and these kids were the sole decipels commanded to carry on the legacy of this game. The power of pre-teen girls have over preschoolers is somewhat mind-boggling.

By the time we got to the restaurant it was stupid-hot, but the kids hung in there well and we even got to see a few planes and helicopters take off and land. Which makes me think that if only all restaurants had airplanes and helicopters, I might actually get to eat the food that I order. So if all my favorite restaurants could do that, that would be super, thanks.

(Photos courtesy of Susie, who actually remembered to bring her camera.)

This was the second official week of our summer field trips. This week, down to the purple bridge and the great playground beyond. The five kids sprinted across the bridge as the moms all looked stunned at being left in the dust.

The downside of the day was the huge day camp that invaded the park and forced us into the sand area, but once there, everyone played happily. That’s the great thing about the sand area—there are a zillion square feet per kid and tons of public sand toys so almost no one gets territorial. Well, except Shep who found some Batman sword which he was using to pitch sand at everyone who walked in his path. I had to take it away, and a fifteen minute temper tantrum followed. But other than that, it was model behavior from all.

Neko and Irene played together happily, and I wished again that they lived closer since she’s clearly longing for another girl to play with. Shep, Chris and Ezra ran in circles and dug and giggled.

And the weather? Perfect. It almost made me forget that I got my first speeding ticket in ages.

The new load of pajamas arrived. Shep dissolved into a pile of exhausted toddlerisms and was sent to bed early, thus missing the photo op.

Every so often a package arrives in some strange recycled box and I realize that Tom has bought yet another old toy instrument off eBay. This week it was this tiny electronic keyboard. He let the kids play with it this morning, and before we knew it, we were being treated to an impromptu jam session with Neko on the big piano and Shep on the tiny one.