Act 2 - Saturday

I heard Teresa making noise, and it is only 6:45. Considering the time she fell asleep at, I went and told her she had to sleep some more which she did until around 7:45. We both had some cinnamon buns that Cara had bought for us and Teresa LOVES cinnamon buns, eating almost the whole thing. We relaxed for a while and I read her a few stories, including Sandra Boynton books that are beach only. Before 10, we headed out for a walk around the park while she nibbled on a granola bar. The weather was nice, about 16 degrees and sunny. We enjoyed the walk (Teresa was in the new wagon) as did Rowdy. We went to the front beach again and saw some new cottages being built. There are some serious behemoths that are being thrown up, including two on 6th Avenue. Knowing that Rowdy would enjoy the beach (but the rangers are already out in full force) and that I needed margarine as we had none and were having some KD for lunch we jumped in the van and boogied down to Doris’, where we picked up Jiffy Pop for good measure, and then did a quick tour of Grand Marais. Nothing to report here save the giant cottage that is being built on the walk to church. It it a two story avant-garde looking boxy thing that easily has more footage than my house, and likely double or triple it. We then went down to the old fisherman shack to let Rowdy play on the beach. I explained to Teresa that she couldn’t swim, and had brought sand play stuff and she was OK with that. Rowdy got a good swim in and we left when it began to spit on us.

This began the weather pattern of 30 on, 30 off. Rain, sun, rinse, lather, repeat... Bleah... As such we never made it back down to the front beach. I ended up making KD and Teresa ate none of it, but did eat most of an apple. And suddenly it was nap time. During her nap I relaxed, read the FreeP (including the Physics Exam controversy in Quebec), finished The Onion Movie & 3:10 to Yuma. Both of which I enjoyed, although 3:10 to Yuma would have been way better in a theater & with surround sound as on a 13.3” monitor the gunfights aren’t the same!

After she woke up, we went running around the yard & hill, ending up on the rocks having Rowdy chase a ball in the water. I carried Teresa down to where she could have decent footing and then held on to her, as she was ready to run on those things... Then we got back in just before more rain, where she proceeded to jump on the couch, beds, floor and anywhere else she stand. She also really enjoyed taking out the bin of toys, removing all the toys then sitting in the bin (until she made it rock and scared herself). I have a great picture of her using a sand castle form to sit IN.
She also really liked putting the goggles around her neck.

I learned one important thing today - the more room she has when being changed, the more likely she is to roll & think it is a game. Now I change her on top of mom’s old sewing machine and she’s great. Before that I was ready to shoot her as she would squirm, kick, get up, run away... Generally that makes it tough to put on a leak free diaper. The only time I really missed Cara today was when Teresa had messy diapers and I thought to myself, man I wish Cara could do this :)

Other things she did today. I had pulled out the big old box fan and turned it on during her nap and turned it off before she awoke. She then turned it on, announcing in proudly to me and then tried to stick her fingers in. Thank God I was paying attention to her. I yelped out a loud NO, she jumped away and began the slo-moest crying I have ever seen, with the lower lip slowly coming out, and the frown coming in over 30 seconds during which I explained to her why and that I was happy she didn’t etc... and actually quelled her cry before it really started. Also while I was preparing dinner I look over and she is trying to lick a socket! Same thing again. It turns out she was doing something to a night-light that had been plugged in there, but that doesn’t make it any better.

Before dinner we went out to the General Store to pick up a bottle of wine for my ribeye steak & potato dinner. Teresa picked out some peanuts too... Maybe I am too permissive, but hey I am trying to survive the weekend here! I got a Naked Grape Merlot from BC. It is unoaked and ‘reveals themselves as they really are, without being hidden by the flavor of oak’ It turns out that really means ‘tastes more like a mediocre wine kit’ as it seemed thinner and less like a Merlot to me. Ah well, it is still better than no red wine and was the right price...

I precooked Teresa’s tortellini and then we went out to cook my steak (I turned the grill on during a deluge, which meant it was beautiful when I needed to cook my steak). You can see how tall the grass is around the cottage right now, as she came out while I was cooking and I took the camera.

We’ll see if I can do that tomorrow as I am really only kinda comfortable doing it when she is napping, as I don’t want her near the mower. Right now I am doubting I will get it done. She ate a ton of pasta and finished a whack of corn too, so her appetite was back since lunch.

We ended the evening by going for another walk around the campsite, never actually venturing to Lanky’s as I had hoped as the rain spat on us a bit. We got home, made the Jiffy Pop (which Teresa ate 1/3 of) and then she went to bed after I bathed her in the baby tub which worked out surprisingly well.

I do not expect to actually get under the water tomorrow (I can’t figure out the logistics), but hopefully we can walk to church... My night will involve reading a PDF I got of Math Puzzles & watching UFC 85 or maybe some UK Office. We’ll see... I look out the picture window and see decent waves rolling in and it is still light out. SIGH if only I had 1 responsible person here to take care of Teresa & 1 more irresponsible person to join me in the waves. Oh yeah, and hopefully that responsible person would take care of the dishes for me :)