Another Classic Summer Weekend

(Another afternoon cooling off by the pool)

The Fortune Family spent another weekend experiencing Americana. First, I spent the last week on the West Coast for business. Even though I rarely leave for more than a couple of days, I always miss my family terribly, and seeing Kate and Madison standing at the door to welcome me back is one of my favorite feelings. Fortunately, I got home just in time to see this and give the girls their bath before bed. Saturday, we spent the morning cleaning the house before Madison and I went to Lowes, where we bought a new swing and a slide for her swing set. I then spent the rest of the day fixing different odds and ends, while Shelly took back all the wrong items I bought. That night, Shelly and I ate dinner on the back deck until the mosquito's overpowered our many tiki torches and began to maul us (luckily for me, Shelly's blood must taste sweeter than my blood for they always swarm to her).


(Kate might not have been born in SoCal, but she sure looks the part)

Today, I made green pancakes, which I told Madison were made with broccoli. She explained to me that I had added only food coloring and not vegetables to make the pancakes green. Kate slept to almost noon, so we packed a picnic lunch and went to the playground in Leonardtown. We cam home in time for me to spray the weeds in the drive (separate note, gravel driveways get lots of weeds) and take the garbage to the dump.

We topped off our weekend with a grilled steak, bread, broccoli, and wine.


(Dinner with Jon Hayes, who visited the weekend before, but same idea)

Shelly bought Madison a t-ball set, which Madison loves. Shelly taught Madison how to hit the ball, and M spent hours hitting the ball and pretending to run the bases. I worked with Madison on catching.



On a final, funny note, when Madison complained tonight at having to eat a piece of broccoli, I used the age-old line and explained to her that millions of starving kids in China would love to eat her dinner, to which she replied, "But Daddy, we don't live in China." I could not keep a straight face.