January 16, 2005 - Another Family Day

I was intrigued by the sun rising over the lake right outside our trailer's front window, so I jumped into some clothes and ran out to try to take panoramic pictures of it. .Since it was around 24 degrees and the wind was blowing, in short order I was cold and my hands were going numb, but at least some of the pictures looked OK.

We drove to Beth's for breakfast and Carrie, nice girl that she is, had baked waffles for each of us. We all talked pretty much nonstop during breakfast (typical for our family, I must admit), after which Beth started making a new quilt and Carson and I practiced riding a bicycle out in the cul-de-sac again. It was gratifying to see someone learn so quickly, but these were of course smart kids. In fact, we were regularly serenaded by Carrie playing the viola or piano and Carson playing the violin or the piano at different times during our visit.

Audie took the kids off to a play after lunch, which left Beth, Lois, Monika, and I free for the afternoon. We decided to tour downtown Old Carrolton, but most of the shops were closed on Sunday so that was pretty much a bust. Then we made a fatal mistake and went to a half price bookstore. That's really like taking an alcoholic to Happy Hour, and the results were just about as predictable with us bookaholics. My one consolation for this spree was that I got a free 2005 calendar for having spent over $30. That was not a huge incentive since Monika had just bought a new wall calendar (not enough time to make one before we left), and we passed it on to Beth because it had coupons for book discounts during the upcoming year. Another consolation was that Carson seemed to like his illustrated book on the history of aviation, and fortunately he was reading near enough to an adult level that he could absorb the written information about each airplane pretty well. Of course, when he read about Operation Looking Glass he had problems with the phrase "continuously aloft for 30 years", but that became clear when we explained the history of the Cold War to him and the unique strategic requirements of that conflict. It did feel just a bit strange explaining geopolitical struggles to an 8-year old, but you learn to face things like that when you have kids like these.

We all met back at the house for dinner, and Beth and Audie allowed Carson to come back with us for an overnight stay in the trailer. Beth packed necessary items in a small backpack and we took him back with us in the rear seat of the Tundra. Back at the trailer, Carson was fascinated to see how the dinette table converted into a bed big enough for him, and after he finished his evening ablutions we zipped him into a sleeping bag for the night. The trailer was a bit chilly as we had left the heat off for the whole day and temperatures had barely climbed into the 40s, but he took it like a good camper and cheerfully nestled in for the night.