A conversation yesterday:
Griffin: I know what I want to be for Halloween!
A skeleton!
Sarah: Oh, I think that will be a fun costume to make!
Maggie: I know what I want to be for Halloween!
Elsa!
Or, I could be superman,
but I think I’ll be Elsa.
Overheard tonight after putting the kids to bed:
Griffin: <whispering, excited> Maggie, do you want to go to sleep right now?
Maggie: Yes. Because I am SO tired.
Griffin: Oh. Ok.
“Daddy, if you fell asleep for a million years,
would you run out of dreams?” — Griffin
From Ithaca, we headed south to New Jersey. We dropped Sarah at a train station so that she could head into New York for a weekend of fun with Alli and Pam. Griffin, Maggie, and I continued south to Lawrenceville where the Seliquinis generously shared their home with us. This was a happy surprise because I wasn’t able to get in touch with Aaron ahead of time, so we only connected a few days in advance.
Highlights
Going to the local ice cream parlor, The Purple Cow. Griffin ordered moose tracks: “It was yummy!” Maggie had cotton candy (which she likes to call “rainbow”) and it was “YUMMMM!” I don’t remember what I had because I was distracted by the cascades of ice cream pouring onto my children’s hands and clothing.
Griffin and Maggie both loved playing with Anna, Camille, and Sophia. They introduced us to a number of new board games including, Trouble, Connect Four, and Gravity Maze. (According to Griffin, they were “awesome!” He double-checked to make sure I included that.)
Lots of outside play. I love it that the Seliquini girls were so eager to run around outside. Griffin described one activity this way: “We went up to the end of the driveway and the very very end of the street, by ourselves. We played spies and when we were playing spies we did the cash register and then we did house numbers on the cash register so that no one could ever know what the house numbers were. Camille rode her unicycle.” Maggie added, “And I rode on a tiny tiny tiny tiny wagon!”
Reading together. Maggie fell in love with Where the Wild Things Are. (We have read it before, and have a copy at home, but something clicked for her during this visit. She loved it, and wanted to read it over and over again.) Camille was the preferred reader, but I was acceptable if she was otherwise occupied.
Making a huge pannakukken for breakfast on Sunday. We were very excited to introduce the Seliquinis to our favorite special breakfast, and the doubled recipe vanished in no time.
For me, of course, the highlight was catching up with Aaron and Marian, and getting to know their wonderful children. I hope we can do this more often in the future.
Packed in our car are two bags of surprise gifts for the kids. They’re not secret, but they are wrapped so that the kids don’t know what they are. They only get to open one on days when we drive a long distance; they get very excited about this. Some of the gifts are intended for them individually, others are for the whole family.
The first family gift that we opened was a set of little cards called Family Talk. It’s like The Book of Questions and similar products that include a bunch of random questions to get interesting conversations started. I’ve used things like this in my classes and advisory groups to generate discussion and writing prompts. Works great on a road trip too.
The first time we played, I whipped out a pad of paper and scribbled down some notes to capture the contrast between the minds of our three- and six-year-old. This all comes from my scrawled notes from the first three questions, so quotes are not exact, but I’ve tried to reconstruct things as accurately as possible.
Griffin: “My dream bike would have a rocket booster, an invisible candy machine, and sticky sticky wheels that can go up walls or trees or upside-down.”
Maggie: “Pink!”
<pause, before continuing with gusto>
“Ice cream machine with a pink ball and it was blue and it had a pretend tree on it and it was YUM!”
What does this have to do with a bike? We have no freaking clue.
Griffin: “Make an experiment room. Putting water into one thing and then adding something else like orange juice and vinegar and then what was that stuff that makes it explode? Baking soda!”
Maggie: “Get a pool! Pond! We can’t go in because ducks might bite you. Go to the park. Get a coloring book. Get stickers. Actually I do want to do music and experiments. And I would build legos. And go under the fort if there’s thunder. And I’ll do music in there so the rain and thunder and lightning will stop.”
Once again, we thought she was done, but then she dove back in:
“And I would get a pretend moon and a pretend orange juice and a pretend trees and a pretend hat and a pretend glasses and a pretend shoes and a pretend napkins and a pretend…”
This went on for so long that I couldn’t write it all down. She was mostly describing things that she could see in the car (or through the windows). Eventually, she settled down and we moved on to the next question.
Griffin: “They like playing together!” <pauses to consider other qualities>
Maggie: “And a pretend light and pretend grass and pretend seats!”
Griffin: “Help you if you need help. Helping you read.”
Maggie: “And I have another thing! A pretend car and pretend clouds and pretend mountains!”
Griffin: “Maggie! That’s the wrong question!”
Maggie: “I want Griffin to stop talking because I want to talk. And also I got one more thing! Pretend stripes and real stripes.”
Griffin: <glaring at Maggie> “Good friends treat you with respect and treat you with kindness.”
Maggie: “That’s a LOT of things!”
We survived the night, dry and free of unwanted atmospheric voltage. Not a great night’s rest, alas, but we’re thankful for our new, more spacious tent.
Two quotes from our journey thus far:
Monday, 4:30 PM:
Maggie: “Griffin, laugh when I say ‘Chicago.'”
Griffin: “Why do I have to laugh?!”
M: “Chi–Ca–GO!!”
G: <no laughing>
M: “Laugh Griffin!!”
G: “I don’t want to laugh. Chicago!”
M <yelling>: “NO! I want to talk about ME!!!”
G: “Chicago. Chicago. Chicago.”
M <yelling>: “NOOOOOOO!”
Tuesday, 8:30 AM:
Sarah: “Ok guys we’re going to stop here because I need some coffee and Daddy needs to go to the bathroom–”
Griffin: “–and I need an Icee!”
Midsize thunderstorm on our first night, as we camp by a river that’s four feet over flood stage. Luckily, the deluge held off until after dinner and the weather reports suggest that it will be short-lived. (But wow is it coming down right now!)
Griffin: “I really, really like thunderstorms but I’m a tiny bit scared of them.”
New tent is keeping us dry thus far. 
Perfect weather for time out on the water. We couldn’t believe how warm the water was already—the kids loved it.
Some of Griffin’s favorite things at the cabin this weekend:
Some of Maggie’s favorite things at the cabin this weekend:
Early on Maggie’s birthday, while I was blearily making my breakfast in the kitchen, Griffin quietly padded downstairs and hunkered down at the art table. In less than an hour, he produced a series of eight surprise paintings as a gift for his sister. After drying them on the radiator, he kept them in a secret pile until we opened presents in the evening. He presented each one to Maggie with a title and a short explanation.
The Park
It’s not a play park. It’s just a park that you can run around in.
Sunny Day on the Beach
It’s about a beach that’s blue and sunny. It’s always sunny. And it’s always fun to play at.
A Tree Losing its Leaf
“This a tree that lost its leaf when it was spring and it was just a little maple tree that didn’t have any other trees around it. It was in the middle of nowhere and no one gave water to it and it was just in the middle of nowhere.”
Funky World
“This unknown world that has a green sun and the houses look like hand prints. This funky world is like so funny.”
A Tree With No Leaves
“This tree is so new that it doesn’t even have its leaves yet. It’s just like a little baby tree and it is a maple tree.”
The Roller Coaster
“That’s a roller coaster that has only roller coasters in the fair.”
The Cave
“It’s a cave with all these teeth and some scary eyes and the purple line if you were wondering it is a spike in the cave.”
The Alien
“This alien lives in space and it’s always happy and it has one eye and this is a green eye and it’s always smiling unless if it’s mad.”
While discussing recreational options in Duluth on our way back from the cabin, Griffin proclaimed:
“Can we have lunch first? I like eating whenever I can!”
