Weekend Sun

On Friday night I helped Berit's preschool set up at a Mom to Mom Sale, and while I was there I noticed a set of Barbies, horses, a pegasus, a baby polar bear and a wand of light. If you have girls aged 4-8, you might be rolling your eyes right now saying under your breath, "The Magic of the Pegasus," geeeeeesh. And you're right. Plus a bonus horse-drawn carriage and four Barbie fairies. So, of course, I bought it.

I set it up in the living room and on Saturday morning I heard Berit leave her room and go downstairs by herself. Then, "OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

So the girls played with it for four hours and then we set off for the pool. Marta, a slippery fish who wants nothing to do with lifesaving efforts, took off in her too-big swimsuit with the floaty panels in the chest and back parts. She drank half the pool but she did it, all by herself. Berit clung to the edge and claimed she, too, was swimming solo in her floaty suit. We assured her that yes, she was, and were secretly thrilled that we have swimming lessons starting on Tuesday because 1) Marta needs to learn how to swim on her own NOW and 2) Someone needs to do something about Berit and her nervousness in the water, and it's clearly not working when we try.

At church this morning, Palm Sunday, the girls were relatively good as gold -- the only real problem being Marta's efforts to swim in the pew. We went out for pancakes afterwards and again marveled at how lovely their ages are right now -- well-behaved but still so silly and delighted.

As it was FIFTY DEGREES we put them in the stroller and walked the mile or so to the Walloon park, where they played in the wind off the lake until they were worn out and Trevor and I could get a serious calf workout on the hills leading home. We had French dip sandwiches and sweet potato fries that had been cooking all day and made our house smell amazing, and warm, homemade custard for dessert.

I then spent the next 10 minutes hugging them and telling them how cool they are, because seriously? Does it get any better than this?