About the same time that Dominique's first tooth got loose, Ivan busted his lip on the pavement and started showing the smallest hint of top teeth coming through. They are both quite proud of their accomplishments. I remember hating loose teeth and being terrified of my dad and his pliers and grand schemes for extraction, but this new generation seems quite eager. Of course it has helped their enthusiasm that they are "late" loose toothers". Most kids lose their 1st tooth in kindergarten. Ivan lost his first in 2nd grade and Dominique at the end of 1st!
Today we got a call from three of the cutest kids not in town right now. The Sinclairs are in Japan visiting family.
Emora got to talk to her friend Ayumi.
And we also heard Konomu and Nozomu's voices. Ivan was the one to answer the phone. First he said "who is this?", then when he found out it was Ko, he exclaimed "are you PAYING for this?". Can you tell we are Scottish?
It was a great surprise to the day to hear about their lives on the other side of the world and much later in the day! The boys are e-mailing, which is also showing us the importance of correct spelling. Ivan was passing on some tragic news about one of their classmates, but he had it spelled all wrong and they couldn't understand what he'd written.
My right hand lady and I taking on the watering. I'm so excited because I have irises and other flowers given to me from friends and my mom that I have never seen flower. Last year, I had one bud and Ivan snapped it off. He's a bit peculiar about things that look different... but all this time and I still don't know what color they are! This year, the irises are budding like crazy and some other leafy things are seeming to grow buds, so I'm anxious to see what they hold. I'm sure there is some deep lesson in that, but I can't think of it now!
One thing that was AMAZING this weekend, was that I got my first of what I hope will be many swims in. I was gifted with a wet suit for my birthday last year, but I only got to use it once since it was already fall. This weekend was hot and I summoned up my courage to go try a swim. The water was cold, but there were 3 teens in the lake with just shorts and shirts and lifejackets, so that gave me courage. I had also gotten boat shoes and some gloves. The cold took my breath away, but once I got used to it, it was perfect!
Every once in a while I'd try front crawl with my face going in and after about 6 times, my face and head hurt, so I know the suit was doing it's job, because the rest of me was toasty warm. I even took off the shoes and gloves after a bit and that was so freeing too. AND all these years here I have been mourning the fact that there is no pool here-- and while it really does suck and I really do wish we had an indoor pool so that I could still swim all winter, I realized Sunday that swimming is a whole new experience in the lake. In the pool, I was just counting laps- no scenery, no awe, just stroke, stroke, stroke. Which I love. But I couldn't do that here. For one, I've gotten horribly out of shape for that level of swimming, then the shoes would slip and the suit is a bit cumbersome and my face would get cold.... but also, the lake offered WAY more than a swim. The sun was shining, the hills were dimpled in pinks and greens, the waves rocked me AND the best part, some gorgeous bird and later it's mate came and played with me and pelicans soared all around, one flew right over my head, so close, like 10 feet. The first bird would appear all of a sudden, bob a while, then dive under and reappear not too far again from another direction. I did this 3 or 4 times, then it'd be out where I could'nt see it, then 20 min. later, there he'd come again. Before I left, there were 2 of them romancing me. It was so cool. And I don't know if I've written about the pelicans before. They are my favorites. They are so graceful as they fly and soar. Next time I'm going to take my binoculars. I did get exercise too, but it won't be my highly structured swims of before. I used some of my water aerobic knowledge, so I'm glad I had all those years doing that too and would do different strokes as I felt like it. 100 of my swims in the pool could not compare to this. It was amazing and I left so in shock that I get to live here. And, this is just one beach, on one of 4 lakes here! They all look different and have other experiences to offer depending on the spot you are in. So thankful for the lake, and my wet suit and the gift they offered me.
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