The Looooong Weekend

Saturday at Schreiner's

Edward spent much of early Friday morning throwing up (which was sad because he ate so much food at dinner) every few hours. His stomach eventually calmed down but he was pretty lethargic for much of the day. By Saturday he seemed just fine, so we told the boys we would take them to Red Robin if they would first go to the iris gardens with us (they get coupons for free meals every time they visit the dentist)--it's no Applebees (quoth the Aaron), but they like eating out and could not resist.

The cold and rainy weather has caused the iris to bloom late this year, so even our end-of-May visit was a tad early for peak bloom. I spent much of the time visiting with Steve Schreiner (who remembers what we discussed as digging partners as far back as 1989) and met the largest grower of iris in the UK. Steve still knows how to spin off the most obscure, obscene, and original metaphors I've ever known; his off-base humor is one of my fondest memories of the place.

When we walked into Red Robin, Edward tipped us off to what was shortly to transpire when he started coughing and covering his mouth. He seemed fine until he started sucking down his chocolate milk, and then he was back to being sick. Fortunately, none of our food had arrived, so we were able to take it home with us--except for Aaron; he got his meal soon thereafter and ate it faster than a gun-slinging cowboy can shoot a horse thief (and it was macaroni and cheese--something I didn't think he had much fondness for). Meg and Edward got a free pass for staying home for church the next day, but unfortunately, Meg felt like she was catching whatever Edward had acquired . . .

Memorial Day

We have gone hiking on many a Memorial Day weekend, and we weren't going to let the cold and rain and sickness stop us this year. Meg still wasn't feeling well, so she unfortunately missed out on a good time; but the Word and Aaron were both in good spirits and eager for an out-of-doors adventure. So we drove exactly 40 miles to the trailhead of the Little North Fork, a place I've taken the boys before and which I have frequented much in the past (but which I have yet to tire visiting, unlike Silver Falls, which I could stand not visiting again for a long, long time). The clouds dropped rain during much of our drive there, but it magically stopped once we hit the trail. Both boys slept the way there; Edward woke up just before we arrived, and it was funny to see Aaron's reaction when we tried to wake Aaron up: he was extremely cranky and claimed to be too tired to go hiking, although he proved to have the most energy on our adventure. I let him play scout, so he would hike ahead of Edward and me to make sure the trail was safe. He did a great job (although he got way too far ahead at one point), warning us of approaching animals (stupid dogs) and hazards in the trail. Edward did pretty good for the first part of the hike, but he demanded that I carry him on the way back; I ended up carrying him on my shoulders for about 60% of the hike, but he still performed well for what was probably at least a five mile hike.

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