Growing Girlchild

I sent the girlchild on a road trip without me.  She traveled 2,000 miles and 30-something hours in the car to soak up some good old fashioned, midwest fun. 

So this is what it's like to be six and on summer vacation, away from home.

 

 

Not so outdoors-y

Mom, you should have brought my hiking shoes.

I did Bob, you said you wanted to wear your sandals.

Well, I didn't know there would be quite so much sand on the trail.

Slick

Only Bob could talk a super hero out of his weapon

Splashing into Summer

Seems funny how much a difference one year makes in swimming confidence.  I guess that's all part of growing up.

I'd appreciate it if they could slow down just a little.

Cannonball!

An epic water fight

Be Afraid

Stained fingers and happy hearts

The blackberries are here.

There probably won't be any when sister gets back.

Bob and I have been spending our evenings dodging thorns and deciding which ones are the very tastiest.

Life of Pi

Life if Pi is like Hatchet's older brother.   Except this guy got stranded in the ocean and not the Canadian wilderness.  If you've read Robison Crusoe or any of Gary Paulsen's books you will probably like this one.

It's the story of Piscine, who at 16 finds himself shipwrecked with a bunch of animals...well if you can call 4 a bunch.  It's survival of the fittest as he drifts at sea with a bengal tiger.  Well technically he finds himself adrift at sea with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a bengal tiger.  And then the hyena eats the zebra after reading his fate in the zebra's intestines, and now I am firmly entrenched in the anti-hyena fan club.  Sorry Disney's Lion King. 
And then one day Richard Parker, the bengal tiger, ate the hyena and I was all YAY! go Richard Parker.
And now I kind of want a tiger-striped cat that I can name Richard Parker.
And love him forever.
And when Richard Parker got bit by a shark I was certain he was going to get an infection and die.

But wait...this book is about Piscine.  Piscine finds among the safety supplies in his raft a survival guide.  I'm fairly sure that I'd need one if I was going to live for more than a day adrift at sea.  I think I was most intrigued by the solar stills Piscine had in his survival kit.  They were his primary means of getting fresh drinking water.  I guess I thought that even with today's technology it wasn't as straightforward as it seems to make ocean water potable.  I also was surpised to read that Piscine's survival guide said that a human could survive 14 days without water as long as they weren't losing very much to sweat.  And that most of thirst is psychological.  If you feel thirsty, you should try sucking on a button.

Yep.  Pretty sure I'd be a goner if that was me.

While I was looking up all things sea faring related, like what the heck a tarpaulin is, I discovered that Life if Pi is being made into a movie.   It comes out this November.  I'd go see it.  You should too, after you've read the book of course.

Let's Pretend this Never Happened

Jenny Lawson, aka THE BLOGGESS, recently published Let's Pretend this Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir). 

You can read the synopsis here.

She is like the girlfriend your parents prayed would move away and quit corrupting you with her irreverent language and crazy shenanigans.  There is a lot of swearing and vulgar words in the book, but if you take it with a grain of salt or a lot of grains of salt on the rim of your margarita glass, you will literally find yourself laughing-out-loud.  With that being said, you might want to choose your book reading location carefully.  I nearly got kicked out of the bed for full belly laughing when I was supposed to be sleeping and the boy was sleeping.

The book is a quick, mostly upbeat read, pack it in your beach bag or take it on your next road trip.  You won't regret it.