Precise and Exact

We began our day with artwork.  I sketched with ink pencils.

Julia painted the sketches with water.

This was fun for both of us.

Julia asked me to draw a newt, a first for me, for sure.  We were going for colorful and fanciful, otherwise the newt would have been brown.

Julia tried her hand at drawing her own picture.  I declared this a success!

Her last request was for a flying unicorn, which I learned is called an alicorn.

Across the table, Carolyn painted scenes from a recent trip.

This was a fun morning while Nate and Jacob slept in.

Pool waits until about 11 am, when I'm done being quiet.

Before I took my camera downstairs, I checked on the puzzle people.  

Julia and I challenged Nate.  However, there was a bit of sibling rivalry.  I made them stand side by side and smile for the camera.  Trust me, both of these beautiful smiles are completely fake.

Nate gets very creative in his shots.

Dave and Mel joined us.  I asked Dave what he thought about my new cue.  He replied, "It helps that it's straight."

Most of the time, everyone in the game shares the new stick.

Well, not Julia.  She prefers a short stick.

I went up to make lunch and found Jacob violating the number one rule:  Never play Blink with Melanie!

No surprise to me, he lost.

Everyone helped with lunch and it was delicious.  Grilled red onion is underneath the cheese.  Papa bought, shucked and cooked the corn -- the first of the season.

I've been meaning to ask Mel about something I noticed at lunch.  She heated up leftover artichoke dip.  Notice the bag of chips in her lap.

There was so much going on I didn't follow up with why they moved to the bench behind her.  I actually can't explain this.

While I brushed my teeth, Jacob took my camera down the stairs.  Ha, little surprise for me tonight as I went through today's pictures.  I came close to beating him twice, and I've picked up some new techniques which I think are helpful.  I am very thoughtful about each shot.  Exact.  No hurrying.  No carelessness.  It's helping.

We went back upstairs for Fat Boys. Jacob challenged Mel again in Blink.  I was stunned -- it looked like he was going to win!

He did!

Some victories are very sweet.

We agreed to one more game.  I loved watching Dave coach Julia, who was on my team.  Frankly, what will help Julia the most is about six more inches, but even still, she's still a formidable player.

Then we walked to the pool.

Matt was about three hours late for lunch, but Carolyn can do wonders with a microwave oven.  Apparently she found the chips.

The entire time we were at the pool, Jacob, Nate and Julia challenged Mel in frisbee toss.

This was hilarious.

We all had a good time.

I loved seeing the kids all get along, especially since a counselor in our bishopric was also at the pool.

They played frisbee for an hour.

The grandkids all behaved perfectly, but my own child?  I need to have a chat with him.