Sunday, May 18, 2014

... she had a way with all the men in her life...

... or, The Great Compromise

camping in our own living room

This last week M chaperoned K's class overnight to Camp Sealth on Vashon Island. Which meant that Miss L and I spent an afternoon, evening, night, and morning having some quality one-on-one time. K was "camping" (in cabins, with bunk beds) and so L wanted to "sleep somewhere not in the house." Uh...

I contemplated doing a tent-in-backyard sort of thing, but that would have required my either just going to bed with her at 7.30, or leaving her alone out in the yard until I was ready to go to bed (around 10ish). And no matter what, we would be waking up periodically all through the night before we woke up for good around 5am. It just didn't seem very... practical.

My "solution" was to not to bring it up after we went out for a pizza date, and we managed to get through bath and books before L sat up next and glared at me accusatorily. "You said you would set it up!" she cried.

me (a bit lost): Set what up?
L: The tent!
me (ah!): Oh... yeah.
L: Well can you? Please Dada?
me: It's pretty late now.
L: Pleeeeease!
me: How about in the living room?
L: Well... ok.

So that's what we did. I set up the tent (with her "help") and I put her to bed in it, which meant that I was able to 1) get my normal evening stuff done, and 2) sleep in my own bed.

It also meant that even though I got up at 5am and tiptoed around to get my normal morning stuff done, she woke at 5.30 and so we both got an early start on the day. Which was just as well, because I had calculated that if I managed to get her out of the house by 7.30a and dropped off at school by 8a, I'd be able to make the 8.45a water taxi and could ride my bike to work. She was ready to go by 6.30, bribed with the promise of a on-the-way-to-school donut, and I managed to do the drop, catch the water taxi, and bike. All in all, it was a satisfying father-daughter overnighter at Camp Our House.

date-night double-selfie

Orangina and deep thoughts

short break during our walk home

finishing off the evening with a pair of dumdums


Tuesday, May 13, 2014

... it's a sunny day...

...and it was Mother's day, so we went for a bike/skateboard/rock crawl:

and it was good

Ignoring for the moment that I'm not really posting anything worth reading, I love this photo of my tribe of women.