busy and buzzy

Liam is having quite a busy week. Monday night after school, he went with me, Yami, and Aunt Loni to shop for shoes in South Bend. (Max would have gone too, but got sent home from daycare with *another* high fever. Luckily he's fine now.) In the world of shoes and clothes, Liam is no longer a toddler -- we have to shop in the boys' section for him. After shopping, we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant, where Liam tried salsa on his chip for the first time (before we could stop him). He wasn't anxious to repeat that experience, so my mom ordered ranch dressing for his chip dipping instead, and he was very happy.


Tuesday, Liam's class went on a field trip to the park. It was the first time we've had to sign a permission slip for anything. Liam reported when he came back that the park is his favorite place in the whole world.


Today, Liam's class is having a tea party. They're practicing manners, so all the kids get to dress up and drink tea and eat tiny sandwiches. He was very excited when he left for school this morning -- I can't wait to hear the report when he comes home.

Meanwhile, Mike has been hunting. We have at least two, possibly more, underground yellow jacket colonies in our yard. Monday morning while mowing the yard, Mike ran over both entrances (about an hour apart) and got attacked by swarms both times. Luckily, he only got stung a total of three times. So yesterday he did his research, and prepared for war. He had to wait until after dark, because that's when all the yellow jackets are home. He put on jeans (with the cuffs tucked into his socks), a long-sleeve shirt (tucked into his belted jeans), a hat, and tennis shoes. Then he armed himself with a Maglite, a bottle of wasp spray, a can of super insecticide powder, and a can of dirt. He approached slowly with the flashlight, spraying ahead of himself to kill the guards. Then he dumped the insecticide into the entrance of the colony, dumped the dirt on top, and tamped it down. He emerged from the sneak attack unscathed, but has to do a scout mission today to find out if there were any survivors. Wish him luck!