A weekend without work means time to do things I like with people I also like. This morning, that meant getting up super early to go back and see the cranes at Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area. Today's crane count was 8,060! We could hear them as soon as we stepped out of the car.
It turns out that taking pictures at sunrise is a little more challenging than taking them at sunset was. the light was coming from a different direction, so it was a little hard to get the crispness that I wanted, plus there was a lot of fog. Still I'm pretty happy with the way a lot of them turned out. This was Mike's first time seeing the cranes, and I would venture to say that he was impressed, if unprepared for how cold it was. The boys did a lot better this time too, mostly because I stayed underneath the viewing tower taking pictures, so they had a little more freedom to climb around on the support beams. All in all, a pretty great way to start the day!
After we had our fill of cranes, we stopped at Bailey's, a weird discount supercenter out in the middle of nowhere, and we did something we've been meaning to do for years now: We ordered a new set of cabinets for our kitchen! Bailey's carries the brand that's currently in the kitchen, so we were able to match the style and color. I took pictures of the countertop, but I had been turning over in my head whether we would be able to match that exactly, and I had this notion that I didn't really want to. So it was a pretty exciting development that we just happened to walk by a kitchen display (on our way to the bathroom) that had a butcher block counter. We both stopped, looked at each other, and decided on the spot that it was perfect. Now we just have to wait four to six weeks for it to come in.
Once that transaction was out of the way, it was finally time for breakfast. We opted for a sit-down restaurant, and nobody threw a fit or did anything really embarrassing. In fact, it was really a lovely, relaxed family meal -- very rare indeed. Then we headed to my parents' house to hear all about their Canadian cruise. They had gifts for everyone, and the boys got to play with Jack for a long time, until finally he showed us all that he was ready to take a nap by getting crabby with everyone. On our way out, my dad gave me a dozen eggs fresh from their chickens.
And once we got home, I got to do my favorite outdoor chore: pressure washing! There is something that's just so satisfying about it. I get to put on my headphones and exist in my own little world for a couple of hours, and at the end, the house is all sparkly clean and I'm soaking wet but with a great sense of accomplishment. Just as I was wrapping up, Laura and kids came and picked up the boys for a trip to the park, and then three of the Kruyer kids stayed at our house to play for a while. Henry cranked out pretty badly at the end of the day, but even that couldn't mar my happiness. This day had pretty much everything I could ask for: Time in the woods, time outside doing something interesting, family time with few fights, getting things accomplished, seeing my parents and nephew and cousins, and even a little time alone with Mike while everyone was at the park. Funny how a pretty ordinary day can seem so exceptional.
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