Friday’s greatest news: Elihu’s bass had arrived. First thing after school we visited our friends at Saratoga Guitar to pick her up. Elihu was beside himself. It was almost better that he had a pal with him for an after-school playdate, as his head might have exploded with excitement if he didn’t have the distraction. Here are some pics from our weekend, from bass to birds to a visit with some civil war cats in the park. We try to be laid-back and under-scheduled, but life just finds us and fills in the cracks.

Here we are…

Here it is…

…and there he goes! Man, this thing really is big!

First, a little keva plank tower building…The plan is to knock it down with an RC car. Always lots of fun. !!

Play date’s over, and Elihu’s classmate has gone home now, so time to see what a bass really feels like…

It’s gonna take some finger strength for sure…

Elihu’s not a very big kid, but I think he’ll make it work.

Elihu looked at this picture and told me his form was all off – that his right arm was wrong. I have no idea, but shortly will probably know much more about such things.

Later that evening Elihu picked apples while I made the crust. We had to celebrate with more home-made apple pie!

The next day we happened upon a garage sale and immediately found this VHS tape…

So how cool is this??? We ran home, put it in only to find the entire tape had been re-recorded over with old episodes of Friends. Seriously? Sheesh. So then we watched some performances of Mr. Mingus on YouTube instead. Good enough for now. More to come for sure.

Some chicken smooching.

A moment with Specks.

So crazy cute. Or maybe just so crazy. !

We get into the car to go and the girls all follow Elihu.

At the Civil War encampment in Congress Park.

Some hands-on training

and ready!

No foolin.

A handsome young soldier.

Note the bullet-embedded bone in foreground. Ouch.

The super old-timey music. Can’t say I knew any of the tunes, nor found much of it that interesting. Am I a snob? Hope not.

It was fun to see so many in character.

In the end, Elihu’s most interested in the animals.

At the fountain locals call “Spit and Spat”.

Checking out one of many springs that put the “Springs” in “Saratoga”.

As ‘real’ as Saratoga water gets.

Not quite too old for one last ride on the carousel.

Mama’s waving in the mirror

Off to chase one final duck

Nice to see some lasting summer color.

To the last spring of the day. We try to be open-minded, and we realize that this stuff’s supposed to be really good for you, but still… This one tastes, well, er, uh, kind of….  Ok, how about we just let the Department of Public Works tell you:

“A highly carbonated water of an Alkaline-Saline flavor noted for its high mineral content, and renowned as a digestive curative…”

We tried, really we did.

This was a laid-back weekend, but Elihu was still pooped at its conclusion. Even with all the fun things that we end up doing, it’s still Elihu’s wish that we might have just one weekend with no plans at all. With nothing at all to see or do, no where to go. Is that even possible? We’ll just have to wait and see…