And my first sunburn (the peeling kind) in decades.

First, breakfast at The Dutch. Béla put Cholula all over his Dutch Baby.

Then we went to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum.

I had expected we’d just spend an hour or two there — had packed sketchbooks and whatnot. Someone from the grounds told us where we could go find a bald eagle in a tree, and we went that way, and another family — a mom and two boys our kids’ age — ran toward us. “Oh, are you other homeschoolers?” asked the mom.

And our day got much more fun.

And longer! I really did get a good burn.

It was the first real warm day of the season, and we came home, sweaty and tired, and the kids went right back out to the newly-forming “Friday pizza picnic in the park” event… and stayed outside until the park lights came on.

Until after dark. My kids.

It’s great to live in a house that faces the playground my kids play in. I can hear their voices in the din sometimes. Hey, it hasn’t stopped the worst-case-scenarios from happening — it’s still less than a year since we ran over there to see Béla, immobilized and being put into an ambulance — but overall, it’s a great situation.

For the first time in YEARS, Claudia was asleep before 11PM. In fact, she’d fallen asleep twice before that time.

It was like a day from my own childhood. My kids have not had many days like that!