Piles of red

All weekend, red balloons have been drifting down from the ceiling, covering the floor, catching on windowsills, balancing on plants and furniture. Overachievers, we'd blown up not 99 balloons, but 216, and most of them, shrivelled smaller, the helium leaching out, are piled on the floor, where they are constantly being kicked and thrown and batted about. When my parents came over this morning to welcome their granddaughter home, they had to push balloons aside to find a place to sit.

After a busy weekend, our extras went home, and we went to a park this afternoon, just the six of us, to spend some time together as a family. The park is actually the playground of an elementary school, a place famous for a big wooden structure with all kinds of ramps and towers and things to climb. It's a place we used to go often when the kids were little. We haven't been there in years, but we figured we'd go there for old time's sake.

In the car, we all starting teasing Beautiful Smart Wonderful Daughter about how the playground had been destroyed while she was gone. We were just kidding, of course. Then we pulled into parking lot of the school, and walked around the corner.

The wooden playground was gone. It had been completely removed.

Boy in Black was more interested in the big field that we had all to ourselves, and he talked us into playing some frisbee. I'd brought a blanket, and eventually, some of us ended up just lying in the sun, talking lazily. Boy in Black climbed a tree, and With-a-Why curled up next to his sister on the blanket. Eventually, we drove to a place that sells submarine sandwiches and bought a picnic lunch to take to Pretty Colour Lakes. It was nice to be together again, just the six of us, hanging out under a gorgeously blue sky and doing not much of anything.

It's evening now, and everyone is tired. Shaggy Hair is asleep on the couch, and Boy in Black asleep in the chair. Spouse is sorting laundry. Beautiful Smart Wonderful Daughter keeps saying she is going to unpack, but I suspect that if she gets near her bed, she is more likely to take a nap. With-a-Why is playing the piano – Bach's Solfegietto . His fingers are absolutely flying over the keys: he is the only one in the family with any energy left.

Tomorrow, I drive to campus to hand in my grades, and my summer begins.