Day 114 (Independence Day)

It was pretty much an All-American 4th of July for the Compound. Wonderful time at the pool in the morning, including lunch poolside, a family fave. Then putzing about the house doing whatever, watching a few more episodes of NUMB3RS (which has run away with the title "most watched show during the lockdown"). Matt grilled some hot dogs for the Hot Dog Smörgåsbord, another family favorite. The pièce de résistance, however, was the chocolate peanut butter pie Tracy whipped up and the red, white, and blue shortcake dessert Lynn did. Then it was fireworks time. There were nine fireworks shows across the Colorado Springs area, all synced to music broadcast by a handful of radio stations. Pretty cool. And Flying Horse was one of the nine shows, which occurred not a mile from our back deck. More of the day's photos are here.

A pair of fighters flew over while we were at the pool.

Lots of games for the kids.

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AJ won first place in the egg-on-a-spoon race.

Belly flop competition. We thought Lexi did really well.
She's just not big enough to make much of a splash.

NUMB3RS

Tracy's chocolate peanut butter pie.

Lynn's red, white, and blue shortcake dessert.

A Fina creation for the day.

A little pre-fireworks basketball.

Dancing on the new wall post fireworks!

Day 113

There are but two things to talk about today. Two very big things. It was a perfect pool time at the Club this morning. And Hamilton was fantastic. The whole family watched (well, not Lexi so much). I think it may have overtaken Les Miserables as my all-time favorite production. We've all known the music since it came out. The three older kids can sing along to much of it (all of it in Fina's case). And some of us had seen it live on stage previously. Today was a first for me, AJ, and younger. Wow. My biggest impression?... How well all the choreography, and it was practically all choreographed, added to the story. Lastly, some champagne while we watched the Mt. Rushmore 4th of July before bed.

Oh, Garcon!

HAMILTON

Miraculously, Sasquatch Cookies showed up at intermission!

Day 112

Matteo had his reading session (MTTh), and Starbucks on the way home! Everyone managed to keep themselves fairly occupied (see below). The unique activity of the day was Matt and Jamie going down to Magnum Shooting Center to try out some handguns. First time Jamie could remember shooting a handgun (rifles, shotguns, yes, but maybe never a handgun before today). The time flew. Tracy and Matt went over to the join the TimberCreek worship group to tape the service for Sunday morning. Nana and Papa had no trouble managing the kids as they were still well occupied. Jamie also continued work on his Creation lesson for the 8th. He finished watching The Ten Commandments a couple days ago (3.5 hours!). The Ten Commandments could well be the next session, if there is a next session. Dinner was scrounge. More NUMB3RS, more Hart of Dixie today.

Quilting continues. There are two in the works.

Art Center activity.

Getting there...

Something arrived for Lexi. Drew a crowd.

Not bad for first handgun use. Five yards away.

Day 111

More Serafina dancing at Colorado Ballet. Some carpet cleaning, deep cleaning. Lots of art and devices. Jamie did his "Wednesday at One" session at the Ranch while most of the rest went to the pool. Check out the newest resident at the Ranch (below). Fantastic dinner of steak, sauted mushrooms, and Daou wine.

First thing in the morning, Tracy shampooed the carpet.

New resident at the Ranch

Then one of the pups peed on the clean carpet s few hours later.
The carpet wasn't even dry yet from the cleaning.

This went very well with steak and mushrooms!

Day 110

Serafina had dance. Matteo has his Summer Reading stuff. Matt had work. It was something of a normal day. I think a few more ice cream treats disappeared. More NUMB3RS in the evening. And some out back time later. Nana and Papa started in on Cut Bank.

Hard at it. Don't know what "it" is.

Love the new backyard, particularly in the evening.

Day 109

Early morning coffee is allows a nice time on the deck. Mondays are often the big Costco run, and today was no exception. The big project of the day was assembling the newly arrived furniture for the courtyard. Fina started up a Christian_Fina account on Tik Tok and has been amazed by the response (initial post got 3,000 views!). Jamie's sporting his new "Quarantini" shirt (again). And AJ's baseball team won today! More NUMB3RS episodes.

That dog has had enough morning coffee.

Costco!

Drumsticks! Some of the spoils from Costco.

Another project. Courtyard furniture kits arrived.

Christian_Fina

Currently the favorite shirt.

They won today! AJ is #2 (far right).