Weekend Things

This weekend involved a great deal of housecleaning and not nearly as much writing as it should have (I'm procrastinating so hard it hurts).

But we did get a bit of a break from both the housework and the stern stare of the computer.

M and I went hiking Sunday with friends. 

E and Z opted to stay home with C, and I'm getting better at not trying to cajole them into coming and doing every fun thing I want to do (or maybe I'm getting tired of trying to coax them to do anything at all).

In any case, it was a beautiful day––gray and Novemberish, with a bit of a chill in the air, but beautiful no less, and so nice to get near the coast (this is actually tidal river, so not officially coast, but beachy just the same).

And since it was a glorious three-day weekend, we got to stay home and enjoy Monday's return to sun and warmth.

E and Z's friends came over, and while their dad practiced guitar with M (they're doing a duet of "Hotel California" at open mic Friday night), we took some airplanes to the neighbor's field to fly.

I seriously doubted we'd even make it to the field with planes intact. E threw his into no fewer than four trees, and their friend stepped on one on the way down the driveway.

(I resorted to speaking to them in a teacher voice, "Hold your plane in your hands, please, until we get to the field." It didn't do much good).

We always get balsa wood airplanes for Christmas, and after the initial flight (if it's not too wet and snowy to fly them at all), the ones that survive get put up on top of a cabinet and forgotten about. I decided it was time to wear these ones out before another round comes this Christmas.

M joined us after his jam session, 

and we added to the mix a basket full of paper airplanes.

They had been hanging around the perimeter of the boys' room ever since M built them from a paper-airplane-a-day calendar he got years ago.

We finally decided to put them to good use. Unfortunately, none of them got destroyed, so we've still got a basket full (perhaps taking them out on a rainy day, or to the top of a high cliff, next time...).

I didn't get in as many things as I would have liked to this weekend, but E, Z, and I put in a mega reading session Monday afternoon (still chipping away at Harry Potter). 

How was your long weekend?