Hot enough to induce me to swim in the Willamette River. Upriver from Portland, but still...
Parking was scarce, as was beach shade, but we lucked out on both. Had a great time. Tried out the new inflatable raft. Picnicked on Subway sandwiches. Everybody came home and collapsed. 
> July 3 was an oasis of spectacular weather between heat waves, which seemed like the perfect time to check out Milwaukie’s venerable amusement park. Astoundingly, the place was practically empty, apparently because it was Fourth of July weekend. (!!!)
>
> Lena just found out this year that she has been living 5 miles from a full service ride park since she was a baby and NOBODY TOLD HER! It turns out to be a small, funky park with a terrific kiddie ride section and just a few big scary rides for the teenagers. Perfect for a 9-year-old and 2 fours.
>
> But of course the twins are temperamentally polar opposites, so Amber ended up taking Lena and Leo on every single ride that 44” will get you onto while I gently coaxed Harris from riding the Merry Go Round repeatedly in the chariot seat to eventually mastering every kiddie driving ride. The park was so empty that he could literally ride the same ride over and over with no waiting, which is exactly how he gets comfortable with something new.
The small roller coaster was in the kiddie area, but nothing to sneeze at. I thought it looked too scary so Leo RODE IT ALONE before hooking up with Amber and Lena to ride it repeatedly.
We finished up with a relaxing round of mini golf in a shady riverside park filled with water features.
Maybe we shouldn’t have waited until the last minute.
The boys’ preschool did school pictures and they came up with this. Whoever the school photographer is, they should be doing headshots for modeling portfolios.
The ones I posted yesterday were uncharacteristically solemn.
Lena (8) reading to Leo and Harris (3). Such a great big sister!
Lena returning from her hair salon with a new shoulder-length bob, a gold crown, and a sucker. She was completely happy with the result. She decided to give up the whole Rapunzel fantasy when she learned how hard it is to take care of long hair. I kinda miss the Rapunzel look, but hey, it's her hair. Oh, that wonderful t-shirt she's wearing is the band tour t-shirt from Music Day Camp. 
Y'know who could really USE a haircut? Leo.
Grandkids (and their parents) were here and now they are gone. It all goes by so fast.
The first thing the kids do when they get here is rush up to the attic, which has not only a beautifully refinished floor of vintage Douglas fir, but other amenities like this swing and big exercise ball.
July 20. Saying goodbye at the airport. ALWAYS REMEMBER: Southwest flies out of Terminal 2!!
This beautiful book mysteriously arrived in the mail yesterday! ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderplanet ?
Harris inventing one of the Six Simple Machines.
I was investigating the new capabilities in IOS 16 (mostly ways to fiddle with the lock screen) and discovered this amazing feature. It's called something cryptic like "lift objects from background."
This is Lena at age 2 trying on a new hat in the Columbia Outlet Store in Portland.
Due to unforeseen COVID events we didn't really get to play with the grandchildren during their August visit, so we flew out here for a week to try again. Here's Lena doing an impressive soft shoe routine with Grandpa's cane.
Leo posing with Elmo, who as far as the boys are concerned is not just the best Muppet, but the only one. They refer to the Muppet Show as the "Elmo Show."
And here's Harris playing the timeless game of Steal Richard's Hat.
Lena and I finally tested negative today, on Days 10 and 9 respectively. Olin and Amber are faintly positive, Amber's line nearly invisible but detectable. We haven't tested the boys, who seem fine except for occasional coughing. Richard still has no symptoms and has only tested negative to date. So we are mostly still isolating at home, with occasional forays to local parks.
Among other things, I have pulled out all my old kitchen gadgets and we are trying them out. The little ice cream/ yogurt maker is a big hit with the boys.
Leo goofing around at the front door, looking like a monster baby.
The boys playing with the blue wagon in the back yard.
It's now Day 8 for Lena (Days 4-7 for the rest of us), with Richard still evading infection. We're all feeling pretty good, with a few lingering symptoms, but we still can't go anywhere. Incidentally, Lena still tests strongly positive despite being over all her symptoms. I finished a full course of Paxlovid yesterday and now feel well, but still tested weakly positive this morning. Amber is at Day 6 and also weakly positive. So I continue to be deeply skeptical of the CDC's horrible outdated isolation advice, which strongly implies that contagion "normally" ends at Day 5. This is absolutely not true. There is now data (which you can find on the CDC site itself if you search hard!) that specifically shows that 50% of COVID patients are still contagious at Day 5. 25% are still contagious at Day 8. It isn't until Day 10 that most people are finally non-infectious. Amber managed to change their flight home to Thursday, by which date everyone in her family should be past Day 10. It is terrifying how many people are flying these days after a completely inadequate 5-day isolation period.
Amber and I resurrected an ancient iPad version 1 (from 2011?) and managed to find a few toddler apps on the app store that still work. This has kept Harris and Leo happy except for when they are fighting over which one gets to execute Humpty Dumpty or chop the tails off the Three Blind Mice (a particularly grotesque nursery rhyme game is a favorite).
Meanwhile, Olin and Lena went out for a drive (in the rain, because they were getting desperate for something to do) and ventured out of the car at a deserted sculpture park long enough to get a beautiful iteration of the standard Minneapolis Tourist Photo. 
Thorin tested positive today, despite having isolated himself almost completely in his room. We are amazed that it got him but (so far) not Richard. But at least now he is willing to join in some family time, which he wouldn't do before, even outside.
It seems unfair that Thorin got infected after taking such extreme precautions, but at least he can play with the kids now. He's a good uncle. Right now he's helping Lena learn a complicated computer game called Outer Wilds. She's turned into quite a good little gamer.
Lena wasn't terribly sick all day yesterday, but by bedtime she felt hot to the touch and was starting to feel slightly nauseated and chilled. A search of the medicine cabinets turned up none of those new-fangled electronic thermometers and no children's Tylenol, nailing us as totally unprepared grandparents. We did find an old mercury thermometer, which read 102. Yikes, that's an actual full-fledged fever! So Olin was sent out to an all-night pharmacy for Tylenol, which seemed to help. I worried about Lena all night, but she slept soundly after the Tylenol and woke up cheerful and energetic. She still has a little cough and feels a little warm, but not enough to even bother with Tylenol. I think she is on the mend.
Amber tested positive this morning, and Harris is clearly sick. Amber is still pretty perky, but Harris clearly feels miserable. Olin and Leo feel fine. Leo had a great time all morning, playing with trains and doing a Sisyphus routine with an exercise ball he liberated from the attic. 
