The Grands from Girl #1 are old enough to spend time with us sans parents. We didn’t know if we would have space for beds this year, as we are under construction. We made it work out.

It’s not pretty (yet), but there’s no exposed insulation. A window came out. A window went into a different place. Everything got swept and mopped. Tools put away. Beds put up. I hope to eventually carve a new bathroom out of this space.

On Day 1 they settled in, helped Boopa put the birds to bed, and picked the first watermelon.

Day 2: we explored the Wisconsin side of the pothole region of the St. Croix River. “Potholes” are formed when a rock gets caught in an eddy and bores a hole in the basalt. Some of the holes are more than 100 feet deep. The rocks, called “grinders”, look like huge bowling balls. After hiking the pothole trail, we wandered a beach further downstream. The basalt gives way to sandstone, which in turn gets eroded back to sand. We saw a number of different mollusks. The girls liked the shells the otters left for us. Ice cream at the overlook in St. Croix Falls and the girls zonked.

Day 3: back to the river, but this time to take a river boat ride. Michael’s assessment: good to have done once but not worth a repeat. I think the girls weren’t interested in the scenery. Note to self: do things with children where they can run.

Day 4: the cousins came to play! Waffles for breakfast and enchiladas for lunch. Then home with mom.

Even the squirrel waved goodbye.