The Game of LIFE:

So, after our very late, very delicious Dutch Baby pancake breakfast -- we had lots of exciting choices for this first weekend of the summer. There was a Lumberjack Festival in Clinton (15 miles north)....and Bettendorf was having a music/craft event in the park (15 miles south).

But, because these last weeks at school have been SO BUSY -- and both kids were kind of crabby when I picked them up.....I decided we'd just hang around the house. It might be a good day to just relax on the porch and watch the hummingbirds...Maybe play some board games.

We got out the Game of LIFE. Remember this one? There's a "university path"...and another, shorter path -- where you don't get paid as much money....

The play pieces are little plastic cars, you add pink or blue pegs as your family grows....

So, why is Lilly so tickled? And Warren so annoyed...?

When Warren landed on the "get married" space, he got to put a peg in his little car. But he wanted NOTHING TO DO WITH a pink peg. So, Lilly cheerfully gave him a blue peg and announced, "Fine, if that's what you want.  Now you're married to a man."

And I said, "be careful what you pray for, buddy...after 50 years of being married to a man, I can tell you -- it's not easy."

Turns out, Warren wasn't ready for the Game of LIFE.  He'd rather play Legos...

We played for an hour or so -- and had a huge audience of hummingbirds. It was the perfect way to spend this beautiful summer day.

That afternoon, we did have to make one little trip to the Goodwill Store...AND YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT WE FOUND THERE...