Wilmington Weekend Update #6

Wilmington Weekend Update #6

Monday opened with Julian’s class trip to the Harris Teeter grocery store, where he met Harry the big green dinosaur who represents grocery goodness (everyone knows what dinosaurs have to do with produce). Some of the children were frightened of Harry, and I asked Julian if he was scared, but he said, “No, he happy dinosaur!” The goody bag full of apples, stickers, and pencils no doubt helped.

By Tuesday the boys had invented a new bedtime game we dubbed The Tortilla Brothers. They wrap themselves up in their round blankets like tacos, then spin into each other until they fall down giggling (or crying, depending).


Abby spent the week at UNCW’s Marine Quest camp. The name is misleading; they don’t drive up to Jacksonville in search of Jarheads. Abby trooped through marshes and tidal pools with a net and some crunchy marine biology majors collecting eels, sea urchins, and pen fish. Her tank was full of species I didn’t know we had around here, like starfish and sea anemones!



Friday was Sellers’s last day of preschool after three years at the Children’s Learning Center. He brought doughnuts for all his teachers, and there were lots of hugs to go around. He skipped out of school happily with all his stuff, then broke into tears on the way home. Of course Julian has three more years there, so it’s not the last they’ll see of Sellers…





Friday night we gave up on Top Chef and followed our strombolis with a SpongeBob marathon. Saturday our babysitter arrived at 5:55 AM so I could get into the hospital and start rounding. Margaret had five patients to see and after a Krispy Kreme run she joined me at the hospital, although we never actually saw each other. By 1:00 we relieved the sitter and struck out for, where else? The Home Depot! (They’ve filed for a restraining order.). From there we shopped for swimsuits for Abby, a trip that was supposed to end at the beach. But Sellers, tired and hungry, threw a fit in Wings when we wouldn’t let him buy a stuffed frog, and Julian poured a half bottle of Sprite on the floor of my car, and my pager wouldn’t stop going off, so we gave up on the beach and went for a bath instead.

Sunday saw Margaret back at the hospital and the rest of us off the Sam’s and the grocery (not Harris Teeter – I’m allergic to dinosaur dander). The long-awaited house painting project starts tomorrow, so Margaret went back to…that’s right, I won’t even say it…to pick up other paint samples after we discovered our original first choice, St. Francis Hotel Clay Angel was actually cream. We put up all sorts of paint blotches and stared at them with the neighbors while the children turned the house upside down (literally, they were making tents out of the couch cushions).


We think we have our color, a predominately gray-green-beige, but we’re definitely anxious. Our neighbor the appraiser thinks the color is great, so we’re going with that. Finally, after the kids got tired of waiting for us and made themselves a lunch of Teddy Grahams and Fruit Roll Ups, we washed our brushes and made good on our promised beach trip. Julian was a little sleepy, but he perked up and helped Margaret with her sand castle while Sellers jumped in the waves and Abby helped me pick big minnows out of the cast net.



We left the beach around 6:00 PM and headed home for bubble baths, pasta, bed, and kitchen cleaning. This week Sellers will join Abby for the first time at the School of Learning Art (SOLA). The painters and the carpenter will be all over the place, and we hope that by next week we’re not asking you all to suggest the next color we should paint the house.

David