A Birthday - A Movie - A Fire!

It's been another busy week in the Boondocks.

Tuesday was Nathan's 12th Birthday which meant we were busy with preparations for several days ahead of time. We like to take the kids somewhere special for their big days , which usually means an outdoor outing. Due to the uncomfortably warm weather on Tuesday, we made an exception this year.

Shortly after noon we all piled into the truck and headed for town, and proceeded to the mall, and the Cinema. The kids had never been to a movie theatre before , and it was a nice cool place to spend a hot afternoon, so we thought it would be a good choice for the special event.

Turns out we were right. Nathan and Lindsay both thoroughly enjoyed the cool air, as well as the movie we chose to treat them to. We were pleasantly surprised at the price of admission, but were quickly shocked back into the present time by the prices at the concession stand. It cost more for popcorn and sodas than admittance! It was worth it though, to see the kids eyes widen at the site of the huge bags of popcorn and the large cups of soda. We ordered small of each and they were the size of large that I remember when I went to the movies as a youngster.

The film we saw was Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. As with the first two Ice Age movies, it was an excellent film! Including us, there were maybe 15 folks watching this particular showing, and most of those were adults, in their 50's and older. Including our two, there was a total of three children, and the chuckles and outright laughing could be heard throughout the film, from both children and adults. I would highly recommend this film for the whole family!


After the movie we headed to Albertson's where we picked up Nathan's choices for dinner, Macaroni and cheese, Broccoli and fish, and his cake, which he was tickled to note was an Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs theme.

Back at home the kids played outside for a bit while Pa and I blew up balloons and set the table up with gifts, balloons and the cake. Nathan was thrilled with his gifts, which included books (he loves to read!), archery equipment, a dissecting kit (that was the closest thing I could come to his request for something having to do with bones) and cash. The kids then headed back outside where Nathan practiced his archery skills until dinner time.


Yesterday was another exciting day, which included a surprise visit from the head forester for our area. The kids were wandering around their paths in the woods on our property when they smelled smoke and investigating further they discovered a fire. They immediately ran back to the house to inform us. Pa grabbed the shovel and we followed them back up to the fire. Fortunately, it was still small enough we were able to deal with it. While Pa was busy doing what he could with the shovel, the kids and I set up a relay of sorts, to get jugs of water up to the site.

Once we got the fire out we came back down to the house and called the forestry dept, and the forester came out to take a look. He was great! He praised the kids multiple times for finding the fire, and taking the correct action, then proceeded to show his trainee, as well as the kids how to determine the cause and path of the fire. He determined it was airborne, and the most probable direction of origin. His theory was the same as ours, and once he'd finished on our property our neighbors got a visit as well.

It turns out this forester lives in the neighborhood as well so he was doubly grateful for the kids' discovery and actions. We were all shaking our heads, feeling our hearts pounding as we realized how fortunate we, and the whole neighborhood were that the kids discovered it when they did. It was just getting a good blaze going. Mere minutes, or a good gust of wind later and it would've been raging into a wildfire beyond our control with dozens of homes, including ours in it's path.

Today, we're heading to town for our weekly visit to the Library and some shopping, including a search for Nathan's last Birthday gift from us, his choice of a quiver for his archery pursuits.

Hope you all are having a safe and fun week, and that you are able to stay cool!