The Maltdie Royal Croquet Society

Today was a perfect day for croquet!  It's been ages since we've had a proper go with the mallets, hoops and balls, and with this thought in mind, the Maltdie Royal Croquet Society embarked upon an adventure in the front yard that was quite a thrill for all parties involved!  It was a little sunny, but that didn't take away from the displays of exceptional skill!

Madison did pretty well with croquet today, even without a flamingo to play with.  It was a nice day, as we took a trip down to Aunt Shain's house for dinner, to see the house, and just relax for a few hours.  Food was good as always - we all pitched in for a great meal today.  Daddy and David were in the back, grilling hamburgers and hotdogs, while on the back deck there, Aunt Shain was setting up a hummingbird feeder that got amazing results.

Seriously, the thing was just put up, and seven to eight hummingbirds were already fighting over it.  There is no cooperation in the hummingbird world.  These birds may seem cute and small, but they were dogfighting all over the back yard there.

Anyway, we had dinner, which was great.  And then croquet.  Which was also great.

Here's Daddy showing Madison a bit of technique as she gets started on her game.  The family enjoyed being together today for about four and a half hours or so - we had a nice day off of work, but soon it was time to go - early bedtimes for all of us!  We all have to get up early tomorrow, so sadly, we left around 6:30 or so in order to get home in time for bed.

But it was a fun time today, and they've got a really nice place to live in now.  With the passing of her husband and their father, it's been no doubt difficult to continue living in the same place as they were.  Fortunately, he left them a good bit of money that they could find a nicer place to stay in.  The back yard has a wooden fence the boys (and the grandparents) helped build, and the rooms are nice and spacious.  It must feel great to be in a new and nice place as this.

We got home, and it was time to finish up the latest Nevergirls book, which didn't have the greatest ending in the world.  But we'll keep reading the series.  One great thing about this book is the inclusion of Vidia, who is the best of the fairies in Pixie Hollow.  Or, at least that's Daddy's opinion, love.

Of course, we didn't start out Labor Day at the other house.  Earlier on, we were at home preparing a bit of food, packing some things away, and ... making a constellation.

This is phase one of a Tinker Crate project using fiber optics and a small LED light.  Madison is seen here pushing through the fibers through tiny holes that she's made in that black foam board.  The holes correspond with the location of stars in a particular constellation that she's chosen to create.  If you have a sharp eye, you'll see she's working on Scorpio, which is of course the constellation for Daddy's birthday.  Madison chose that one randomly without really knowing this.  Anyway, the fibers are now glued to the back there so they won't come out.  We'll run the fibers into a small box with a LED light in it, one we put together earlier before this part.  And then we'll be good to go with our very own constellation!  We'll post pictures of that part later.

For now, we were talking about constellations - Madison was born in June, so the constellation of Gemini might be the next one she tries out.  Each Tinker Crate project comes with more related ideas about light, and more chances for education, so we did some experiments with bending light, and disappearing coins.  It was a fun time putting all that together, and really just a fun day when you look back at it.

Mommy and Daddy got through another few episodes of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," and pretty much called it quits after that.  It's time for bed, and time to start the work week again tomorrow...