The ladder has finally found its way home. It has been unusually warm this week. As a result, the kids get to play outside, and we even got so inspired that we stained the cross-beams on the inside of the fence. The wood had become exposed after last winter and was graying. We don't have enough stain or enough time to do the whole thing this fall (unless there is another weekend like this past) so Marcela suggested the conservationist approach of treating the areas that are in most need. Maxim followed me around the yard as I painted. "Can I paint too, Daddy?" I told her she couldn't since the stain was oil-based and hard to clean up. "Look at what I can do," she said climbing the wrong way up the slide. "Look, Daddy." I would finish a brush full and turn around. "Wow!" I'd exclaim. "Are you gonna paint the whole thing?" She'd ask. The fence looks less intimidating than the house, but it is actually more square footage. Yesterday, Maxim's best friend Gwen came over after their gymnastics class (they have the class together) and they played all afternoon. Marcela said they slept together with Noah in our big bed at nap time. Later in the afternoon Marcela gave them our plain clay pots and some paint and each of them painted a pot. Gwen got to take hers home, along with the aloe plant inside it. This afternoon as the rains drizzled down and warm moist air blew through the region (it was 62 degrees at mid-afternoon!), the kids watched a movie about a giant peach, part claymation by Tim Burton. "Are you gonna stay for the scary part?" Noah asks. "I don't like the scary part." I did, printing some emails and web pages while I was up there. Always something to read. Always something to write. The kids fell fast asleep without argument, as a flood of schoolchildren made their way home past my door.