8/13/2011
Three years married and three babies. Kathleen was born on July 23rd, which means the annual Marietta rite of passage. We had a bit of a false start on our way. When we stopped for gas, Laura bought Daniel and Philip little bottles of juice. We weren’t far down the road when we heard Philip giggling hysterically. Glancing in the rear view mirror I saw Philip giving himself a shower in green, sticky high fructose corn syrup. Returning home briefly for a change of clothes and a wet towel we set out on our way yet again.
Our first stop was, naturally, the Barking Dog Book Store. The lady remembered us and kindly gave Daniel a lot of attention. She talked with him and read him a book on insects – his current favorite subject. (“Buggies!” he exclaims.) When we were finished she gave us a 20% discount and tried to sneak the buggies book into our bag for free. We told her that wasn’t necessary, but she insisted. Can anybody doubt that this is the most amazing bookstore in the world?
Afterwards, we walked up and down Front Street. We made sure to stop into the weird store with all the $300 baby dolls and the Tin Rabbit antique store. The crabby lady was there this time, so all is right with the world.
Daniel and Philip had a lot of fun playing on the riverfront. A couple of speedboats whizzed by to Daniel’s uninhibited glee, but both he and his brother were more interested in just exploring and climbing rocks.
Later, Philip had some good Mommy-time splashing in a fountain while I showed Kathleen the sites.
After working up an appetite we headed to Austyn’s, but they were completely booked, so we decided to go over to the Lafayette Hotel’s restaurant The Gun Room. The meal was fine, but it was no Austyn’s. It was nostalgic to be back in the Lafayette again though.
Later that evening one of Marietta’s many summer festivals was beginning. There was a horse-drawn carriage on the street, and although we didn’t go for a ride, the women driving it let the boys pet the horses. Philip was especially happy about this. (The name Philip means “lover of horses”, dontcha know?)
A bouncy castle had appeared by this point, and Daniel bounced on through. While I was watching him this lady came up and kept talking to me about all these stories she’d heard about kids breaking their necks on these things.
It was still light when we left so we traveled back on that covered bridge byway. This time we saw two. We think that’s a world’s record.
From Laura: As an anniversary gift, I got Oliver the revised edition of 1000 places. He spent a very long time studying the book and comparing the two. Thank you, Patricia Schultz. He is very proud of the book. It has a special place in the house. He worries more about that and his GPS than anything else....
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