Henry's first icecream cone and another parade

We must really be on vacation--kids having dessert nearly every day, 2 parades in three days, going to bed with sandy feet and hair . . .memories.

Henry had his first icecream cone--at Barden's of course. (yes, he's had icecream plenty of times, just not in a cone). If you aren't from Traverse City you'd probably drive right by this ramshackle old place and head for Cold Stone Creamery, but the locals know better. It's a delight. And Elisabeth wants to go there every day. At 8:30 this morning, on the way to the grocery store, Henry calls to me, "I want to go to Gardens." Gardens? "The name of the grocery store is Glens, Henry." "No, Gardens," he says, and points to Bardens. Ah, he catches on quickly. Speaking of icecream, the parent's trick of spelling in front of their children doesn't work anymore. Elisabeth knows what we're spelling, and Henry thinks it is always icecream. "I want some H-N-D!" he cries. "I want some K-C-D--cake and ice-cream." We're doomed. We need to learn a foreign language . . .ah, but they've already caught onto that as well. One night I told John, "Elisabeth wants some 'sho co lade' "(trying to say chocolate with a french pronunciation). Henry immediately began saying, "I want sho co lade."

With regards to the 2nd parade--we are real Cherry Festival Buffs and headed out to the final parade of the festival. Henry instructed me to take pictures of every tractor and was again enthralled by the marching bands, so I have lots of pictures of cymbals for his album. I wish I had a picture of him carrying his chair down the parade route, clad in his tie-dyed CF shirt with red visor. He was a serious spectator. Elisabeth was pretty serious too--about eating the candy that came her way.

We've gotten a few more beachy days here, but now it is cold and gray and in the 60s or so. Monday we headed out to the Leelanau Peninsula to Leland and hunted for Petosky stones. Grandma found the most, but Elisabeth and I also found a few. Henry enjoyed filling buckets with sand, and taking off his clothes.

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