Today we went with the kids along the minuteman bike path starting from Mill Street. We unpacked the scooters and Blaki’s stroller and off we went along the bike path direction Lexington. It was a perfect spring day with wonderful sunshine but still a little brisk. The kids were glad to be outside, at least that is what it looked like and Ana an I hoped for, and we strolled along the really nice path. Unfortunately there are actually quite some cyclist on the path — no surprise of course — and we had to watch the kids so they would not get in the way to much. Marki tried his new scooter (he has it already since we left Geneva, but rarely used it) and as it is a little more difficult to steer we had some falling but Marki mostly took it his usual way ‘I’m okay!’.
Gisele is by now quite good at using her scooter and she kept up pretty well with our two rowdy boys. Blake meanwhile just took in the fresh air and enjoyed the stroller ride commenting at times in his peculiar way. He demanded food and at times pointed out the good stuff on the path. I was calmly working on my large ice-coffee black which we had picked up at Dunkin Donuts right around the corner. I lite my cigar and Ana and I slowly followed or trailed the kids.
After some time they got bored of the scooters and we started to play racing. Ivan would mostly win, and Markus was the coach, so he would not loose :-). Gisele just played for the interactions and was happy, most of the time. After about 30-45 minutes we arrived at the playground which we figured must be part of Arlington Heights playground.
After our long walk we thought it was a good idea to pick up the two drawers from my ‘new’ office table which I had recovered from the office from one of our retiring researchers. A very nice old simple but solid wood desk. The material is in pretty decent condition but the varnish is all dirty broken up and scratched. Anyway we got the two drawers and on our way back I figured, if I restore the desk I should start with the drawers. So we stopped by ACE hardware and got some stripper and polyurethane and some sand paper.
After we unloaded the car I got started on the drawers while Ana made a classical wok and the kids played with our neighbors kids in the garden. When it was lunch time (a typical Spanish one at 4pm) I had just finished to strip both drawer and sand the first one. The result was rather promising. After an excellent lunch (many mmmmmms!) I sanded the second drawer and carefully put the first layer of polyurethane on. The result I though was really wonderful. The table has a rather dark color but looks so much better in its natural wood color. I really hope I can do the same with the desk.
After this is took a beer and lit a fire in the back to burn off some of the smaller and bigger branches which had fallen off the trees. A very ‘zen’ activity which I shared with Blake. Blake seems to enjoy to spent some quality time with his papi, and I do enjoy my time with him.
