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Over the past three weeks Audrial and I have done some blueberry picking, gone hiking, played some games together and with my friends, been to the park, gone rollerblading. I got her a nice bike at Goodwill for under $20. We’ve played frisbee, gone swimming a couple of times (once at a beach house right on the ocean), played Speedminton (really just volleyed around – she’s getting better!).

The weather has been kind of hot and humid, so that’s restrained us some (plus it’s rained a bit). We finished watching the first two seasons of Heroes on Netflix online. We’ve watched a couple of other movies, and we’re currently into this anime called “Kurau: Phantom Memory” which has been really enjoyable.

We went out hiking and she was whining, and so I got her talking, asking her questions about what she would do out in the woods if she was all alone. What were the things that she would need? Shelter, water, food, fire. So I was like, “Okay, so you’re out in the woods near this pond and night is falling soon. What do you do?”

“What kind of pond is it? Is the water clear?”
“Yep, the water is clear and looks nice.”
“Do I see signs of animals drinking out of it?”
“Yep, there are animal signs.”
“Then I don’t drink out of it.” hehehe
“It’s okay to drink out of a water source that animals can drink out of. That means it’s not poisoned or whatever.”

Audrial arrived on Saturday at around 2pm. We went to Cabellas, which is awesome. They have an absolutely huge store with all kinds of taxidermy exhibits. They also have a cool aquarium, and a laser shotgun range for kids. They even have a grill on the second floor where you can order bison burgers and venison brats, amongst other things. We had a good time there.

We got home and unpacked, and went over to the Looks so Audrial could play with the kids. We left there a little before they were getting ready to eat (since we’d already eaten) and went home to relax. We were both tired. On the way though, we stopped at the park.

Audrial and I played with the Speedminton rackets, serving back and forth. She was having a hard time with it, so I gave her some instruction and a couple of drills, and she started getting better (though she got a little frustrated). We swung on the swings, and she showed me her monkey bar stuff. We went home and just hung out, watching TV.

On Sunday, we went hiking at around 9 up on Mount Higby. We set up her Hennessy Scout hammock up there and she relaxed in it for a while. I’d tied one end to one tree to show her, and she’d done the other end, but hers was too low and she hadn’t pulled the ridgeline tight enough, so her end drooped quite a bit. I tensioned it properly and moved it up a little, and she was all set!

Well, I had a good visit with Audrial this Labor Day weekend. She flew in on Friday afternoon, and we went to Fratellos in Manchester, NH for dinner with my parents and brother. I wasn't particularly hungry (since I'd eaten some Chinese near the airport, which was actually better than I was expecting), I ordered the “Italian Pie”, with a view that I could always take it home and reheat it. Audrial had some staple linguine and huge meatballs.

Over the weekend we played a lot of board games, and I played outside with Audrial a fair bit. Here are some pictures.