score!

Lookee what we found whilst on our morning walk -- a really cool chess/checkers table that one of our neighbors put on the curb. Look at the excitement on the boys' faces. If only they weren't with me when I came across it, I could have saved it for a gift!






Better still, one of the drawers was full of these carved wooden chess pieces. It took a concerted effort to get them to not set up a game right in the middle of the road. The boys rolled up their sleeves and helped me tote our heavy (and I mean HEAVY) find home.





And this is how they spent the morning. The table (and even more so the drawers) needs a bit of clean-up before I'll allow it in the house, but that didn't stop them from sitting down to a couple rounds of Chess. They seem to actually know what they are doing, although I didn't sit down and monitor them to know for sure. But what bits of conversation I heard made sense, and the game seemed to be progressing in the normal manner. My Dad showed them how each piece can move and explained the basic rules to them at some point, and apparently they retained it all. And Zoo Boy in particular seems to have a knack for picking up these sorts of games.

So much for getting any actual school work done this morning. But hey, when you discover treasure, it's pretty much mandatory that you abandon all your plans to enjoy it!