July 30
Kíli learned a bit of a lesson today, and that lesson is: You cannot beat Uncle Bilbo in an eating contest!
Well, it was not quite an eating contest, though more one of endurance. It started because the older boys have somewhat slipped into Gimli's love of Marvel Comics, and so it got Kíli to asking if he might paint Howard The Duck on the side of the trailer. Of course, I said "no!", but he persisted. Eventually, he asked if there was any way to convince me, and I half-jokingly suggested that if he could keep a tablespoon of Sriracha in his mouth longer than I could, I'd let him paint it!
To my surprise, he took me up on it! Well, I couldn't back out then, so (witnessed by the others, of course), we both took our tablespoons full. And since, as a cook, I am used to spicy things (and because I have been greatly loving the Sriracha noodles lately), I outlasted him. And how! He could not take it nearly so long as I could, and he had to drink down a quart of milk after, and still he got the hiccups! Well, I got the hiccups, as well – but it was worth it, since I had won and there is to be no Howard The Duck on the side of the trailer. Though because he gave it such a valiant effort, I did compromise a bit, and told him that he could paint the name "Howard" on it.
But really, that is the kind of entertainment we have come down to in this place, because the heat index has been around 106-degrees, and I'd rather not have anyone get a really bad sunburn or heat stroke (or have a repeat of the Rocky incident – though I am not yet prepared to get rid of the rock). We're just not used to summers in the south, and I am so glad that we have an air conditioner in the trailer.
Most our indoor entertainment consists of reading, playing with Play-Doh, chess competitions (Gimli is getting really good at it!), and watching each other play video games. And since the older boys have been playing so much Skyrim on their old PS3 these days, and Frodo has become quite interested in it, every time he doesn't want to do something we tell him to do, he yells something like "Foos Row Duh!" at us. I'm not going to pretend to know what that means, but Fíli and Kíli assure me that it is not a swear-word.