E.M.A. Monday

It is hard to believe that Will starts school next week -- August 5th! Yes, that's early, but his school is switching to a 10-month extended calendar. Though he is a bit irritated that he is starting three weeks before his siblings (and most of his friends), I know he will enjoy the extra time off throughout the school year. He will still get two weeks off at Christmas, but he will also get a week off in October, November, February, and March, and April has an extra four day weekend, I think, too. 

 

Like the last couple years, I decided Early Morning Adventures (aka: EMA) would be the most fun way of getting the kids ready for an early bedtime and wake-up time. At breakfast, the kids asked for a hint about what we'd be doing. I told them, "First we are going on a mini-hike, then we'll go where love means nothing." They pressed for more info, and I added, "You can make quite a racket." We were dressed, fed, ready for the day, and buckled in the car seats by 7:30 this morning. THEN, I told the kids about today's adventures.

Our first stop was a local park with lots of trails. Each kiddo had a baggie with a list on it of what they needed to find: three sticks that are the same size, three different types of leaves, something with texture, something awesome, and a seed or seed pod.

(We might use those for a few crafts I have in mind for later this week if we need to fill time.) It didn't take too long to find what we needed, then it was time to head over a few blocks for the next part of our Monday Adventure: tennis lessons!

Just about the time we pulled into the parking lot for the tennis and swim center, Will rolled his eyes and claimed, "Mom! I get it... but that's an awful joke." (referring to my hints at breakfast time.) The kids were split into groups. Maddie was in a group with two other little girls about her age. Jon and Ben were with two other boys, and Will's group was five kids around age 9.

All four kids REALLY enjoyed the tennis lessons, and they've all asked me to look into classes that are on-going. After getting really sweaty, the kids got to swim. Will braved the high-dive, and Jon tried to -- a life guard stopped him and made him swim back and forth across the pool to check his swimming abilities. In the end, the lifeguard asked Jon to wait until another time when his swimming and breath-holding skills were a bit better. Jon took it well and just kept going off the lower diving board. Jon and Will spent most of their time at the deep end (10-feet or more). Maddie and Ben preferred the fountains and shallow end, but Ben did get a few jumps off the diving board in before hanging out with his sister.

The morning ended with meals from the snack bar (all part of the class "deal" I purchased.) Then we headed home for some quiet time. The kids had a blast today, and they are already asking about tomorrow!

Just readin'

A lazy summer morning...
Getting lost in a great book...
Definitely MY kiddo!

Picking Berries

The last several years -- 4, I think -- our family has picked blueberries on Father's Day weekend. For a couple years, we went on Sunday morning, but when we started going to church regularly, we switched to Saturday morning. Our normal routine was to get up while it was still dark, eat breakfast sandwiches in the car, and get to the blueberry farm right at 7:00 am as the sun was rising and the gates of the farm opened. That was usually the only cool time of the day, and it was nice that the crowd was thin that early in the day.

 

This year, the kids were at Gramma and Granddad's on Father's Day weekend. Allen and I spent that Saturday working on the neighborhood clean-up project, then we spent Sunday driving to Houston for my trip to Uganda. The weekend before that, we thought our only blueberry-time would be at the festival in Nacogdoches. About two days ago, I got an email from the blueberry farm that the berries were ripe and great for picking (10 on a scale of 1-10!). Additionally, the highs for today were supposed to be mid-80s. For ANY part of an East Texas summer, that is cool. For the end of July, it is almost unheard of.

 

We woke the kids up early, but not as early as usually for blueberry picking. They grumbled, but when they saw the adventure hats were being packed, they perked up a bit. Once they heard we were getting blueberries, they moved quite quickly. We got to the farm around 9:00 am, and enjoyed a couple hours of great picking on a cool day -- it got up to about 80-degrees about the time we were ready to leave.

The kiddos ate just about 100% of what they picked, so we didn't leave with as many as we usually do. Oh well... we all had fun! The boys (little AND big) spent quite a bit of time practicing for the circus acts -- tossing blueberries high, catching them in their mouths (or hitting them on the head... or hitting someone else on the nose...)

We all had our traditional second breakfast of blueberry frozen yogurt and the most amazing blueberry muffins I've ever had. Mmmm....

It wasn't Father's Day weekend, but I'm really glad we got to do our blueberry picking!

A Museum Trip with Nana

 Last night, the kids and I headed up to Nana's and Papa's for a couple days. Shelley and Randy are part of Rotary Club, and since their group helped raise money for shoes for the Ugandan kids, I came to give a presentations about my trip, show them pictures, and tell them stories of how they helped. The presentation went well, and, since Shelley had taken the day off, she and I took the kids to the Perot Museum in Dallas. I was excited that they let us all in for free because of the museum membership we have back home, but I did pay a little extra so we could do the Recycled Reef special exhibit.

 

I didn't really know what to expect, but I had heard only great things about the museum. I knew it was a hands-on science museum, and, because of that, I was certain the kids would like it. Since we went without prepurchasing tickets (that was the only way to use our other membership benefits), we had a bit of a wait before we could actually get in to the exhibit area. We arrived at the museum at 11:10, and could get in at noon, so that left a perfect amount of time to have lunch at the cafe. Unlike most museum cafes, this one had good food. Shelley and I had big, fresh salads and the kids had kid-meals that came with fresh fruit and milk.

 

I can't say it all went well. The Rotary meeting was really early, the kids had been up late the night before, and the combination left them pretty cranky. The museum was too crowded, and I was frustrated that the kids kept pushing buttons on all the displays -- not to read or learn, but for the sake of pushing buttons, as if they were playing video games. The museum is definitely a modern museum, as almost all the information was on touch-screens. Unfortunately, that means that you can't really read over shoulders, and it was just too crowded for a claustrophobic person to enjoy it. After a bunch of contagious crankiness, we changed the pace and headed for the Recycled Reef.

The Reef is really a big room full of trash. Really. But when they add special blue lights and the sound of bubbles underwater, it looks sort of magical. We could almost believe we were underwater ... but dry. After walking through the reef that was created by anyone who wanted to participate, we headed for the craft room to make some fish to add to the dynamic exhibit. We started with... well... trash. The kids gathered large pieces of cardboard and started sketching what they planned to make. Nana did a great job helping the kids cut cardboard and tear masking tape, while I was in my own little world.

When we finished our creations, we searched for the perfect spots in the Reef exhibit to place them. I think it is pretty cool that we all created artwork worthy of a museum exhibit :). That was JUST what our crew needed. After the "down time" of being creative, rather than just being in learning-mode, we were ready for about another hour of exhibits. We left in time to get home for dinner.

Allen later asked what I thought of the museum, and I explained I had mixed feelings. I was struggling to separate the crankiness and crowdedness out of the experience -- they really did put such a damper on the day. I hope we can return sometime when it isn't so crowded, but I understand that may be a challenge. Going back with rested children CAN be on the to-do list, though. Giving my opinion can wait until we try again...

Early Sunday Scene

The sure sign of summertime is the clothesline on the back porch heavy with towels and swimsuits. This oak table is sagging a bit in the middle and is scratched and scuffed after five generations in my family, the seats of the vinyl chairs have split.The kid-drawn picture on the wall is coming down, and the photocopied bird prints are curling at the edges. The lemon trees have left the floor sticky and the paint is peeling on the windowsill. The windows are marked with layers of dog-nose smudges and kid-sized muddy prints. It isn't a perfect picture, but my favorite pictures are often the candid shots that capture our normal life. This is a normal life picture.

 

Nearly every Sunday morning, we get up to go to early church service. This particular day, we decided to go to the later service because we slept a bit late, and I wanted to have some chill-out time before sharing a slide show of Uganda with my Sunday school class. The first ones to the breakfast table get first pick of the Sunday paper sections. Allen has the front section. Jon as the comics. Coffee is on the table, and since they are both just reading, breakfast is over and we are ahead of schedule. I love the slow Sunday mornings -- to not feel rushed, to sit and sip my coffee slowly while the sun shines through the windows.

Great Wolf Weekend

To celebrate Nana's birthday, Papa and Nana took the family to Great Wolf Lodge for a couple days. All three generations of children enjoyed splashing, sliding, swimming, and hanging out together.

 

There was still a bunch to do even if we weren't getting wet. Nana got the kids a "magic wand" that interacts with the decor around the lodge. The kids chose quests to go on, then they followed clues all over the hotel, up and down lots and lots of stairs, to do a scavenger hunt. Though they all enjoyed it, Jon and Will gave up swim time to keep going with the wand.

The last evening, the kids went to hear the bedtime stories and got to pose with one of the mascots.

PS - We really did have a great time, but I didn't get many good pictures -- partly because I didn't like having my camera out around all the water, partly because when I did have it out, the lens fogged over and the pictures were hazy.

Annual Family Snapshots

Another of our crazy traditions is to take a Fourth of July family picture every year... in the same pose. The last two years, we ended up at Allen's parents' the weekend of the 4th, rather than ON the 4th, but... it's close enough... and we still can put on our red, white, and blue.

And each year, the kids pose without parents for a nice picture...

... and a silly one most years.

And in just in case you like comparing the years (I DO!), here are the collages. In each of the family pictures, Jon is on my lap, Maddie is on Allen's, Will is front and center, and Ben stands in the middle back. As he gets taller, I suspect we will need to have him kneel to keep our photos well-composed. I'm guessing Jon will be okay sitting on me for another three or four years, but then we'll have to adjust.

In the kid pics, from left to right, are Jon, Ben, Will, and Maddie.