Fresh pavement is perfect for chalk drawings.
Racing.
A joke for passersby.
I’m sure the walkers out today will be entertained. :-)
Lex and I got some good exercise this morning. I went our for an hour run/walk and he joined me on his bike. It was awesome!
Happiness is.
We went back-to-school shopping at Staples yesterday and now Lex is super excited to go back to school! He walked around all day today saying he wished he was back in school. This evening we counted the days on the calendar (17!) and he said, “Awww…. I wish it was tomorrow.” Silly boy.
A very excited boy. He made a cover sheet for his take home folder and tucked all of his new supplies into his pencil box. He has two pair of scissors, one to share, and two glue sticks, “Just in case one runs out.” There’s something exciting about new office supplies!
As we cuddled in bed tonight I reminded him of his summer homework assignment, the one thing that has been a bit of a damper on his back-to-school excitement. We discussed the assignment, which is just to read a book and fill in some questions about the components of the story. Person, location, problem, etc. He’s already read the book (technically heard it on Audible) so we discussed each part. He said, “Oh, yeah, I did this in 2nd grade!” I think once he realized what the assignment was he got a lot more relaxed. His plan for tomorrow is to do the assignment and then read the book. I said he probably doesn’t have to bother reading it since he heard the audio book, but he reminded me the assignment specifically says to read it, not have it read to you. It’s a Beverly Clearly book, so I think he’ll be done with it by tomorrow evening. :)
Seventeen more days! Only ten more days until I’m back in a classroom full time! Eek!
The kids both wanted to ride in the shopping cart at BJs yesterday. They were so funny and so cute together.
August 2013
It reminded me of a picture I took many years ago when they first introduced double seats in the BJs carts. A lot has has changed since then! The kids are bigger, they no longer fit in the seats up front, and the phone photo quality is much better. Back then I used to have room for the actual groceries as well! :)
July 2009
Hahaha… I just clicked the “Then and Now” tag to see other posts I’ve tagged that way. There’s just one. Basically this exact same post last year! Whose the silly one now?! :)
It took me awhile, but I finally got this movie working properly and up to YouTube. This is a bunch of pictures I took in Franklin in June, overlaid on Lex’s first Garage Band song, called “Summer Vacation.” Enjoy!
It moves fast, not exactly a laid back summer vacation feel, and it’s not perfect, but we’re learning. :)
Saturday night Lex went to bed with a plan for Sunday. He wanted to build a DNA strand (or many, as he tends to do) out of clay. He woke up Sunday with the additional plan to build a set of simple machines. I called the day Science Sunday.
He got started with the DNA strand, knowing that it would take time to dry before painting.
DNA in clay
While the clay dried, he went to work on building his simple machines – a lever, a pulley, a inclined plane, and a wheel and axle. I asked what he planned to do with them and he thought maybe he’d start a science store. Ambitious.
Lex is hard at work, making an inclined plane at 7am.
All smiles! Proud little guy.
I went out for a run (ha! a walk, really) and came home to find him writing a book about DNA. Eve was writing a book called “The Day of Dogs.” They were both hard at work!
[I’ll take a picture of the book later. It’s pretty cool.]
Our neighbor came over a bit later and distracted them from their work, then another neighbor came over and that was the end of Science Sunday. Later Lex tried to paint his DNA model, but it fell apart and he got frustrated so he grabbed the iPad and gave himself some quiet times…
Which leads me to my latest musings on technology. It’s really hard to balance how much is good or too much. I feel like they’ve had a lot of media lately, but for the most part it’s all educational. Starfall, Garageband (educational?), What Ifs, etc. He had a lot of information in his head about DNA from a BrainPop video he watched. When he started asking me questions about DNA I debated about whether or not to grab a computer and do some researching with him. Educational, yes, but still screen time and still very easy to get lost in the computer.
This morning he decided to work on his Mindcuber program (reprogramming it to “solve” the cube in a checkerboard pattern) and he spent the entire morning working on it. He was thinking hard, I’m sure, but still he sat in front of a computer for hours. I finally had him turn it off at lunch time and come outside for awhile. He didn’t object, much, but after lunch when he went back to work on his DNA project he asked about watching the BrainPop video again and I was again torn between education and screen time.
This afternoon he decided he wants to create a weekly science show. Each week will be a different theme. He even made up a science calendar as an addition to the show.
I suggested he just use the penguin one, but he preferred to make a science one instead.
He started with January. :)
We spent the evening discussing logistics of a weekly vlog (video blog). He wants to do a puppet show with a host and a different guest each week. This week the guest is Mrs. DNA. More on that later.
Sounds cool, right? It also sounds like he’ll be spending all of his time on the computer! Oh, the balance. If he was just asking to play Mine Craft or Angry Birds all day long it would be an easy no, but these requests are harder.
Life with a smart boy!
Stay tuned for Lex to launch his own blog and/or YouTube channel. I’ll keep ya posted.
Me: “Eve, do you know what our plans are for tomorrow?”
Eve: “What?”
Me: “Nothing!”
Eve: “Aww, dang!”
Lex, yelling from the other room: “Woo hoo!!”
That about sums up my children. :)
A few weeks ago Lex and I came across building plans for his Lego Mindstorm. New plans, different than the original three that came with the set. Lex perused the options and decided to try one called MindCuber that, in theory, could solve a Rubik’s Cube. This seemed exciting and somewhat impossible to both of us.
We have all, as a family, been working on this project for weeks now. Lex built the MindCuber, following the given instructions, and then I tried to help him download the program to the NXT box. Unfortunately I ran into complications and we had to wait for our tech support (ie: Alan!) to come home. Finally the program was on the box and we gave it a shot. No good. It was wobbly and didn’t work at all. We talked about troubleshooting steps and tightening up the connections, but Lex decided to rebuild instead.
On the second build the MindCuber successfully scanned the cube and came up with a plan to solve it, but each time it started solving it would jam. We were so excited that it successfully scanned and then enormously disappointed when it jammed over and over. This has been a roller coaster ride. :)
Fortunately the MindCuber developer has a helpful website and offers free support on his Facebook page. We read other people’s posts, did some troubleshooting of our own, bought a new cube, ran the problem by the developer, followed up with his feedback, lubricated the cube, adjusted the tension… all over the course of a few weeks. Lex even made his first iMovie with clips of the MindCuber not working so we could send it to the developer for troubleshooting. So many lessons in this experience!
Today… it worked!! We were all super excited to see the MindCuber solve our Rubik’s Cube. Now you can marvel with us as well.
Our neighbor was over and as soon as it solved the cube once he said, “Great, now let’s take it apart and make something else.” Lex and I both said “Noooo!!!!” We worked so hard on it. We need to enjoy it for awhile. :)
After dinner Lex decided to try writing a program that would “solve” in the Rubik’s cube into a checker board pattern instead of the usual way of solving it. He went right to work. Stay tuned.
At our CSA farm this week Eve was picking flowers, I was picking purple beans, and Lex was a field away picking blueberries. Then Even said to herself, “There’s nothing I like better than being surrounded by a beautiful garden, picking flowers with butterflies all around me.” How sweet is that?! I liked it most because she was just talking to herself and enjoying the moment.
Meanwhile Lex was eating his weight in fantastically delicious blueberries.
Happiness is.
We took our annual trip to the Atlantic yesterday. The day started off a little rocky with Lex protesting life in general, the men bummed about having to work, and me in a general funk. But we rallied, got ourselves to the ocean (except the poor men who had to go to work) and had a great time! We went back to Wallis Sands Beach again, but this time it was super crowded! More so than I’ve seen it before. The tide was low when we got there and there were people everywhere! We found a small spot in the sand to stake our claim.
Riding in the car must be hard work. The first thing they wanted to do when we got to the beach was lay down. I think they were hot and hungry!
The cranky pants appeared again, briefly, but I was able to get them both in swim suits and suncreen. Then a little food in their bellies and off we went to the water!
Let’s swim!
Everyone was happy once we hit the chilly salt water. You can’t not be happy in the ocean! :)
We played in the waves until our legs were numb. Some lady nearby said the water was quite warm today. I guess she’s right, if you compare it to the Atlantic in April! Back to the blanket to warm up and have a little more food.
Lunch time. She looks tired already.
Obviously something (everything!) on the beach was more interesting than mom with her camera.
Lex in. Eve out.
This is where they parted and we ended up in two groups for the rest of the afternoon. Eve on the beach, Lex in the water. Then Lex out for a break and Eve in the water. This is something only possible when there are two adults and two kids. :)
Eve on the beach, digging a hole.
Lex and Mema in the water.
The salt water was good for her curls. :)
Silly boy
Jump!
Splash!
We regrouped at the end when everyone was worn out. The kids said they didn’t want to leave *just yet* so we had dinner at the picnic table.
A little food before heading home.
Then back in the car for a few hours of Henry Huggins on Audible. Silence from the backseat. :) Everyone slept well last night!
This weekend I went on a much-needed vacation with Rosy. We rented a place on Lake George and enjoyed a weekend of wine and water. She had the brilliant idea of a hike (seriously, not sarcastically) that ended up being quite a climb!
It started like this…
… then like this …
… and like this …
… but it ended like this!
Happy hikers!
It was a beautiful view and a beautiful day!
I love all the islands in Lake George.
It was a 3.3 mile hike UP with 2000′ ascension. Then, of course, 3.3 miles back down, but that was the easy part.
After our hike and some rest time back at the motel, we gussied up (kidding, of course!) and headed out for a dinner cruise on the great Adirondac.
The Adirondac
The Adirondac up close. We were joking because the life jackets are all up high on the ceiling on the lower deck. First things first, make friends with a tall person!
We had a great buffet dinner with summer veggies, eggplant parm, potatoes, salad, etc. Delicious. Then we headed to the top deck to enjoy the view.
There’s our motel!
We are pretty sure that high peak in the middle is where we climbed.
Tents on the island. The islands are all public parks, so people leave their cars somewhere and boat over to their campsites.
It was a beautiful sunset for a beautiful day.
The cruise lasted two hours. It was fun to leave in the daylight and return after dark. Someone turned on the party while we were away and we returned to bright lights, loud music, and a real party atmosphere. Rosy and I are such wild ones that we got some ice cream then headed back to the hotel for a movie and frosty bevs. :)
Sunday was an overcast day, which fit well with our plans for shopping. We checked out of our hotel and spent the day at the Outlet stores, looking for back-to-work clothes for me! I haven’t needed that sort of thing in awhile.
Both mornings I had breakfast in the sunshine, sitting in a (fake) Adirondack chair, facing the lake. Gentle sounds of lapping water. Cool breeze. Just what I needed!
Of course, like any job, when you go away for a few days the “work” just piles up behind. The family was happy to see me last night, but today I got the full force of my absence with not one, but four giant fights! Two from each of them. Sigh. I’m about ready for another vacation!