Halloween

Sacagawea


Batman


We had a great Halloween season this year. As most of you know, Halloween is my favorite holiday so we start early and wear costumes as many times as we can.

Started with Cox Farm on what I thought would be the last warm day. It did get colder in the following week but then got warm again. Kate and Zack had a good time, but I think they would have had a better time if we had arranged to go with friends.

Two weekends ago we went to a friend's pumpkin carving party. Pete was very nice and scooped all the pumpkins and they had special little saws to cut the designs which made it very easy for them to carve on their own. Sadly, Zack's pumpkin went soft and fell apart late last week so we had to toss it out and get him a new one :-(

Boo at the Zoo was last Friday--in the pouring rain. I confess, I was cranky about going but the kids were set on it so off we went. We had a great time. Even Pete and I got trick or treat bags for braving the elements. I think it was much more fun in the rain this year than it was with fine weather last year. I was kind of bored last year.

Saturday our HS group had a party at one family's house. They were nice enough to do up their basement as a haunted house. Others brought crafts to do--goop and popcorn balls--another brought a bucket for apple bobbing and we all brought food. Kate, Zack and I made mummy dogs. Pigs in a blanket basically but wrapped up to look like mummies.

Katie's GS troop had a big party on Monday. Not an official Halloween party, the founder of GS was born on Halloween, but costumes were worn anyway and we made gourd spiders. (stick 8 pipe cleaners in the sides and glue on some googly eyes and you're done!

Today we watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!" and "Witch's Night Out," an ancient cartoon made back when Gilda Radner and Dan Aykroyd were still doing SNL. Unfortunately, it looks like that vid is about to go. It's very static-y.

Then we watched Ghost Hunters on the Sci Fi channel, had dinner and got into costumes.

It was my turn to walk the neighborhood with the kids and we headed out at 6:45pm too excited to wait any longer. Pete stayed home to hand out candy.

Katie and Zack had it by 8:30pm with full buckets and about $7 each in UNICEF collections. It was a great night.

Now it's time to hit the stores and stock up on more decorations for next year!

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Katie and Zack in the news!

A field trip we went on hit the news yesterday.

Check it out!

Knitting

Katie and I learned how to knit yesterday! We can cast on, knit and perle (not sure of that spelling). And no tears were shed--a major difference from the last time someone tried to teach me. Wow!


Katie practicing perling--it's hard!


Zack lounging on the new chair last night


I thought Katie looked adorable in her braids last night. Today her hair is all wavy.



xo

Likes

We decided one very nice day to head out to Annapolis. It was fun. Pete and I are lucky that the kids enjoy historic sites/cities as much as we do. I know some adults who have to drag their kids to places like Williamsburg. My kids ate it up. The historical building markers are color-coded and they got into trying to see at least one building in each color.


At one historic house's garden


A cicada just out of its shell


On a canon in front of the MD state house


Again at the garden

Katie wants to be a children's book illustrator/author because she loves to draw and she loves kids. She also still wants to be a veterinarian.

Zack still wants to be a scientist and loves all things Egypt.

These are great things. I'm finding it much easier to work in the science and Egypt than the art. There's a good art class Katie could take--several in fact--but it's another place to get her to and what do Zack and I do in the meantime?

I don't want them to do everything together anymore, now they are getting more sure of their likes and dislikes. The scheduling is tough though and it's a hard call on what to say yes and no to.

I'm sure parents with kids of different ages must go through this from the start and I've never envied it. But because I've never really had to deal with it, I'm clueless!

Sniffy

I have a cold in my nose and I'm cranky. Why I've chosen this moment to update the blog, I have no idea. I may re-think it before I hit the "publish" button.

The end of August was CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not here at home, but all around us stuff was going on with friends and family. Lots of phone calls, lots of listening, lots of thinking, praying, feelings too-- gratitude, worry, anger, sadness, shock, awe. The whole deal, you name it.

So, the curious among you are undoubtedly saying--what stuff? I understand. If nothing else, I am the ultimate in nosiness. However, these are other people's issues, circumstances and business and not mine (or maybe yours either) so I'll stick to my own reactions instead.

Some things I've noticed when issues come up

--many people seem surprised I discuss things that are upsetting me with Katie and Zack. Seems to me it would be much scarier for them to notice me on the phone all the time, having feelings about it and then having to imagine what's going on. They have very active imaginations, so I think they would really get going with no facts.

--how nonplussed they seem once I do fill them in

--they ask terrific questions that I know adults wonder but don't dare ask

It's September and that time of year I get asked a million times how "school" is going. I never know how to answer this question without begging more questions, or worse, opinions about what we're doing. The best I can come up with for folks I like is that we don't really do school and try to change the subject. The worst I come up with is "fine." Blech. Sounds too apathetic for words!

The answer is we are doing less school every year and learning more about learning every year too. It's trial and error around here folks. I now have two years of homeschooling to look back on and it's a mixed bag. Some things worked--not that I realized it while it was going on--some things didn't. No schedule and unschooling all the way didn't work for me. Going crazy about everything didn't work either. Having fun while working through a curriculum worked. Being on a loose schedule worked, field trips worked. Some park days, classes and projects worked some of the time. Some didn't. We remain a half-year "behind" in math, which makes sense since we started the curriculum halfway into the year. And yes, we're homeschooling this year. And yes, we might do it right up through highschool. We might not. We might be living in who-knows-where by then so it's a pretty silly question anyway.

In other news, there's this:




Katie showing off the rocket she made for Boy Scouts (honorary member)
Did you think she's wearing a Red Cross T shirt in this picture? Me too. But ofcourse you can plainly see it's a white cross. A T shirt Pete brought back from Switzerland.




The vehicle Zack made from many defunct vehicle Lego sets.
Wearing PJs in the middle of the day?! Yup. That's how it goes around here every now and again. More crazy, lazy homeschooler stuff.



Crossing the "lava" pit in a team-building activity.

Life is grand.

xo

The rest of the summer

Been traveling, visiting, taking classes and hanging around. The summer FLEW.

July brought:
Pete's birthday--we went to an unexpectedly expensive dinner at Fogo De Chao but it was incredibly fun and good.

Phil and Carrie's 25th Anniversary party--and a trip to LI with a side trip to see the Brooklyn Museum and Children's Museum.

Yoga class--for the family, included stories and we did the animal yoga moves to help tell the story.

Police Concert, the VaHomeschoolers Conference, camping and Busch Gardens and a trip to NC to see g'ma and g'pa--these ran one into the other, in not a great scheduling plan on my part. Got the tickets for the concert in Philadelphia and didn't realize I needed to be in Richmond the following day by 8am. After the conference we went camping for two nights and visited Busch Gardens during the day. I thought there would be more for Katie to do at Busch Gardens, since she doesn't ride roller coasters, but even the thrill rides were too much for her. For Zack, it turned out he was too short for most of the roller coasters. We'll wait a few years before trying that park again.

August (so far) had Pete's band recording, a trip to Atlanta for business for me, a trip to Zurich for Pete, NC for the kids and me, Tucson for me for business again, and a baseball game (the Mets beat the Nats--yay).

Somewhere in there we braved the heat and went to the Folklife Festival in DC.

Sadly, while we were in NC, the squirrels demolished the corn field :-(. Katie was quite upset. The corn had started to sprout and the stalks were at least 3' high. We'll try again next year but it was pretty disappointing.

Here are photos--not in order-


Phil, Carrie and the kids at the 25th party


Katie and Zack digging for fossils at the Folklife Festival in DC


Katie helping out at the puppet show at the VaHomeschoolers Conference


Pete taking the 90 degree drop on Busch Gardens' Griffon ride


Katie and Zack at Busch Gardens


Zack, Kate and a friend put on a show at the Brooklyn Children's Museum


It's been a busy summer. Still didn't get all that I wanted to accomplish done. The heat this year was incredible--good thing the president tells me there's no global warming or I'd be worried by the 105 degree heat wave.

Here's a try at putting a video link on this site--it should take you to YouTube

Here's a bit of Pete on the Griffon
bunnies and birds outside my room in Tucson
(Please note that I have pulled the video of Katie's recital--there were 21 views of the video and that seemed too public and uncontrolled for my taste.)
Off to get the house in order and plan our next adventures.

CORN!

The corn is growing! We can see the corn silk poking out from the shoots. I read that cayenne pepper will keep the squirrels away. We gave it a try on the pumpkins and the corn and so far it's working.

Pictures soon but this news was too exciting to wait.

Mostly pictures

So, another busy month with lots going on. Katie had a spectacular wipe-out at a BS bike rodeo. We got her right back on the bike and she's fine. Big scrapes on her knees and elbows--a sign of a good summer coming!

Katie and Zack both had sleepovers for their birthdays. They went fairly well and, aside from the lack of sleep for Pete and me, were pretty low maintenance.


The girl scout sing-along on 6/9. A good time but hot out. There were about 150,000 girl scouts at the event. Katie is wearing her "swap hat." The girls make little do-dads to trade with other troops and they pin them to their hats. She loves this and traded a lot. It's a nice way to meet girls. We met some from as far away as Hawaii!


The corn, zucchini and pumpkins continue to grow. This shot is a bit dated. The corn is a good 3' high now and the stalks with the pollen are up. On the advice of Ivanna, we shook them around to try to cross-pollenate and hopefully get some real corn.


Pete and Zack went on the B Scout camping trip. Here they are, looking sleepy.


Katie had her piano recital and played her song perfectly! She looks way too grown up lately. Her teacher is going off to college next year and we'll be sorry to lose her.


We were in NY for my grandmother's funeral. It went very well. A nice service and lunch afterwards. That night we saw my good friend from childhood, Allison, and her terrific family for a pizza dinner. The next day we were off to NYC. Spent one day at the Brooklyn Museum--check it out if you have the chance, it was great and shares a parking lot with the Botanic Garden. Sadly we had no time to check out the garden, but it's a good excuse to go back. We only had 5 minutes at the NY Transit Museum, also in Brooklyn, but it was enough time to run through the real antique subway cars. (Don't let the terrible Web site turn you off, it's a great museum for kids--lots of hands-on stuff to do.)

Spent the evening in my old neighborhood at Broome and Delancy in the City. We hit Economy Candy and I couldn't resist buying a pack each of the gum and candy cigarettes. Just too evil to pass up.

Next day we spent almost entirely at the American Museum of Natural History, which features a replica of "Dum Dum" from Night at the Museum. I'm sure that section of the museum is seeing more visitors than in it's entire history.

There was also the BS Raingutter Regata right before we went to NY. Katie won first prize in the sibling race.

I got a cap on my cracked tooth-ouch and tonight Pete's band has a big gig in DC--come!

Recent events

Lots going on, so much so that I don't really have time to write things up here. SO--lists--

I was working all through May right up until the kids' birthday. While doing that:
--the kids finished up their world music class
--the kids finished up a science class
--they did more astronaut training
--Zack went camping with Pete and the Boy Scouts
--Pete went to Huntsville AL for two days
--Pete went some other place for two days
--Pete went to Salt Lake City for 5 days
--we all met in NC to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary

--the whole family went to see my nanny and say goodbye (you can see more about her here)
--a week later nanny died
--Pete went yet somewhere else for two days
--I went to Dallas for work for 5 days
--I cracked a tooth in Dallas
--we celebrated the kids' birthday with the family
--I got things ready for the end of Brownies
--Zack bridged to Webelo Scout
--Katie flew up to Junior GS
--Pete had a show with the band
--Katie and I went camping with the Girl Scouts
--Somewhere in there Piano lessons went on, Zack moved up to Blue belt in TKD, I moved up to green stripe belt in TKD, we covered 2/3s of the times tables, they learned to read cursive.

Next week is the BS bike rodeo, the Girl Scout Sing Along (why not join us if you are or ever were a GS?) and Zack has a sleepover. At some point Katie is having a sleepover and a recital, we have a trip to LI for Nanny's memorial, Pete goes to Cincinnatti and I need to get a crown on my tooth.

So, a typical month.

Here's some snaps:


Zack getting BS awards


Katie camping



Zack bridging to Webelos


Katie and a friend bridging to Juniors

Children of the Corn?

Just planted our cornfield and zucchinis, pumpkins and carrots. We can't tell the difference btw the zuks and the pumpkins though, so not sure how many we will get.

We have a LOT of corn planted. It's a bit late for the seedlings, which really should have been moved last week, but it was still freezing and the wind was incredible, so we needed to wait until we got back from NC.

Tuesday we went on a field trip to Shirley Plantation. It was a fine trip and, since I paid for it so long ago, it seemed practically free. We learned a bit about portrait painting and then had a chance to try some watercolors. Usually they talk about children learning to sketch and paint nature as part of their education, but it was way too windy to try outside.

After the painting, we headed to the tool shed to try out some period games like pick up sticks, marbles and jacks. Then it was off to the main house for a tour. The same family has owned the plantation since the beginning and they still live on the second and third floors.

They gave us a treasure hunt map when we were through so we could learn a bit more about the other buildings around the plantation. It was windy and chilly, but a good time.

We ate lunch in the car and then--off to g'ma and g'pas house for a quick visit. That day, nanny went back into the hospital and it looks like she has taken another turn for the worse. I talked to the kids about it and we all went to see her at the hospital which cheered her up quite a bit. I also printed out some photos and Katie made a card to brighten up the room a bit. I don't think she's very aware of it, but it sets a nice energy there anyway and let's the nurses know a bit more about her.

We spent some time on the beach, but it was still pretty chilly. Didn't warm up until Friday afternoon really.

Katie spent time remembering how to ride her bike and Zack set up all his cowboys, soldiers and police officers on the porch table. I worked and it was nice to have the kids occupied.

It was nice to have some sun--even if it was chilly--and a chance to visit. We'll be back in a couple of weeks for my folk's 50 wedding anniversary, but that will be pretty hectic.

Today is sunny and summery. A good day to get our hands in the dirt and plant those veggies.

The garden

A quick progress report on the vegetable garden:


Here they are our first day 4/1


And sprouting today 4/8

Wow!

Katie is sick with a fever today :-( but wasn't feeling badly until around lunch time so she was able to enjoy her Easter basket and egg hunt. I knew it was time to take it seriously when she didn't want to finish dessert!

Zack, after another bout of stomach flu on Saturday night, is feeling much better. And in another act of prize-winning mothering, a few minutes ago I realized that he'd been in the tub for about an hour and not yet tucked in bed. His hands and feet were very pruney but he seems to have survived the great soak.

Spent the weekend loafing around. Now I have to figure out what to do with my Brownie's tomorrow...

Uh, what was that about the sun....

OK, so mother nature has other plans and we're now expecting about 2 inches of snow tonight.

In the meantime, there was a break in the blustery weather on Wednesday night and we ran in to check out the cherry blossoms. As usual, I forgot my camera and had to settle for the cell phone.

In other news, Katie and Zack spend almost every afternoon playing the the kids down the street.

Katie recently asked me why they have schools if everyone (meaning her school friends) hates going so much. I tried to be tactful in my response.

Easter is almost here and I've been informed that the Easter Bunny ALWAYS leaves cool stuff in the egg hunt eggs.

We started a vegetable garden and are very glad we planted in seedling starters housed in the living room instead of outside in the impending freeze. We are hoping for a crop of corn, zucchini, pumpkins and carrots.

We'll keep you posted on our progress.

The Return of the Sun

And now I creep back out of my cocoon and join the world. Mid-Feb to mid-March is always hard for me. Too dark and cold out, no holidays and not many activities to join in on.

Plus, it's the time I order the CAT test for the end of the year and I start getting twitchy about whether we've covered everything we "should" have. This year, my obsession is the division I didn't know would be on the test and which our math curriculum doesn't cover until 4th grade. I'm sure it will all work out.

What's been going on?

Katie
--badge ceremony at Brownies, she now has nice new additions to her vest.
--Looking forward to the Girl Scout camping trip.
--Made a pancake breakfast for mom and Zack "all by herself."


Zack
--got his Bear badge in time for the Blue and Gold banquet.
--looking forward to camping with the Boy Scouts and dad.


Me
--working again
--made a last-minute trip to Dallas to check out a hotel, got stuck there for an extra two days because of snow in the northeast. Why my colleague, who was going back to a foot of snow in Boston, got home 24 hrs ahead of me, who was traveling to an airport that never closed and no snow, is still a mystery.
--came up with the Brownie badge ceremony
--NOT looking forward to the Girl Scout camping trip.
--helping out with the VA Homeschoolers Conference coming in July.

Pete
--Working
--a trip to Salt Lake City again for a week

The kids have also been taking a music class with our Friday group. I find the teacher a little glum and talky, but the kids have liked it.

While I was in Dallas, they got their green-strip belts in Tae Kwon Do and are now a belt ahead of me. We all went to see the black belt test, which was grueling! Zack still can't wait to get to that though.

We've started multiplication in our math curriculum and they really like it--but don't ask them, they'll never admit it!

We've been on a few outings now that the weather has cleared up. The kids and Pete went to a model railroad show with the Boy Scouts. We went out to Shenandoah Caverns. Kate and Zack had never been in a cave and Kate was a bit nervous about it, but they had a great time. The site also has a display of parade floats, which are much bigger in-person than on TV!



I remembered late one morning that I'd signed us up for Geomania at National Geographic and we had to scramble to get dressed and into DC. We ended up missing about 1/4 of the program but did get to learn about longitude and latitude, a bit about what Columbus was really looking for and more about maps. It was great to go to the Nat Geo building too. There's a free museum that we will return to when we have more time.

We'll be starting an Occupational Therapy program called Astronaut Training. Originally this was just for Zack but when we got talking about Katie's reversals of numbers and letters and difficulty with left and right, she said to try it with her too. The program is designed to be done with two anyway, so Katie will step in a Zack's partner instead of me.

And now April is here.

Katie wants to start a vegetable garden and picked out carrots, Zucchini (at my urging), corn (really?!) and peppers. We also have a lot of flower seeds. I bought us some seedling starters this time. Last year, the squirrels just followed us down the rows, digging up all the seeds. Hopefully, if we can start them indoors, we'll get a better crop.

Last night we went to a triple feature at a drive-in in MD. All the movies were kid-friendly, so we decided to stay up (very) late and see them all. We saw Bridge to Terabithia and all cried big tears at the end; cheered up with the very funny Meet the Robinsons; and held our eyes open for The Astronaut Farmer--which I thought didn't come off as well as I'd hoped. It was fine, but I thought they could have done a lot more with the idea. All this for $16--plus another $10 for food but still a good value and a DRIVE-IN!

I've been shedding lots of extra stuff through freecycle and setting stuff aside for the upcoming BS yard sale. The house still seems over-full.

The bulbs the kids and I actually remembered to plant in the fall are starting to pop up. The weather is warming and the air smells fresh. That, plus the early daylight savings, has improved my mood considerably.

Hope the signs of spring are brightening up your days too.

Go Speed Racer

It was the pinewood derby yesterday and Zack came in first in his Den and second overall! He was very proud. He gets a medal, patch and will also compete in the big race (many local Scout Packs) next Saturday.

Here he is after putting his car up on the track and then posing with his winning car "The Snake." They're from my cell phone, so not great, but you'll get the idea.

San Francisco

The trip started with a harrowing 4:30am ride to the airport in an ice storm. Upon arriving at the airport, we were informed that it had just closed down. That began an 11 hour wait for our flight to get off the ground.

Kate and Zack were troopers and kept themselves occupied around the empty sections of the terminal and doing some activities I brought to occupy them on the 6-hour flight. By the time we took off, my bag of tricks was empty so I just let them spend the flight watching TV--a plus about flying on Jet Blue.

So, we lost a day to the weather in VA, but got into the hotel and to bed to start fresh the next day, which we began on Alcatraz. I was wiped that morning so skipped the view from the ferry to grab a few more minutes of sleep and let the advil work on my pounding head and aching back. It worked! I was able to enjoy the gorgeous weather and the tour. Alcatraz was Zack's favorite part of the trip. The audio tour is great.


That night, we learned the news about Steve and took much of the evening pulling ourselves together while Katie and Zack slept. We took it easy the following day, trying to have a good time but not do too much.

Other places/sites seen on the trip, in no particular order since I can't remember:
Fisherman's Wharf--good chowder, wacky stores and the Bay. Also, a nice walk to Ghiradelli Square where the kids split a banana split and Pete and I had treats too. Yum.

A day taking a walking tour of Chinatown, Pete and I had never spent so much time down there and discovered the Asian Pacific Heritage museum, which used to a a US mint and was the only building the in vicinity to survive the 1906 earthquake/fire. We also went to the Golden Gate fortune cookie factory to see close up how those fortunes get into cookies.


Grace Cathedral, where we walked the labyrinth and got to see the organ player practice. We learned to our great disappointment that you can no longer ride the outdoor elevator to the top of the Fairmont :-( but we did get to chat with their harpist, who played several Disney tunes for Katie and Zack. Katie would now like to learn the harp in addition to the piano.

My birthday was spent in Berkeley in very mild weather. We walked around the campus and with no expectation of being able to get in, went to the carillon. Pete and I have been to this tower at least three time and it has never been open, but this time--yes! It was windy at the top but a great view and a look at the bells and clockworks too. We took a bus ride up the hilly roads to visit the Lawrence Hall of Science--free with our current science museum membership-nice. The afternoon was spent window shopping, which surprisingly, the kids enjoyed. We also ate at Pete's and my favorite place with giant sandwiches and salads.


We spent some time at the Metreon, playing the virtual kicking game in the halls, checking out the gaming store and the PlayStation store, where you can play the games in ten minute sessions.


We took many cable car rides--one to the cable car museum, where you can see the actual cables turning under the street! We also got good use out of our Muni passes, which covered the cable cars, and the buses and trains (except the BART train to Berkeley).

We went to the Golden Gate bridge, but I thought it was way too windy that day to walk across, so we investigated the base of the bridge a bit.

We went to the Cliff House and put our feet in the Pacific Ocean-a first for Zack and Kate and her favorite activity. I found the trash-canless littered (with trash and dog poo-yuck) beach a downer, but we all enjoyed the Sutro baths which are only ruins. They look ancient but are really only from the remnants of a fire in the 60s. OK, kind of ancient but not in the way we originally thought ;-)


We went to the Levi's welcome center which was interesting and they had a fountain outside that you could walk through which we all enjoyed.

The Exploratorium is the best Science museum ever. You can touch everything and we practically did touch everything. It's right next to the Palace of Fine Arts in the Presidio and again, the weather was great and we took our time perusing the Palace and the museum. Again, we were able to use our scince membership for free tickets--wow, that has paid for itself ten times over.

A trip to Golden Gate Park was poorly planned. We stopped at a playground where a local kindergarten was having an outing and the kids got to play with everyone, which they needed. The goal of getting to the Japanese tea garden should have been dropped. Too much walking and we got there too late. We were starving and there wasn't anywhere around to eat. That may have been the day we ended up at a Chinese bakery for lunch, which was quite a find. Fresh, hot out of the oven sponge cake was worth the trip.

The last day was the coldest but still mild and we decided to splurge on the Aquarium of the Bay, where you move through the fish tank and they swim all around you. They took our FONZ membership but it was still pricey. Then we really splurged on Ripley Believe or Not, a wax museum. I am crazy about wax museums, a guilty pleasure, and Zack had wanted to go ever since seeing it on our first day. VERY pricey but a good time and we had skipped splurging for most of the trip.

Dinners were the constant challenge. We skipped the meal on several nights. The only night that really worked out was Friday night. We made plans to meet with our friend Marion and her suggestion worked out great and it was terrific to see her too. But all the other nights ran too late for the kids and were pretty underwhelming. No biggie.

All in all a great trip and all of us want to go back again soon (or, win the lottery and move there!)

Back home again to math, music, Tae Kwon Do, piano, scouts and all the rest and as the snow melts is that a hint of spring in the air already?