Field Trips

In a few weeks we have our Family Fun Run, or Run Run as Caroline dubs it.  It's our annual 1K of exercise.  In years past, I have always done a horrible job at the running part, so I thought we should be proactive this year and practice.  Mainly, I wanted the kids to practice staying with me, the slowest of the bunch.  The idea was to make a small loop in our neighborhood.  Two blocks into the slow jog (that I was crushing by the way) Caroline said her stomach hurt.  A block later and Josiah was sitting on the ground with cramps.  The entire loop I had to walk slowly with them, earnestly encouraging them to walk.  I don't know how they can run around the house all day and run all around in the front yard, but not make it two blocks in the neighborhood.  So, now we're going to step up our training so that we're not all pathetic.  Henry was the only one who did well.  It's all that football training he puts himself through.

Henry has been wanting to toss the football a lot more.  Todd taught him how to spiral the ball when he throws it, and Henry's been getting a lot better at that.  I have no idea how to spiral the ball, but every now and then my throws spiral and I get really excited.  However, I have no idea how to replicate it.  Henry puts up with me, though, and I really enjoy tossing it with him.  This weekend, he kept drawing complicated plays on his shirt, telling me he was going to run right, then left, in front of the tree, behind it, then zig-zag again.  I kept saying, "Okay, I throw it when you turn around?"  Got it. That's all I need to know.

We had a couple of field trips this week.  The first was to a play of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.  Another mom told me about it, but there were only four tickets left, so this mom graciously took our boys in to see it along with her son.  Josiah really enjoyed it.  Henry said it was good, but he liked the play we saw in the fall better.  Caroline and I had a good time waiting outside the theater.  We sat and she ate while I read a new book for her school.  We walked around the building and watched the MetroRail pass by.  She danced on a big bench.  She ran across the big bench while I filmed it in slow motion.  She had a good time with that.

The big bench.

After the play, we went out to eat at my favorite restaurant ever.  McDonald's.  I did get to talk to the other mom for a couple of hours about homeschooling - it's always nice to compare notes and see what others do.  While we talked, the kids played in the McDonald's Play Place, which ranks up there as my favorite place for them to play.  When we were driving home, Caroline enthusiastically said, "I want to do that again!"  "Go to the theater?"  I asked.  "No, go to McDonald's."  Sigh.
Henry and Caroline both fell asleep on the drive home.  After that everyone got a nice bath.

The next day we went on a field trip to the Apple Store.  I honestly had no idea what to expect for this one, but it was very cool.  The store was in Houston and it was a super big, super nice store.  They had a room upstairs where they gave the kids iPads and taught them how to use ProCreate.  They were able to splice together pictures they took and videos they made into a movie format.  They added their own voice recordings and music already in the program.  It was incredibly easy to do and the boys had a ball doing it.  Caroline was what we would call a cranky mess, but she did enjoy doing it when it was her turn on the iPad (they shared two between the three of them).

Henry having a little too much fun beat-boxing with the voice recorder.

After the lesson was over, we had to walk through the store and the boys wanted to try out every device they sold and kept asking to buy all of them.  While they didn't get the iPad or iPhone, they did get a nice free t-shirt, size Adult Medium.

Sometimes, even though the field trips are fun, the business of the week can wear on the kids.  Caroline showed her crankiness at Apple.  Friday morning, Henry showed his maxing out by totally falling apart over his addition problems.  He just kept crying, "I can't carry [the 1].  It's too hard.  Why do we have to do this?"  Because you have to be able to balance a checkbook, son.  After sending him back upstairs to rest three different times, he finally came back and finished his work well.

At karate on Friday, Caroline played with two friends on the giant tires in the field next door.  After a while, they wanted some refreshments.  They made a pit stop at the water fountain and then Caroline offered them granola bars from our stash.  They ended up eating them in our car because the one little boy wasn't allowed to have one until he finished his lunch and we didn't want to eat in front of him.  So, their 2.5 year old daughter was in our car and she and I were happily chatting away while she ate some granola bars.  After about 10 minutes of chatting, she says, "Whose car is this?"  It's mine.  Five minutes later she asks, "Who are you?"  I'm Caroline's mom.  "Oh."  She was cracking me up.  When it was time to go, her mom said, "Nia, hug your friend goodbye."  Nia came right up and hugged my legs.  It totally made my day.  Then she went and hugged Caroline, too.

Todd took Josiah out to eat just the two of them on Saturday.  They had a good meal together and Henry and Caroline are looking forward to their meals alone with him, too.
 Knowing Todd was taking Josiah out, Caroline kept asking me to bring her to Chick-fil-a all afternoon.  We did end up going out to dinner there.  After she ate, she wanted to play in the playground area, so she played for a while.  At one point, I told her that she could go down the slide one more time and then we had to go.  She climbed back up and was chatting with her new friend up there.  The friend asks Caroline to go down the slide with her and Caroline says, "I can't go down the slide because if I do I'll have to leave."  So, 10 minutes after climbing up for her final slide, Caroline reluctantly slid down.   

Josiah wrote a poem to submit for a contest.  The first prize for his age category is $100.  Some of the criteria were: it had to rhyme, it had to be about nature, it had to be his own work.  Josiah has already been on Amazon and has spent the future prize money on Lego kits.  The contest doesn't even close until May 1st.  Here it is:

Our Time At the Beach

The sand is soft

The air is salty
The umbrellas are cool
The seagulls are naughty

The fries are hot, the ice cream is cold
The popsicles freeze your tongue
The pizza is cheesy yum
While on the rack the pretzels are hung

The boats roam the water
The planes circle the air
Some people like to surf
The trolleys have a fare

Pick up your pail, it's time to go
Our day at the beach is done
Now don't fuss, we're coming again
Tomorrow we'll have some fun

And with that, this week is done.