Security Check

Early this week we boarded a plane to Virginia.  Texas wasn't quick to let Josiah go, because after going through the metal detector three times, setting off the alarm each time, they said he had been selected for a random security search.  Really?  A ten-year-old?  They said I could watch.  You bet I will.  They swabbed his hands which set off another alarm.  I have no idea what it detected, but it caused the agent to freak a little and go find a higher up.  Since he was a minor, they swabbed my hands, swabbed both our back packs and both our suitcases.  Everything came back clean, but Josiah was a little freaked out.  He had to make a few trips to the bathroom after that.  Our morning flight got delated due to 'crew rest,' which reduced our 1 hour 10 minute layover down to 30 minutes.  Our first flight was going to land at 11:27 and our next flight was set to board at 11:25.  Not ideal for Atlanta.  So I checked with the gate agent, and miraculously she was able to move all four of us from row 30 to row 13 so we could book it off the flight.  And book it we did, from Terminal D to Terminal B and we made it to the next flight. Since we couldn't stop for a bathroom break, we used the one on the plane.  Caroline had never used an airplane bathroom before and was nervous to do so, though she really needed it.  So, the two of us squeezed into the bathroom together.  We were both relieved to get back to our seats and fly the remaining leg.  It was great to fly to Virginia - we were there by early afternoon, however the kids were sad we didn't drive.  They were looking forward to hotels, fast food, and Josiah, in particular, missed the hotel hot chocolate.  Drive for two days and get mediocre hot chocolate?  Or fly for half a day?  Hmmm.

The kids have been having a great time catching up with Grandad and Nana.  They have ridden their bikes daily and gone down the driveway in the wagon what seems like dozens of times.  We discovered that my phone camera had hyperlapse as well as slow-motion capabilities so we've made a ton of videos of them riding their bikes ridiculously fast or incredibly slow.  They have found them all hilarious.  When we first arrived Henry tried to convince me that he should go to bed at 9 p.m. every night since that would be equivalent to 8 p.m. Central Time.  He wasn't that convincing since he likes to wake up at 6 a.m. every morning here (really 5 a.m. his body time).  It only took a day of tons of outside play before he was passing out at 8 p.m. anyway.  He plays so hard he couldn't stay up til 9 if he tried.

We've been able to catch up with friends, too.  One day we went to the Virginia Living Museum with friends we haven't seen in two years.  I wasn't sure how it would go for the kids since it had been so long.  Caroline couldn't even remember their names (even still has trouble after playing twice).  However, the older ones just picked up right where they left off.  That is a sign of great friends.  They had a ton of fun together.  I enjoyed talking to their mom!

The next day we met them again as well as other friends for some fun at a playground.  It was great.  The moms were able to talk and catch up while the kids made up all sorts of boat games.  The only one who didn't always get in the mix was Caroline because, "there's bugs."  She's not a nature girl.  

We've colored, played Bingo, played games on phones, played pool, read books, played a ton of baseball out back.  Grandaddy let all the kids help him change the oil on the lawnmower and then gave them their traditional rides around the yard.  The kids always look forward to these traditions.  Grandad and Nana also got the kids a microscope and telescope kit.  Josiah has tried to see Nana's flower petals in the microscope and he's made efforts to see the moon, but we're not late night people.  We may have to wait until the days get shorter to catch a good sighting of the moon through the telescope.

Henry has spent a few mornings trying to recreate the profile portrait of Todd as a kid.  He did a really good job.  Way better than I could have done.

The kids have loved all of Nana's meals - pork chops, pot roast, spaghetti.  When they pray before dinner they always pray, "And I hope the food is good."  And it's been great.  They also have a newfound love for Klondike bars.  Caroline can dig a Reese's Klondike bar.

It has been a good first week.  Next week the kids have been invited to do laser tag, so the boys can't wait.  Caroline, not so much.  

Meager Rations on the Trail

The boys are still quite obsessed with the Beatles.  They sing their songs All. Day. Long.  To those of us who are not-Beatle-obsessed, these songs can get stuck in our heads and it's not a good thing.  Todd's actually had a hard time going to sleep some nights because he keeps singing the songs in his head.  They put on another concert for us.  They practiced imitating the music videos they've seen.  Josiah likes Ringo the best because he played drums.  Also, he really loves Yellow Submarine.  As in sings-it-on-loop-all-day-long likes it.  Henry played his air guitar with rock star emotion.  (Caroline just sat drawing in the background.)

Henry had a good death scene during Eleanor Rigby.

During Hey Jude, Josiah was crushing it on piano as Henry did air tambourine in the background.  After a while, Henry got bored of the tambourine and whenever Josiah wasn't checking on his musical contributions, Henry broke out in dance, flashed a few gang signs, and did whatever else he could toss in for fun.

The kids did well in swim this week.  On Wednesday, it was raining pretty hard, but since it wasn't thundering or lightning they still had their lessons.  However, instead of the mid-90s like it has been, the temperature was 77° and the water was cooler than usual.  I told the boys they may not want to wear their swim shirts because they may make them colder once they got wet.  Josiah asked if he filled his shirt up with warm air and tuck it into his trunks, would that keep him warm.  Yeah, no.  They've been doing well in swim, but when they got their assessments at the end of the last class, neither boy moved up to the next level.  Their instructor said they had the skills for freestyle and backstroke, but they don't have the stamina to get across the pool.  So they need endurance training.  Josiah was sad he didn't move up.  Henry was mad and declared that he's never swimming again.  Todd told him about Tom Brady and how he was picked #199 in the NFL draft.  Did he get mad?  No, he just proved to them that he could do his job and do it well.  Henry needs to take that disappointment and use it to fuel him to get better.  For us, that means more trips to the neighborhood pool while throwing in a few laps with their play time. We did get there once this past week.

Todd introduced the kids to the classic Oregon Trail game.  The very game that bored me to tears in school.  It was so slow, everything broke, and everyone died.  Henry has loved it.  The game requires him to have five in his group, much to his disdain.  He wanted to go it alone.  He typed in all of our names and in the first three games he played, Josiah died first every time.  During one game, in the span of 60 seconds, Henry called out:
Caroline has typhoid.
You have exhaustion.
\Josiah has dysentery.
Caroline died.
You have cholera.
Josiah died.
We all died that trip.  But with perseverance, Henry played enough games to finally make it to Oregon.  He made the trip with just the three kids and their two neighbor friends.  Henry and Caroline were the only two to make it all the way.  He also proved to be a good shot.  He could down two bears, a dear, a squirrel, and a rabbit.  He'd have 800 lbs of meat, but was only allowed to take 100 lbs with him.  It was good that he could kill animals because he was chintzy when it came to buying food.  When we first departed from where the Trail starts, he had bought 45 lbs of food for five people to share for the whole trip.  To make it last, he went to Settings and changed our rations to "meager," saying that if we didn't eat as much we could go further faster.  So, basically, never put Henry in charge of food for a road trip.

We celebrated Father's Day early this year since we'll be out of town for the real one.  And by celebrate, I mean we ate tacos.  Since we did yard work on Mother's Day, we kept the tradition alive and did yard work on Father's Day, too.  It was pretty much everything Todd could have asked for.

We did finish school this week.  However, it wasn't the happy, woo-hoo, dancing around sort of last day.  I was first woken up with Caroline complaining to me that it wasn't fair that I took her toys.  The toys that I told her to pick up the night before.  The toys that when I asked her if she had cleaned her room, she said Yes.  After arguing with her for a bit about responsibility, the boys took over in the arguing department over every menial little thing imaginable.  Henry's comments on his last math paper summed up the day.  But, hey, we're done.

Caroline had a good gymnastics class this weekend.  One of the skills that she had to do over and over again was run, jump on a spring board, and land with her legs spread out (I've seen gymnasts do this to get on the balance beam).  Then after landing that move, she had to run back the other direction, jump on the spring board, and land feet first on the vault.  It's a pretty high jump for both.  She's still enjoying it and her skills are definitely improving.

Stick that landing.

We also went to a play at the library.  It was a cast brought in from San Antonio, so I thought it might be pretty good.  They did Jack and the Beanstalk and it was cute.  Josiah and Caroline liked it.  Henry likes to think he's too old and mature for these things.  They did throw in a good bit of humor for the adults.  It was cute.  And free.  Free always makes things better.

At this time next week we'll be in Virginia.  The kids were packing some things up tonight and were getting pretty excited. 

Socks and Swim

The kids were really excited to get back into swim lessons.  It's been so hot and they've been asking to go to the pool for months now (just waiting for it to open...).  This time around I put the boys in one class and Caroline in a different, lower-level class.  I wasn't sure what she would remember from last year.  We didn't exactly practice all year long like I had intended.  It turns out she remembered a lot.  They had her swimming on her back and kicking off from the wall.  She did really well.  She didn't sink!  She still needs to learn how to breathe when she's swimming face down.  She tends to drink a lot of water still.  Josiah did amazingly well.  He swam freestyle like he hadn't missed a beat.  He breathed well and everything.  And then there's our athletic little guy Henry.  He can throw any ball like a boss, but when it comes to swimming, he forgot all of his skills from last year.  He tried to do freestyle, but every time he took a breath to the side, he put his foot down and stood.  So, as long as the water doesn't exceed 3.5 feet, he can 'swim.'  As the week went on, he did well with the dolphin move (I'm assuming it transitions them to the butterfly stroke).  It's just the whole breathing thing that's got him in a bind.

Caroline had her fourth math test this week.  She crushed it.  She likes math a lot, but was nervous to take the test because she does not like to fail.  She's our kid that chooses the winning team after they've already won because she doesn't want to be wrong.  

We had a get-together with our CC group at one of their houses this week.  This particular friend has a dog, Lola, whom Josiah loves.  He spent the morning making a "Lola's #1 Fan" t-shirt.  Josiah also said that he loves these types of parties/get-togethers because the food is always unsupervised.  He no doubt took advantage of the lack of supervision.  Henry, on the other hand, was so busy playing that when we left he said he hadn't eaten anything.  Seven of us moms all played Taboo together which was very fun.  I made sure I was on the super competitive mom's team because it was a guarantee win.  ;) 


There were plenty of costumes at this party.  Josiah tried on his fair share.  He looks so young and so old all at the same time.

I succumbed to my age this weekend and bought reading glasses from Costco.  I feel like I only need them sometimes, when the print is really small or it's early in the morning...or late at night...  I tried on a friend's glasses last week and was amazed at the clarity of the written word.  So, I picked up a pair, actually three pairs because it's Costco.  Upon trying them on for the first time, Henry nonchalantly mentioned, "You look like Grandma."  Not that there's anything wrong with that.

We are on week two of "sock watch."  A few months back I decided that if they wanted their socks washed, they needed to be ready to wash - not bunched up in a ball, not inside out, etc.  When they do not come in proper condition, I toss them into a pile in our hallway.  Being in the hallway meant they would pass by them several times a day and, being the observant kids that they are, they would put the socks in laundry-ready condition.  That hasn't exactly happened.  Instead they have passed by the sock pile several times a day and have totally ignored it.  We're on week two of ignoring it.  I've checked their drawers and they should all run out of socks this week.  God forbid they complain about it.  Child!  Thy socks!

This is our last week of school.  Instead of doing all the subjects as I had intended, we're just going to do math and reading.  The kids don't know that yet, but I really need some time to get things done before our trip east.  The summer reading programs have already begun, so we can take advantage of that incentive to get some extra reading in.