Great Wolf Lodge

We headed out to Great Wolf Lodge mid-week.  It was a super foggy drive up to Grapevine, TX.  The kids had forgotten their phones with their games on them, so they read a lot on the trip up.  I was happy for that.  Josiah borrowed the first Harry Potter book from a neighbor and ended up reading half of it on the way up and half on the way back home.  He now has a new obsession.  Google rerouted us when we reached Dallas because of an accident, so we ended up going straight through downtown with the big skyscrapers on each side.  The particular street we were on looked very much like driving through New York City, so that was fun.  I even got to drive aggressively when I found myself in the wrong lanes.  ;)  City driving.  

At Great Wolf Lodge, the kids got to see their 'cabin.'  We had kept it a surprise. It was a small room within the hotel room that had a bunk bed and a single.  They thought that was cool, but their favorite part was that they had their own TV.  They love their Cartoon Network in hotel rooms.  We also had a balcony, which was very cool.  In the early morning, while things were still quiet, we went out onto the balcony and inhaled the smell of jet fuel.  DFW Airport was literally next to Great Wolf Lodge.  We saw planes quite close landing and taking off all day long.  (But because there was so much noise from all the water slides and water features and piped in music, it was hard to hear the planes.)

(I attempted a panorama, but the kids kept walking through the picture, so here's a very rotund Josiah.)

View from our balcony

That first day we did the inside pools.  We started off in the wave pool, then ventured over to the water slides.  They had three slides that were single/double riders and two slides that were 4-5 riders.  We did the bigger slides first.  These slides were no joke.  They popped us up and bounced us all around.  I grabbed Caroline's arm on the way down the first one because she kept popping up in the innertube.  Todd did three slides and then he was done.  When he did the family style ones, he always ended up backwards because he weighed more than the kids.  Then he wiped out on the third one which formally completed his time on the slides.  I tried all five inside slides and then called it quits.  They were too much like roller coasters for my body and I cannot handle roller coasters.  The kids, meanwhile, kept going and going and going.  I stared at Caroline before she climbed the stairs to the slides and mouthed 'hold on tight!!'  She always gave me a thumbs up.

There was also a playground sort of area in the waterpark.  Part of it had a giant bucket over top of it that would fill with water and periodically dump out.  Todd was keen to do this feature.  He always got a kid to do it with him, but he enjoyed the deluge of water hitting him.  

We finished the day riding the lazy river.  We were all pretty hungry and tired by the end, so we had pizza for dinner.  The kids watched their Cartoon Network.  I tried to stay awake past 7:30 p.m.  

The following day was our one full day there.  We started off by finding a little doughnut shop in town.  It was a tiny little shop that had a 6'x2' area to stand and order.  One lady ran the front, while a man behind her kneaded giant mounds of dough.  The doughnuts were good and fresh.  Then we waited til 10 a.m. so we could try out the ropes course.  Todd sat out and acted as photographer, while the kids and I got suited up.  We climbed to the first landing and there were lots of obstacles to walk across and each side had three ziplines - one on top of the other so that the top one was very high up.  We were all excited about the ziplines, so we headed to those first.  Henry, who wanted to be first on the course, sped ahead of us.  Josiah was ahead of Caroline and I for the zipline but when it was his turn to go, he froze.  He didn't know what to do or even if he wanted to do it.  The lady who worked the course showed him what to do and was encouraging him.  While she was talking to Josiah, Henry was yelling, "Look at me."  He was high up on the third landing dancing on the zipline platform.  He jumped off and yelled, "Let's goooooo!!!!!" while shooting fake pistols in the air as he ziplined across.  Not an ounce of fear.  Josiah, staring at his own zipline platform, ended up walking off the platform giving only a very weak push.  That got him only halfway across so he had to bounce his body back and forth to reach the other platform.  After that he was willing to give a stronger push-off and he had a lot of fun flying across all the ziplines.  Caroline, too, was nervous at first, but she warmed up quickly.  She did all the ziplines and even let go for most of them. When we first started the course it felt really challenging, but once we figured out how to use the rope that tethered us, we were all moving through it fairly easily.  We climbed and ziplined for an hour.  As we were walking away from it, Henry said that he wanted to be a soldier when he grew up.  He's been wanting to be a police officer for quite a while, but he really likes to wear a lot of gear like the soldiers do.  He had pretended he was a soldier on the ropes course.  A pistol shooting, Dude Perfect-yelling soldier.

Caroline:

Josiah:

Henry:

After the ropes course we moved on to the outside pool.  It was actually a very cool morning, so the pool had to have been chilly, but that didn't stop the waterslide loving kids.  There were two outside slides as well as Caroline's favorite lily pads.  We spent time inside as well.  One area had a bunch of basketball hoops, so Henry and I shot a lot of baskets while Josiah and Caroline hung out on the playground water area.  They did more of the big waterslides.  It was very nice that the kids were big enough to slide by themselves.  We were always relieved to count all three of them as they emerged from the tunnel.  No one bounced out.  

That evening we found a deli in town to eat dinner.  It was a tiny little corner deli and Todd was sorry we only had one meal there.  They had a great menu and we all enjoyed our sandwiches.  Josiah, especially, liked their sign on how to eat their Italian beef sandwich. Particularly the P.P.S.S.

We spent that evening at the arcade.  Caroline was interested in this skipping rope game.  Basically the light went all around the circle and when it came to the bottom, you had to jump up to 'jump' over the light.  The game started.  She was successful on her first three jumps, but the lights got her on the fourth.  She really enjoyed the driving games.  Apparently you cannot die on these because she hit every wall and obstacle that came her way.  The boys played shooting games and driving games, too.  Most of the games spit out tickets, so we ended the night with 225 tickets.  And so began the excruciating process of how to spend the tickets on cheap plastic toys.  Henry, fortunately, found two army men and he was done with his share.  Josiah and Caroline just stared and thought and stared and thought.  Twenty minutes later, they both ended up with tiny squishy animals, one army man, and one hamburger candy.

🢤Caroline got her face on the video game - a masked face.

For souvenirs, Josiah chose a wand from the MagicQuest game.  The wands were in the $15 range.  The wand toppers were in the $18 range (!!!) and the game was another $15.  Josiah got a wand.  At one point we passed a father walking around the hotel with his daughter playing the MagicQuest game.  He said they had been at it for three hours and hadn't finished yet.  He didn't look too thrilled.  So we dodged a bullet by not purchasing the game.  Caroline got Slush, a big, soft wolf.  Henry chose a baseball cap.  

Friday morning we drove home.  It rained for most of the trip home and we noted that the temperature outside was between 64 and 68 degrees.  When we finally drove out of the rain into sunny skies, we watched the temperature creep up to 88° in 15 minutes time.  Welcome back to Houston.  We unpacked the car and then picked up a very excited Benson.  He had spent his first two nights away from us in a kennel.  We let him run like crazy in the backyard and then gave him a bath.  We didn't want him bringing home any little pests in his fur.  

It was a busy three days.  Todd and I emerged from it far more exhausted than the kids.  We were happy they enjoyed it all.  Now we have a regular school week ahead.  We also get to call the orthodontist Monday morning.  Josiah lost three brackets this week.  One on the drive to GWL (eating small pretzels he didn't have permission to eat), one on the drive home (eating Goldfish), and one Saturday morning (eating a granola bar he didn't have permission to eat - because they're on the no list for braces).  Argh!

A Week In The Life

Henry has been typing up a story all week long.  Whenever he finishes his school work for the day, he's been going to the computer to continue working on it instead of playing video games.  It's been a nice change.  His story, called 'Caleb's Life,' centers around a boy aptly named Caleb, which is Henry's favorite name.  Caleb's life mirrors Henry's life in many ways - he has two siblings and a dog, he swims a lot, plays outside to get Vitamin D, he likes to watch football and baseball on TV, he eats many elaborately described meals, and he plays board games. Right now the story is more of a day-in-the-life account, but we'll see if he encounters any problems in the future.  He's up to 1400 words.  Henry also has been having fun experimenting out Microsoft Word.  He tries to add pictures and charts (schedules).  He even put Microsoft Word for Dummies on hold at the library.

While Henry typed, Josiah spent a few days writing a Catman comic book.  It was a full length comic book with lots of illustrations and held together by yarn.  Besides comic books, he and I have been muddling our way through Washington Irving's books.  We read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow together and then we started Rip Van Winkle.  The vocabulary and style of writing is a bit out of our league.  We've had to keep a dictionary close by and refer to it often.  I read Sleepy Hollow aloud to Josiah and every few pages, I'd ask, "Do you understand what's going on?"  He caught on to more than I expected, but it was still a tough book.  

Meanwhile, Caroline was rocking math this week.  Tuesday morning, 6:00 a.m., she walked downstairs, walked into the school room, walked back out and asked, "Where's my math test?"  Good morning?  Breakfast?  Can you eat breakfast first?  She crushed it getting a 100%.  She said that her favorite parts of school are math tests and CC review. 

 

We also had a cool morning one day this week.  Below 75° kind of cool.  Josiah went upstairs to get his winter cap and thick gloves.  Caroline also wore a hat, though not quite as thick.  As she read to me that day, she looked like a 12-year old skater girl.  

For CC this week, we had to do it over Zoom.  There was a child on our campus who had a family member test positive for COVID, so we had to take a two week break from meeting.  Fortunately, one of those weeks was already a planned break week, so we only had to do one day over Zoom.  (And the child on our campus has been testing negative.)  We did it family style, so all the kids (and me) were crowded around our iPad and all the tutors took turns teaching different parts.  Besides the "his elbow's in my way/she's not giving me any room/that's my seat/I can't see/etc. etc.," they did well.  

After CC was over, I headed to the polls to vote.  I stood in line for a little over two hours.  The line was so long, that when I first got in it, we were very close to the campaigners handing out pamphlets.  The same people who typically have to stand a certain distance from the voters, but with the lines so long, we ended up next to each other. In the past, my stance has always been to avoid, avoid, avoid the gauntlet of campaigners that try to make conversation.  It didn't work like it was supposed to this time.  Knowing the lines would be long, I had brought a magazine with me and intensely stared at it to avoid all eye contact.  And then there was a fight.  Right next to me.  One campaigner, a man, was telling people about the new ballots and polling machines.  A female campaigner was getting mad at him because she felt he was telling people how to vote.  They started arguing and yelling and really getting mad at each other.  He told her to shut up.  She took out her camera and started taking a video of his illegal influence over the voters.  It was so incredibly uncomfortable.  There was some intense praying for the line to move forward.  After that I had two people behind me that talked the entire time.  I learned a lot about the country of Columbia and the foods eaten there...while I stared at my magazine. 

Awana started back in person this week.  We were all masked up.  The kids had a good time.  Henry really gets into the game time portion.  He got picked to be a shark in Sharks and Minnows and he took out as many kids as he possibly could.  (Basically a group of kids run from one side of a basketball court to the other.  Henry was a shark that had to tag them out as they ran.)  

Yesterday I made plans to get together with another mom that isn't doing CC this year.  We were going to get coffee and just catch up - see how the school year was going for each of us.  Commiserate.  Encourage.  That sort of thing.  I told Todd I'd probably be gone about an hour.  Well.  We ended up having a great conversation and I got home a little over five hours later.  Upon walking in the door, Caroline looked at me, and with much conviction, said, "You better not ask for a quiet time tomorrow."  Todd didn't believe I could talk that much.    

I saw this meme and it may or may not reflect our household...

Extractions

Monday afternoon Josiah went to the dentist to get two teeth pulled.  His initial worry was that they were going to take his canines and those were his favorite teeth.  He was relieved they were the teeth after the canines, but still he was apprehensive about the whole procedure.  Honestly, Todd and I felt horrible for him and wondered if we were doing the right thing.  His whole life, every dentist he's been to has mentioned he has a lot of teeth for his mouth, so getting a few pulled wasn't hugely surprising.  However, it was such a final decision.  We made it to the dentist office and I had warned him that the numbing needles were going to hurt.  He confirmed that they did indeed hurt...a lot...after we got home.  The first tooth took a while and when the dentist showed me the roots, they were facing outward like a fancy U so the tooth was really hooked into his mouth.  The second tooth came out smoothly.  In talking to Josiah later, he said he felt no pain.  Even after we were home for a while, he said his nose was still numb.  I think the dentist gave him a good bit of the numbing medication to ensure he felt no pain.  His bleeding stopped nicely and he enjoyed a week of soft foods and salt water rinses.  His favorite part was that the dentist told him he could have ice cream for dinner the evening of the extraction.  Todd and I felt really bad for him and his holey mouth.  The 'tooth fairy' owl was quite generous in it's compensation.  A little parental guilt paid out in cash.  Now that he's nearly a week out from the procedure, his mouth is looking a lot better.  He's healing nicely and, hopefully, in two years' time we'll look at his beautiful teeth with no gaps up top and see the benefit to all of this.  

Henry had a very good week at CC.  Last week he had forgotten his Essentials paper at home and he was so disappointed.  He loves reading his papers to his class.  So, this week he was able to read his older paper in his morning class as his presentation, then he read his newer paper in his afternoon class.  The afternoon class also had a title contest.  The tutor put all the students' titles on the board and they did a blind vote for the best one (you couldn't vote for your own).  There were six titles.  Two titles got two votes each and Henry's title got five votes (parents were allowed to vote as well).  He was so happy.  The winning title was Patriots Step Up.  His paper was loosely based on the Boston Massacre, however we are currently in the creative writing section, so as long as the conflict remained the same, the kids had freedom to change the characters, setting, etc.  Henry told the story of the Boston Massacre using New England Patriot's players names.  He was sooooo excited to read his paper.  He was stifling a laugh every time he read a new Patriot's name.  

For Caroline's CC presentation, she told jokes.  She had written out ten jokes from a book we have at the house.  She did a good job telling them and by the last joke she was really getting into it.  Her peers were laughing, too, which was encouraging to her.  What we didn't plan on was the timing.  The presentations are supposed to be around 2-3 minutes.  It took a long time to tell ten jokes because after she asked the joke, she'd pause, wait for someone to say, "I don't know.  What?" then finish the joke.  Including laughter, she was up there for a good ten minutes.  This is one of our favorite things about the whole CC program - the fact that the kids have to give a presentation every week which teaches them public speaking skills.  It has become normal to them and they often look forward to it.  They have no idea the skills the are gaining by this activity.  
A sampling of her jokes: 

What do pandas fight with?             Their bear hands.

What plays music in your hair?        A headband.

(Caroline's favorite) What goes ho-ho-ho, scratch-scratch-scratch?        Santa Claws

Why couldn't the beaver work on his computer?        He forgot to log in.

Knock, knock.    

    Who's there?

Yah.

    Yah who?

What are you so excited about?

Caroline also learned how to play the game Sorry! at lunch.  

The church we use for CC also has a pumpkin patch, so after classes were over we headed outside for some pictures. 

Henry refused to be Linus because he didn't want to appear to be sucking his thumb or holding a blanky.

Caroline and Henry made an obstacle course in the backyard.

 

It started off with jumping over tree branches on the ground, then they had to throw a ball to hit another branch balancing in the neck of our tree, then they picked up a victory stick and ran to the finish line.  While they were making the course, Benson proved non-cooperative.  Especially at the throwing the ball part.  In fact, for much of the weekend, while the kids played out back, he often made a beeline for any dropped ball.  He mistook their playing for the game of keep-away and he gripped Henry's football or baseball in his mouth for dear life.  He crushed the game of keep-away, and because of those skills he was detained inside.  But he's a dog who loves his human friends, so he just stood in the window watching them with a big grin on his face.  Barking and whining at times because he wanted to be a part of their fun.  

Also, Todd and I both seriously regret not naming Benson, Rooster.  He has the perfect image of a rooster in his white fur.  

Josiah should have a much better week ahead.  Not so much the doing school part, but the eating more solid foods part.  

Braces On

We started out the week with no a/c.  Last weekend was a bit brutal in the heat department.  I woke up (with Benson) at 4:30 a.m. Monday morning drenched in sweat.  I took him outside and the air was very still and very muggy.  But then 6:00 a.m. rolled around and a cold front started moving in.  The most amazingly cool breeze blew for most of the day.  By lunch time the kids were wearing jackets (because I still had all the fans blowing the cool air into the house).  It was such a contrast to how we all woke up.  The remainder of the week was almost fall weather.  Very cool over night and not too hot during the day.  On Friday we had a new unit installed and we were back in business.  Here's to another 15 years of cool air.  

In math, Caroline has taken to answering her word problems in a unique way.  She claims she doesn't know if she should add or subtract, so she turns her work in with both possibilities.  When I read the question to her, she'll circle the correct answer.  Now, she can read the questions and know which is correct, but for some reason she likes me to read them for double assurance.

At CC this week we made lungs in science.  They turned out really well and are fun to play with.  The punching balloon on the bottom acts as the diaphragm:  if pulled down, the lung balloons inflate, and if pushed up, they deflate.  

Josiah taught his Essentials class about Interjections.  His tutor is rotating through the kids to get them each to teach a part of speech.  She started with Josiah and gave him probably the single best part of speech.  He was so excited to get up there and yell out interjections.  

The kids have been into "Would you rather" questions.  They don't fully understand the concept because last night Henry asked me, "Would you rather eat a box of donuts or give up coffee for a year?"  I'm going for the donuts and the ability to still drink coffee.  Then he asked, "Would you rather eat 10,000 cabbages in a year or live with a bunch of cats?"  Well, eating 27 heads of cabbage a day is slightly impossible.  Perhaps I overthink his would-you-rathers.  Most of Henry's involved living with a bunch of cats.  

One evening, Josiah got in on the game and asked, "Daddy, would you rather live in a tent in a campsite with lots of food or would you rather not see mommy again?"  

Todd, "There's food?"

Nervous!

Todd had a birthday this week.  He got a very exciting gift of new pajamas.  The kids all helped to make his pumpkin bread as his 'cake.'  After dinner, Josiah asked to light his candles. We let him and he just held the flame to the wicks til they were very well lit and wax was cascading down to the cake.  Keep moving the flame, buddy.  Todd shared his birthday with another important event this week.  Josiah got braces.  He was not excited to get them at all.  For days leading up to his appointment, he kept asking why they were necessary.  Then the big day arrived and he laid in the orthodontist's chair with his mouth agape for a very long time.  When they were finally finished, they gave him a mirror.  He looked at himself and exclaimed that he loved them.  He is very excited that he gets to change the color of his rubber bands every eight weeks at his appointments.  He chose blue for the first set.  Next time he is planning on getting red and green for Christmas.  Festive.  After they put the braces on, they explained their little warranty program.  They'll fix anything for free in the first 8 weeks, the first three broken brackets are free, but after that they're $50 each, etc. etc.  Josiah had his braces for four days and Friday morning  he was eating a fruit cup and said, "A bracket just came out."  What?!!  It was the bracket on his back molar which wasn't even connected to the wire yet.  They said that those are the most common to fall off especially if you grind your teeth in your sleep (which, unfortunately, Josiah does).

In Benson news, he has taken to eating acorns that fall in a small section

of our backyard from the oak tree on the other side of the fence in the side yard.  At first we didn't think they'd be very harmful.  Squirrels eat them all the time.  No, apparently they're toxic for dogs.  So I came up with the brilliant idea to pay the kids ten cents for every acorn they collected.  When I came up with that price, I had been in the backyard and only saw a handful of acorns.  If anything, I thought I was being too cheap.  They kids excitedly went out there and picked them up.  That first day of picking acorns, the kids had totals of: Josiah-$1.40, Henry-$0.90, Caroline-$0.20.  I could pay out with numbers like these.  Each day they'd go out and add to their totals.  It was all very manageable.  Then, mid-week, they decided they would go to the front yard to get the acorns there in case we took Benson on a walk and he got the acorns in front.  We have FOUR oak trees in our front/side yard.  I now owe the kids $95.00.  They've already picked out a Lego kit on Amazon that they're going to split.  

To limit the bleeding of our wallets, we went to the store and got some temporary fencing to keep Benson out of the acorn area.  We put it up this afternoon and Benson clearly saw it as a challenge.  We saw him trying to bite holes through it (successfully).  Then we saw him go to the center of the yard, get a good running start, and ram the fence with all his weight.  Repeatedly.  By dinner time we had to go cut him out of the fencing.  He had tangled himself all up in it.  It hadn't been up for half a day and it's already almost breeched.  Todd took him to the vet for a booster shot this weekend and he weighed in at 46 lbs.  So he has some mass to him.  

On Saturday, we drove to a friend from CC's neighborhood for her birthday.  It was more of a neighborhood block party that happened to fall on Henry's classmate's birthday.  But we went and saw her in a car parade.  They had a food truck and other tents set up with free snacks.  They had a fire truck and a cop car.  The kids had a good time.  

Then today, the next door neighbor girls rang our doorbell and asked Caroline to go to their house because it was the youngest girl's birthday.  Caroline played over there for five hours!  She doesn't get as much girl play time as she'd like, so it's good for her to have friends who play dolls.  They also had time on their trampoline as well as a big blow up waterslide thing.  She had a good time.

It was a busy week.  This week Josiah has to get two teeth pulled as part of the braces process.  We'll be glad when that is over.  He's nervous and obviously not looking forward to it.  But he will probably enjoy the ice cream he gets to soothe his mouth post-extraction.