Watching the Olympics

Henry and Caroline did VBS at our Awana church this week.  Walking in the first morning, Henry reminded me that I should have asked him first if he wanted to do VBS before signing him up.  So I reminded him that I did indeed ask him when we were at the Awana Award Ceremony last May and his exact words were, "If Caroline does it, I'll do it."  To which she replied the same.  Though he was reluctant and slightly on the angry side that first morning, he did end up having a good time.  Caroline did as well, up until the last day.  Every participant got a take-home box of goodies that last day.  When Caroline opened hers, it was missing the colorful bandana.  She waited until we got home and she was in her bedroom, but then she started wailing à la Nancy Kerrigan, Why me??  Whhhhhhhhy meeeeeee?  I told her they probably had all the boxes open and were filling them all up at the same time.  It was most likely just an accident her box didn't have a bandana.  That was deemed unhelpful as it didn't change her situation.  A few hours later she was fine.  Josiah, of course, wanted a picture with the shark.  Caroline got a picture as the pirate.  Henry has become too cool for these sorts of pictures.

I had an orientation for Josiah's Challenge-A program where I learned he had to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe before the first day of class.  He started reading it this week.  After the first day, the first chapter, I asked him how he liked it.  He commented, "If Lucy hadn't investigated the fur coats, there would be no story" as if she should have kept her curiosity in check.  It's a good book, though.  He actually has to start his school this week so he'll be ready for the first day.  In anticipation of starting the new school year, I worked on the school room a lot this week.  Back in June, I came up with a new arrangement of desks and bookcases so that each child had a workspace as opposed to the big (wobbly) table that we had in there.  While the younger two were at VBS each morning, I worked on emptying and moving bookshelves each day.  Creating a ridiculous mess.  After that was done, the next step was to get Ikea desks for the kids.  I let them go online and each picked out the color they wanted.  We were getting excited.  And then we discovered everything was out of stock.  Not exactly the brightest plan to look for desks at the beginning of the school year.  We should have bought those in June when I had the rearranging idea.  So now they each have their work space defined, but it's a very blank, very empty workspace.  

Mid-week, Josiah and I went to a workshop about the new writing program he will start this year.  It was done by a CC graduate and she was great.  There were kids there from all Challenge levels.  She explained what the curriculum was all about and then she told the story of Little Red Riding Hood (in a very funny way) and we had to break it down using all the concepts she taught.  Josiah had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it.  He enjoys writing, so hopefully this will be an easier transition for him.  

Caroline has continued her swim lessons this week, and she also got her stripe in jiu-jitsu.  She's a four stripe girl now.  In particular, she appreciated that her instructor placed her stripes equidistant from each other.  

Watching the Olympics with Caroline is quite entertaining.  When she watched swim and gymnastics with Todd one evening, she kept saying, I can't do that.  Every race.  I can't do that. That would be true.  Yet she changed her tune when we watched the 100M in track and field.  She watched the women's 10 second race and asked if she could run that fast.  Every heat.  Could I run that fast?  Not yet.  I can relate though.  I had an inflated sense of speed at her age as well.

We finished the week with a bang.  On Friday we met up with some friends who had moved away a few years ago.  It has been so hot outside that the only thing we could think of was to hang out at the trampoline park.  This was more of Caroline's friend, but the boys came along to play.  It took Caroline and her friend a good hour of shyness to break through and talk again.  Each of them would come up to their respective mothers unsure of what to do.  We'd encourage them to just jump next to each other. Something.  Anything.  Finally, right at the hour mark, they started talking again and ended up talking the rest of the time.  After jumping for two hours we went back to one friend's house where they played some more.  By the time we got home that day, the kids were tired.  They were all complaining that their legs hurt.  They slept well that night.  I was glad to go to the trampoline park because that was on their summer list of things to do.  Check.

Saturday, Todd got us tickets to the Skeeters game.  Alex Bregman, of the Houston Astros, is playing for them while he rehabs an injury.  We didn't get a glimpse of him, but it felt like half the crowd was wearing Astros jerseys.  The Skeeters used to be an Independent League.  This is their first year as a AAA affiliate for the Astros.  So our cute little ballpark has changed to be a bit pricier in every area - seats, food, parking.  The seats we used to get a few years ago were in the shade.  It was glorious.  The seats we had this time were in the sun and it was very, very hot.  The game started at 4 p.m.  At 6:23 p.m. the sun finally left our section and we had glorious shade.  Although it didn't matter as much to the kids because we barely sat in our seats anyway.  We were up on a near constant basis going to the water fountain, hitting up the splash pad, we cooled off under giant fans, the kids played on the playground, and they enjoyed some ballpark food.  Alex Bregman ended up playing the two games before our Saturday game and the two games after.  While it would have been cool to see him, Josiah wanted not only Bregman's autograph, but also the mascot's autograph on his hat.  They had equal standing with Josiah.  

We spent this afternoon cutting down and bundling tree branches.  The boys asked to help.  They really like to use the loppers to break down the branches.  Josiah wanted to use the chainsaw and he made the argument that he should be able to use it because he had used the weedwacker on his mission trip.  Clearly that made him skilled in all dangerous yard equipment.  Todd did let him cut a branch in half, but that was about all we could handle.  

This week Caroline finishes up her swim lessons and Josiah starts his school lessons.  He is not too excited to start before the younger two, but that's just how 7th grade rolls.  Welcome to Junior High.