Josiah's Weekend Getaway

We had a cold start to our week, so we lit another fire.  Josiah had the honors of lighting this log.  Henry and Caroline enjoyed sitting as close as possible to the fire.  Though it looks peaceful from behind, when they laid down with their heads touching, all I could hear was, "I was there first!  No, I was there!"    

At the start of the week, Caroline had a cookie survey for her math lesson.  She needed at least 20 participants, so we texted all our family members.  We were (I was) quite surprised at some of the favorite cookies.  However, we clearly endorse the classic chocolate chip.  Caroline had a good time gathering the information and she even enjoyed graphing it.  She said she liked bar graphs.  

Josiah had his first day back at CC this week.  He was one tired kid after a long day at school.  

Friday:

And then came Friday.  Todd stayed home that morning and when the children asked why, he said he had an appointment.  At 8:45 a.m., Todd passed a letter to Josiah which told him to gather his toothbrush, his Bible, and his Switch.  When Josiah got these things ready, he went out to the garage to get his shoes and saw his suitcase sitting there waiting for him.  Todd took him on a pre-birthday weekend.  It was a sort of right-of-passage Bible study in the sense that Josiah is turning 13 and needs to take ownership of his faith.  They went through Tony Evan's No More Excuses.  In between their Bible study times, they ate.  A lot.  They seriously should have had a beginning and ending weight.  

Friday, they drove out to the Blue Bell Creamery.  Blue Bell ice cream is a favorite in Texas.  Texans love their Dr. Pepper, Whataburger, and Blue Bell.  The creamery had an observation deck that is only open until 2pm on weekdays, so they had to drive out there to enjoy it before then.  They were able to see the machines fill the ice cream tubs (no photos allowed).  Then they had an area where you could get a scoop of ice cream for $1.  Josiah chose Krazy Kookie Dough - it had crazy colors.  Todd chose blueberry cobbler.  They browsed the gift shop and Josiah picked out a hat.  They brought back ice cream mugs for the three of us at home.  "I get cranky without my Blue Bell."  (Although, we did notice they didn't bring us any Blue Bell with which to fill our mugs...)

After their ice cream tour, they went to Chili's for lunch.  And from there they checked into their hotel.  At the hotel, Josiah discovered hair dryers.  Todd said he heard it turn on every time Josiah went to the bathroom.  Every time.  

For dinner that night they went to a local pizza shop and Todd said it was really good.  While Todd got a calzone, Josiah ordered an entire medium pizza for himself.  Pineapple and mushroom.  He had never had pineapple on pizza before, but loves pineapple the fruit.  He was a fan of the pizza.  

While they were out galivanting, Henry, Caroline, and I had a good day as well.  We did our school work with the incentive to finish early so we'd have a good bulk of the day for fun.  We made pizzelles together.  We went to the library (we really enjoy the library).  

In the afternoon we met some friends at a playground.  It was supposed to hit 57° at 2 p.m. that day, but it didn't get much above 46°, so it was a cold playground time.  The kids didn't mind it, but my feet were frozen by the end.  On the playground, the kids made obstacle courses and raced each other.  They played freeze tag and red light/green light.  After the games, they discovered two trees that were perfect for climbing.  They sat in this big tree for a good while just talking and laughing.  

We got Chick-fil-a on the drive home and Caroline and I watched the Beezus and Ramona movie.  Caroline is really into Beverly Cleary's Ramona books right now.  She stays up late most nights reading them.  She is definitely our night owl.  

They had a good night in Henry's room.  

Todd had been planning this weekend away for months.  We always spoke about it so positively and what a good experience this was going to be.  It wasn't until the night before they left that I realized I would have to wake up at the crack of dawn to take Benson on his walk.  So, in the dark of Saturday morning, we walked.  I had not walked him since he had been attacked by the two pit bulls last year, so I was very nervous.  I took my phone, some mace, and a big stick and prayed the whole time for safety.  We made it.  And we both fell asleep once we got back home.

Saturday:

Saturday was a very rainy day.  Todd and Josiah woke up early and enjoyed their hotel's continental breakfast.  It had a waffle maker, so Josiah was a happy kid.  And, not just a waffle maker, but blueberry waffle batter.  Josiah was constantly surprising Todd by the amount of food he ate.  

Saturday, they went to Washington-on-the-Brazos, which is the city where Texas declared their independence from Mexico.  They visited the Star of the Republic Museum.  When they were in the museum, Todd was asking one of the volunteers questions and he mentioned that the next tour was at 11 a.m.  They had 15 minutes until the tour started, so they looked around the museum.  At 11, they went back to the volunteer who said, "Well I guess you're getting a private tour."  Todd and Josiah were the only ones there.  Todd learned a lot about how Texas won its independence.  

After the tour, they were going to watch the Texas Independence movie.  When Todd asked a different volunteer what time it would start, she responded, "Well, you're the only ones here, so I can start it now."  Not too shabby.  Josiah enjoyed the play area, too.  

They dined on Whataburger for lunch.  Todd enjoyed the stickers they put on Josiah's burger.  He said Josiah takes after me.  

They did get some Bible study time in and some hotel-relaxing time before heading out to eat again.  It was Applebee's for dinner with a Triple Chocolate Meltdown for dessert.  

We had a good Saturday at home.  Caroline and Henry made us pancakes.  It was Caroline's turn to flip them and she did well.  

They played with their neighbor-friend for hours.  Since they played a lot of video games together, we steered clear of them for the remainder of the day.  We played the Jumanji board game followed by the Minecraft board game.  

We made a quick trip to the store for bacon so we could make a breakfast pizza for dinner.  And after dinner, more board games.  It was the Silly Sentence game.  It was during this game that some of us were more critical than silly, so our night ended a little earlier than usual.  

Sunday morning, Benson let me sleep til 5.  It was the perfect time for a walk because a little after we got home, it started raining again.  It's like he knew or something.

On our drive to church this morning, Caroline said, "When I grow up, I want to be a critic."  I asked her what she wanted to critique and at first she said she wanted to critique food.  But the more she thought, the more specific she got.  She wants to be a judge on Food Network's Kids Baking Championship so she can try all their cakes and desserts.  Life goals.  

Todd and Josiah met us at church and Josiah's weekend away was finished.  Now he's counting the hours until he turns thirteen.  Of course, he has that whole day planned.