Plumbers and Protocol

We had plumbers scheduled for the first four days this week.  On Monday, they dug.  They tunneled under our house all the way to the middle where the kitchen sink rests.  On Tuesday they fixed all the pipes leading from the kitchen and the boys bathroom.  It was a very loud day with a lot of pipe cutting and lots of noises under the house.  They completed all the repairs that day. Yay.  On Wednesday they spent all day putting the dirt back in.  It was a lot of shoveling and running the hose.  On Thursday they were supposed to complete the job, but they didn't show up.  There was only a small pile of dirt left anyway.  While we were out on Friday, they came to take care of the rest of the dirt.  Now Josiah can take his extra long showers without fear.  

When they were fixing the pipes on Tuesday, we were not able to use water at all.  It was a rough day to not have water, because it was Josiah's protocol night.  His class went downtown to a fancy restaurant and a show at the theater.  They were supposed to put into practice all the etiquette they had learned.  We ate at a restaurant called Birrapouretti's, which, as the name might imply, did not specialize in Josiah's favorite chicken tenders.  Ironically they did have a cheeseburger, so he ordered that instead.  His whole class used all their etiquette pointers and were super respectful in the restaurant.  We got one check for the fifteen of us which was quite a sight.   

Then we headed to the theater.  It was opening night for the musical Newsies.  As we found our seats, Josiah said to me, I hope I like it.  I didn't really like the movie.  It was very good and he ended up really liking it.  The dancing was my favorite.  We ended up closing out the theater because we kept taking so many pictures.  There were spots inside the theater...

and out...

By the time we walked down towards the parking garage, the cast was coming out of the Stage Entrance doors.  Some of Josiah's group went to get autographs and pictures.  Josiah got the lead character's autograph.  It was his first performance before a live audience, so he did incredibly well knowing that!

I then dropped off Josiah and six of his classmates at Aidan's house.  There were nine boys total and they stayed up all night long with the intention of setting a world record in Minecraft.  They succeeded and their names are up there for the: (deep breath)  Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Cooperative Kill Bosses Glitched Set Seed No Touchscreen Glitch All Bosses.  Should you ever want to check it out, Josiah is listed as The Drippy Goat...

After such a busy night out on the town, Henry, Caroline, and I did not get home until close to midnight.  One of the other moms hung out with them all night so they would not be alone.  They got to go out to eat, so they were happy.  

By Friday, Josiah and his whole class were back at Aidan's house again.  This time they watched Hamilton together.  But, before they turned that on, all eyes were focused on Josiah and Bobby's last Good Morning Greece episode.  It was thirty minutes long, so they had never been able to show it in its entirety on their CC days.  

From the Watch Party, many of the boys went to another friend's house and helped set up for an ice cream social.  There was a full ice cream bar, but after the goodies were eaten, they played many Minute to Win It games.  This particular friend lives an hour from our house, so it was another late night.  At the end of the evening, we dropped off all his friends and along the way we picked up Caroline at her friend's house.  We didn't get home until 11:30 p.m.  Caroline said she does not like staying out late.  I don't think Benson knew what was going on.  

While Josiah was off with his friends on Friday, Caroline had a park day with a few of hers.  She wanted to go back to a park we hadn't visited since before covid.  Caroline was six then, so the park was a little different than she remembered.  Everything was 'smaller.'  She had fun with two friends and then went home with her friend Sarah for the rest of the day.  You can't tell it from the pictures, but it was really hot.  The heat index was 108° every day this week.

While Josiah and Caroline were at their friend's houses, Henry and I got salads for dinner.  He's my salad guy.  Then we played a game of HORSE with the basketball.  This was the first time I have ever, and probably will ever, win a game of HORSE against Henry, so I took a photo to commemorate it.  It was all legitimate.  I was crushing it.  ;-)

Another day, Henry and I played his second Clue Mystery game.   This one was even more fun and Josiah bowed out early so he could play it with his friends later this summer.  This time, Henry guessed all three things correctly.  

This week also served as the last week of jiu-jitsu for Henry and Caroline.  The month of June is just too crammed to keep it up.  On their last day they played shark tank, which both kids really enjoy.  They are put in groups of four and then numbered, 1, 2, 3, 4.  #1 comes out and (individually) fights 2, then 3, then 4.  Then #2 comes out and fights them all.  They did many, many rounds starting from different positions.  Caroline won all of her matches.  Henry won most of his.  Each round is only 20 seconds, so it goes fast and they get sweaty.  The owner of their dojo spoke with me for a few minutes asking where we were moving.  When I gave him the name of they city (not thinking he would have ever heard of it), he said his uncle lived in that same city.  Small world.  

Henry finished out his weekend with a pool party.  His MARCH friends got together at 'M's' house, ate burgers and watermelon, and swam the night away.  Henry has a lot of fun with these boys.  We are trying to do all the things so all three kids came get in as much friend time as they can.  

Iowa Assessments

The kids did Iowa Assessments at the beginning of the week.  I wanted them to get tested here in Texas while they were still comfortable with their surroundings.  I do not know what South Carolina will request of us, so we did it partially to cover all our bases.  Henry and Caroline had never done a standardized test before, so they were somewhat nervous going into it because of the unknown.  At pick-up, however, Henry got in the car and said, They need to put me in eighth grade because that was so easy.  Alrighty then.  Good thing you're going into eighth grade.  Caroline felt mostly confident about her test.  Josiah was confident about parts and not so much about other sections.  

On the second day, they got to the car and Caroline relayed they had vocab that day and it was very easy.  All three kids said their vocab sections were easy.  Then Caroline said they had a capitalization section.  She thinks she got most of those.  And then they moved on to punctuation.  Caroline said she did not see the need for punctuation and she doesn't have time for that in her life.  She thinks she got most of them wrong.  That's fun. 

The proctor sat everyone next to someone in a different grade level.  Caroline sat next to a 3rd grader.  At times she glanced at that child's test.  During the vocab section, Caroline noticed the kid got stuck on a problem.  She looked at it and it said, vision.  In Caroline's mind she kept saying, "A! A!" because A was eyesight.  

It'll be interesting to see the results.  All three were unsure of their social studies sections.  I know we do that a little differently than the traditional schools.  I warned the kids ahead of time that there may be stuff they don't know because we don't always do things in the same order as the schools.  Just give it your best guess.  

We had doctor and dentist appointments all this week.  When the dentist told me none of the kids had cavities, I was able to exhale one last time.  Caroline will miss her hygienist a lot.  They always chatted and Caroline really liked her.  

Benson checked out okay, too.  He had an appointment on Friday morning to get all his vaccines up to date.  Typically, Todd has dog doctor duty while I have kid doctor duty.  I hate going to the vet.  It always makes me very anxious because I don't like having to control him so close to other dogs.  Benson checked out fine though.  Now that we're moving, Todd is back on dog duty!  Henry is always my vet companion and, as thanks, he enjoyed himself a mocha from Starbucks.  

Mid-week, the kids helped me change the headlights in my car.  They mostly observed, but they got to see it was possible to do it yourself.  Save some bank.  Thank you, YouTube.  Then the boys wanted to pretend to drive the car.  From their immediate stances of recklessness, they will not be driving together until they can carry their own car insurance.  

sleeping at the wheel...

Later in the week, we met up with friends.  The kids ate pizza at home, while the adults went out to eat.  Then we hit up a new movie in the theaters - IF.  We knew a storm was brewing, and by the time we arrived at the theater, the sky was close to black.  As soon as we parked, the rain hit and we ran.  It was a massive thunderstorm.  While we were watching the movie, we could hear the thunder and rain overtop the movie which was already very loud.  Later we learned that it was a Derecho storm with damage for 1050 miles - from Austin to Cape Canaveral.  There was a lot of damage in our general area with power lines and downed trees.  Fortunately our house remained unscathed. 

the movie we didn't see

the movie we did see

Because of the storm, we missed out on a Sherlock Holmes play we were going to see downtown Houston on Friday.  They cancelled it for storm damage in the area.

Josiah had a busy weekend.  On Friday he went to a friend's house for an end of school year party.  While Josiah was partying, the kids and I had a playdoh competition.  We used a random word generator, created the object, and the other person had to guess.  Some of the favorites were Henry's house and Caroline's "playdoh" - I guessed circles, bubbles, pancakes.  Nope.  Playdoh.  

The next night, Josiah had his friends over at our house for Jam Session #3.  They made it through seven songs together.  This time, they had a drummer come, so Josiah was on vocals the whole time.  It is so nice that he has friends who enjoy making music as much as he does. 

We're always high class and like to get our new recipes from the Costco magazines.  I made a lemon shrimp and asparagus pasta meal one night this week.  This one was a good one.  Caroline was enjoying it until I gave them the warning about the effects of asparagus on their pee.  Caroline exclaimed, This is asparagus?!!  Yes.  I don't like asparagus!  You did 30 seconds ago.  That's when I thought it was something else.  Well. Your pee is going to smell.  

This week we have plumbers coming from Monday through Thursday.  They have to tunnel under the house to fix some leaks.  At least the rain has stopped for their coming.  

Starbase

Caroline had her Starbase camp this week.  This was a free (amen!) STEM camp on the Ellington Joint Reserve Base in Houston.  Three kids met us at our house each morning and I drove the four of them to camp.  (It is over an hour from our house, yet still in Houston.)  We met in a parking lot across the street from the base, because we had to pack the minivans with 6 kids each since only certain cars could go on base.  I was a "bus" for the kids.  Each day four vanloads of kids went through the gate.  That first day, I discovered I was the only one with a gate pass.  For some reason mine had been emailed to me.  I thought that was a great thing to already have it.  But then when we got to the gate, they let me go through while the other three vans had to wait for an escort to bring their passes.  The MP at the gate gave me directions using shapes of buildings and airplanes.  Turn right at the cubic building, turn right again at the F-16.  I looked up at him with a look that caused the officer behind him to say, "You got this, it's just three right turns."  And so I went through the gate.  You know what this base didn't have?  Street signs.  Not one.  I passed one building that was clearly not cubic enough.  I took the first right turn, but then I really had no idea if it was correct or not.  There were more than one airplane.  I don't know an F-16.  I really didn't want to drive down somewhere I was not authorized to be. So, I sat for what seemed like forever for the other three cars with their escort to catch up.  After that first day, I got my three right turns down and it was quite simple.    

Day 1 - 

They learned about molecules and elements.  They had to build an element and take a picture of it using the iPad and then it would give them information for their notebooks.  

A melted ice experiment was a favorite because the ice on the metal plate melted faster than the ice on the wood.  

They controlled a robot with an iPad.  This was the most favorite activity of the day.

They had an outside activity using Bristlebot bugs that moved using solar power.  Caroline finished hers and was just waiting for her partner.  

They also did this experiment which we've done quite a few times in the past.  Can you tell that by Caroline's expression?  Been there, done that. 

Since NASA is associated in some capacity with the Ellington base, when we got home, we told Josiah that the kids got to do the astronaut training apparatus.  He believed us.  And he was incredibly excited that she got to do such a cool thing. 

Caroline's partner was Johnathan.  Johnathan's dad works for NASA and one of his previous jobs was to train astronauts using the astronaut training apparatus.  He has had many very cool roles during his tenure there.  Now he's in management and his job is a lot less exciting.  

Day 2 - 

The second chaperone's child was sick Monday and Tuesday, so I was asked to chaperone on Tuesday.  Caroline was not thrilled by that news.  However, I enjoyed seeing what they got to do each day.  This day they learned latitude and longitude, as well as degrees, minutes, seconds for GPS.  Then they went geocaching outside.  Even though they could see some of the things to find, they had to find particular items which were numbered, and that made it more difficult.  This was one of Caroline's favorite things for the whole week.    

They made circuits.  They had a fan, blower, buzzer, dimmer, and LED light.  They had to check the voltage of each and then see how many they could connect with it still working.  Nobody's blowers worked, but one kid figured out to disconnect the voltage reader and just use the battery and got it to work.  This was an Aha! moment for the kids.  Then they had to come up with a real world solution to eliminate the yellow ant population that was introduced to Australia using ideas from their circuitry kits.  Most used the fan in reverse to suck up the ants and grind them or laser them (LED).  

At the end of the day, they were given laptops and they did a fun search for objects in a CAD program.  They all really enjoyed this.  It was not a simple seek-and-find.  The objects were quite hidden and you had to manipulate the rooms to find things.  It was a fun activity to do when their brains were tired from the rest of the day's activities.  

One of the teachers told us that the plane we pass every day on the way in was nicknamed the Vomit Comet and it was used by Tom Hanks and others during the filming of Apollo 13.  It is the plane that flies at 45° up and down to allow them to experience weightlessness.  When we came home on Day 2, we told Josiah that they took the kids up in the Vomit Comet and they got to experience weightlessness.  He believed us.  24 weightless 5th and 6th graders vomiting all over an airplane at great heights without their parental units.  He asked if I went up too.  Of course I did.  

Day 3 - 

They used hard plastic straws and made them into rockets.  When they shot them off, Caroline got hers to go the furthest of all.  

They learned area and volume.  They also worked on a 3D gyro sphere on their laptops.  

I got to go on base a little early to be a 'bus' driver for their field trip Wednesday afternoon.  It was such a short drive.  We could literally see the building from the Starbase building, but they would not allow the kids to walk on the base.  So, we drove them one minute down the road.  As we were waiting to enter the building, this NASA plane was grounded nearby.  This one goes so high in the atmosphere that the pilots have to wear astronaut suits to keep their pressure regulated.   

While we were waiting to go in, we watched an F-16 take off.  The runway was literally on the other side of that fence above, so it was incredibly loud.  What made it even cooler was that immediately after taking off, it took a very sharp left turn.  I can only imagine what it felt like inside the plane.  

We went in a big building that was designated for the Coast Guard.  After walking through a very small office area, we entered their expansive bay which held three of their smaller Coast Guard helicopters.  Our tour guide gave us an explanation of the helicopters as well as the four roles inside: pilot, co-pilot, mechanic (who runs the back), and a swimmer.  Our guide, who was six months out of flight school, was the co-pilot.  These particular helicopters can only fly 3 hours before running out of fuel, which doesn't seem that long.  The kids were allowed to look inside, but not actually get in the helicopter.  

While we were in the bay, another F-16 took off.  Still really loud!  Outside of the bay were Apache helicopters.  

When we got home, we told Josiah that the kids were given rides in the Coast Guard helicopters with the doors open.  He believed us.  

Day 4 - 

They did more experiments this day.  They tested different types of fabric and how well it absorbed water and Kool-Aid.  

They put water into baking soda, corn starch, and a gel to see what happened.  Caroline said this was a cool experiment, but she got assigned the baking soda beaker, so it was the least exciting one.  

They used computers to fix a satellite.  

They had to build a strong and stable structure.  Caroline said she and her teammate used all the blocks and it took 50 hits on the plastic tub to completely demolish their building.  

They also tested what was the best item to trap heat for a trip to Mars.  They discovered that bubble wrap worked well.  

In the afternoon, they got to go into an inflated room which was their simulator for their mission to Mars.  Within the room the kids had different roles.  There was a medical bay, life support, navigation, rovers, drones, and one that we think was communications.  Their goal was to take off, get into Mars' orbit, and then land on Mars.  There was a time limit and as well as a limited oxygen supply.  Caroline said the tent structure would shake according to what they were doing.  She was on the medical team which she said was not very exciting for that particular mission.  Her group did make it with 40 seconds to spare.  

When we got home on Day 4, we told Josiah they flew to Mars.  He no longer believed us and he was not too happy to discover they hadn't done the other things we said they did on the previous days either.  We were dubbed liars...

Day 5 - 

This day they measured liquids and tested how many drops of water they could collect on a penny.  Caroline got 61 drops on one penny.  

They looked at capillary action.

They also made an egg protector that crash landed into Mars.  

At the end of the day they had a small graduation ceremony.  She had a good time this week.  Despite driving over 700 miles over the course of the week (it doesn't seem possible, but I measured it each day), the kids enjoyed their car time, too.  There was a lot of singing and laughing, joke telling and game playing.  

Driving to Starbase each day took us over the Brazos River.  Whenever I have driven over this bridge before, the water was so far below it that the bridge looked unnecessarily high.  Typically there are steep cliffs of dirt on either side.  With all the rain recently, this was the height of the water this week.  On either side are the tops of trees.  I have no idea how high the water got during Hurricane Harvey, but I have never seen the water even remotely this high before.  When the water recedes I'll have to take an 'after' to show the normal depth.  

The boys had a quieter week of their own.  They were given a list of things to complete each day as I was off driving.  

Henry is finishing out his last few weeks of jiu-jitsu.  

The kids made me very nice cards for Mother's Day.  I was very impressed by the time they each took.  Josiah gave me a handmade candle to go with his card.  

Henry's card had tickets that I could pull out.  He told me only to pull one a day.  The first one was for a free hug, so I said I'd save that one for when he's mad.  Then he wanted me to pull another ticket out just to see how it worked.  The second ticket informed me to say "Henry is the best."  I can see his thought process for the tickets.  He has quite a few in there, too.  Caroline's card was incredibly sweet.  I felt very blessed.  They're good kids.  

Later Henry insisted on making dinner - homemade pizzas.  We buy the pizza crusts already frozen and they are quite good.  

The week ahead is full of doctor and dentist appointments.  Even Benson has his check-up.