32 posts tagged “kids adventures”
I had to ask myself: If I'm just now finally getting around to cleaning up a half-empty wine glass from last night, and it's 4:00 in the afternoon, does that mean it's been a really good weekend? Or does it just mean we're being a little too irresponsible and playing too much? Either way, we're thankful for the fun times.
The highlights...
On Friday we had some good play time with our friends the Dickmanns at a park nearby. The kids ran around and played while we adults had some good conversation time. Then we all went for a short hike through the woods, which we always love.
Friday night I was able to go out for awhile. Over 50 of the women from our church went on a retreat this weekend*, but for those of us who could not go, Sandy hosted an "Unretreat Girls Night Out" which turned out to be a lot of fun.
Saturday, we all bounded out of bed to head our separate directions (which is why the dishes did not get done and the wine glasses were not picked up!). Pete took Strider and Rayna uptown to meet Poppa and see the Harlem Globetrotters play. Before the game, the sports league Strider plays in arranged to have the kids get a chance to play on the court, etc., so they loved that. Plus there was both a trolley ride and a train ride, and lunch at a restaurant, thrown into the mix, so all in all they all had a great day.
Meanwhile, I took the 2 younger boys to our neighborhood's annual Kite Day. Colsen had fun making a couple of crafts and seeing all the kites -- although he may have had just as much fun seeing the men with their lawnmowers in the yards we passed on the way walking to and from the field. Then the 3 of us packed up and went to run some errands. It makes me smile to think about how I would have dreaded taking 2 kids to the store with me when I just had Strider and Rayna. But now it seems much simpler-- and even enjoyable. I love the feeling of growing into motherhood. I think I've been a very late bloomer in this arena, but slowly and surely I'm feeling a little more capable as the years go by. :)
Saturday night (just minutes after we finally got the house and kitchen picked up) Katie and Graham came over, bringing Shepherd's Pie for dinner, and a couple games to play afterwards. It was a very fun evening with them... no pictures to show, though.
I was very thankful for a Day of Rest today... though I'm not sure how I should feel about the fact that I needed a break after so much playing!
*As a side note, I always enjoy going to church on the Sundays when all the women are gone -- it's fun to see how the kids show up, if their clothes match or not, and how bedraggled the dads all look! But I have to say, I was very impressed today. In fact, the scraggliest-looking kids were probably my own. So many dads were there with smiles, looking very sweet with their children.)
I heard about some new group golf lessons being offered for kids at a course nearby our house, and since they were quite inexpensive, we decided to sign Strider up. It's turned out to be a great deal -- no one else signed up in this timeslot, so Strider is now essentially receiving private lessons -- it's just him and his teacher! The teacher has been wonderful, -- he apparently played in the European version of the PGA, and has been a pro for years. And to make the deal even sweeter, the instructor told Pete this week that if he wanted to start bringing his clubs, he can join the lesson as well! (As Pete says, "I found out that everything I've been doing all these years is wrong, so it will be good to get real lessons.") Two-for-one -- love that!
Rayna, meanwhile, has been going to a Praise Dance class that a couple of teenagers have been offering. It's been such a blessing for her -- she LOVES it.
And Colsen has been taking his love of TOOLS to the next level....
And as for Miles.... he spent last week enjoying one of his new favorite activities: being held by Gee-Gee. Pete's mom visited for the week and it was so great to have a 3rd adult around... those extra 2 hands make all the difference!
Knowing my mother's abhorrence of snakes, this would not have been a fun activity for her to be at, or to hear about.... but for our kids, it was a different story.
This morning our friend Elizabeth turned 7, so Rayna went to her party. The whole family ended up crashing, though, when we found out what the activity was... a man with all kinds of live animals!. The guy had quite a show planned... from the very beginning when he pulled a snake out of his front shirt pocket, to when there was suddenly a lizard on the top of his head, to when he hauled out a 25-lb tortoise that Rayna was convinced was coming after her.
The first big attractions were the snakes... including a python that for some reason the kids (and a few of the adults) thought was fun to wear as a belt. Crazy if you ask me.
And there were other creepy crawlies, like geckos, bearded dragon lizard things, frogs, turtles, as well as the cute and furry animals that everyone loved to hold. In each case, the man brought around the animal and each kid got a turn to hold or pet it.
Strider clapped with glee -- literally-- each time a new exotic one was lifted out of its secret crate, and at one point turned to me and said, "This would be the BEST job!" Rayna was a little less enthusiastic about some of the creatures, but she did think the huge tortoise was pretty cool... once it wasn't chasing her. I remained mostly a hands-off observer, having inherited a small/large bit of my mom's fear and distaste of reptiles, I guess. But I kept myself entertained by constantly swatting my kids' hands away from their faces and reapplying hand sanitizer every 5 minutes... Something about the combination of a bunch of kids with runny noses, exotic caged animals, and the fact that I'm about to bring a newborn into this world was making me a little wired.
It was quite the fun birthday party, though... afterwards we all went outside and played in this spring-like weather -- beautiful. And the kids are not likely to forget this experience for a long time!
I just downloaded pictures from my camera, and they pretty much tell the stories...
Some school fun:
(The pictures are not that great quality I know... I forgot my camera on the field trip so had to figure out how to use the camera on my phone... which I'm impressed I did. The field trip was quite fun -- some good hands-on crafts and activities -- although the best part was probably "getting to have lunch with Poppa afterwards!")
Some extracurricular fun
(Terrible picture again, I know, but still it's proof that we can still act like adults sometimes.)
Pete and I finally went out on a real date this past weekend! It was a lot of fun -- especially because we saved $20 with an online coupon for McCormick and Schmick's. :) We decided we were celebrating -- not just ten-year, but the tenure process, too. (get it? the words sound the same, at least down here in the South they do...) Next week is our 10th anniversary, but I have to work that night so we won't be going on any dates then. And this past week Pete turned in a big portfolio of information to apply for tenure at his job, so he was relieved to have that done and was ready to relax.
And, a haircut.
While I was at work on Saturday morning, Pete rode his bike with the kids down to our neighborhood barber to have Colsen's hair cut for the first time there. Everyone loves going to see Mr. Tom, so it was a treat for everyone.
When I got home that afternoon, I went up to see Colsen in his crib just before he took his nap.
I leaned over and said, "Hey sweetie, did you get a haircut?"
Behind his pacifier he said, "Haircut. Tom did it. Scissors."
And then realizing I had just gotten home and he needed to make sure I was all set, he followed up with, "Work? Phone away! Keys away! Purse away!" I assured him I would make sure all those things were taken care of, and then he was content to let me leave so he could get some sleep.
This year we've decided to do Classical Conversations as part of the kids' schooling, and yesterday was our first day. It was a great experience for us all.... Basically it's a program for a bunch of kids (I think there are about 90 in the part we were in) that meets from 9-1 on Wednesdays. During the week we all have a study guide to go through, and then on Wednesdays we get together to go over the material, and learn some new things. After a 20-minute assembly for everyone, the kids all break up into their individual classrooms by age group and meet with their teachers for the next few hours.
Strider, of course, completely loved it and almost hasn't stopped talking about his first day for the last 24 hours. He is in a class with 8 other boys his age - -- a whole class of just boys -- and 2 of them were his good friends, so he was excited to go. They did all kinds of games and experiments, etc., and each week each student will be doing a presentation on one of the 50 states, so that should prove interesting.
And Rayna had a great time, too, and actually did better than I thought she might. The class she is in does all the same material as the other classes, so even the Kindergarteners are learning Latin words, English grammar definitions (yesterday's was all about what an "infinitive" is), science terminology (yesterday's was about the cell and the 4 types of tissue in the human body), American history, geography (the names and capitals of the 50 states) and Timeline cards. So for 2.5 hours she (mostly) paid attention and tried to participate in all the activities. She will tell you that the coloring sheets and snack time were her favorite parts, though. :)
My favorite part is that 5 of the families involved are friends of ours from church, so I'm going to enjoy getting to see them every week, and it will be fun to have our kids all learning together. Plus, I guess I'm going to get to learn a bunch, too, because I certainly do not know all these English grammar definitions, science questions, or Latin words!
Last week Poplar Streams Academy swung wide its doors and welcomed the students back for another exciting year of acquiring valuable wisdom and knowledge. Or something like that.
We started off our school year with a field trip (for Strider) to the Charlotte Museum of History where he went to a program about maps and their role in history... something about detective work and investigation... he loved it anyway. And then, at home, we did our annual Treasure Hunt as the kids searched for all the new books and supplies we'll be using this year -- it was a hit again.
The other excitement for this year is that we had t-shirts made for our school, so all the kids (even Colsen) were excited to get to wear their new shirts. :)
(See how they've changed since last year!)
This year looks to be more intense than last year was.... Strider is in 2nd grade now and has a lot to cover. I spent some time during our NY trip coming up with a master schedule for all his subjects.... it ended up looking like this:
I know it's too small to read, but basically it details what he needs to do in 13 different categories/subjects for each week of the year. I never pass up an opportunity to make an Excel spreadsheet!
Rayna, on the other hand, is in Kindergarten now so in some respects her schedule should be much simpler. But I'm actually more nervous about teaching her this year than Strider... Pray that I have enough patience!
And Colsen, well, he will be our Wild Card. He definitely likes to right in the mix with everything, so we'll see how that all goes!
If the first week is any indication, we're in for a loud, crazy, spastic -- and hopefully fun -- year!
Gotta love summer!
Here are some of our highlights of this past week:
1. Summer Celebration
This is our church's version of Vacation Bible School, and the kids had a blast at it. This was our fourth year to participate, and I loved seeing how the very same teenagers in our church have been involved as helpers all along. Four years ago they were shy, scrawny middle-schoolers, but now they've transformed into strong, compassionate leaders. It was very cool to see how they taught the younger kids, played with them, prayed with them, etc. Our kids are blessed with good role models.
2. Cousins Camp
Rayna went on the inaugural session of Cousins Camp with Ava this week, and had a great time with my parents. She came home with this great photo book they made showing all their adventures, and she's been singing her new Cousins Camp Song for the last couple days. Looks like it was a big hit -- and Strider can't wait for his turn next month.
3. Game Night
And because summer is not just about the kids having fun, Pete and I arranged for some good ol' play time with some of our friends as well! We had some folks over for dinner and a rousing game of Balderdash.... entertaining and informative! :)
June has been a great month!
While Rayna is at Nonna and Poppa's house with Ava today, the boys and I went to have our own adventure... at Aunt Katie's house! It was a perfect day for going to the pool, so we all went for a nice, relaxing dip. Yeah right -- relaxing it was NOT. Strider wanted to play Marco Polo constantly, and Colsen was a full-time job for both Katie AND me, as he insisted on trying to swim on his own constantly (he would yell if we tried to touch or hold him). His favorite activity was to jump up and down the steps for a few minutes and then run up out of the pool, run along the edge and then jump full-speed back into the water wherever he wanted. Needless to say, this about gave me a heart attack as I raced to chase after him and fish him out of the deep water. So the morning was filled with the sounds of
"Marco! Marco! Marco!" (both boys saying this over and over and over)
"Set....Go!" (Colsen saying this everytime he was about to jump down a step or off the wall)
and me screaming, "No Colsen! No!" over and over.
Poor Katie was very patient.
Finally we convinced Colsen to let us hold him in the water a little bit.... but he got tired of this quickly and wanted to move on to our next activity.... the "Gym." Even though he had never heard this word before Strider talked about it today, and had certainly never been to one, he had that innate male radar working that told him this Gym concept was something he would really, really like. So he kept saying it over and over, until we finally headed over...
And it was just the paradise both boys thought it would be.
So, all in all, it was a fun adventure for them.... I thought they would have been really worn out and ready for a nap when we got home, but it turns out I was the only one who needed to sleep!
Well it has been a busy, happy week around here! We had our final morning of Back Yard Explorers Camp today, and it was a good finale. Thankfully the whole week went well -- none of the 23 kids got hurt or bit by fire ants!
Over the past four days (I already wrote about the first day), the kids have:
- learned about explorers (Marco Polo, Magellan and the Vikings)
- used a Treasure Map and magnifying glasses with their clues to solve a big riddle
- created and crafted (nature collages, binoculars, compasses, stickers)
- gone on hunts (bugs, birds, and plastic frogs!)
- discovered trees while blindfolded
- learned/sorted various kinds of leaves
- and discovered, named and claimed their own "lands" for their teams.
They've also played a lot of rounds of games: Capture the Flag, 4-Way Capture the Flag, Cross My Ocean, Owls and Crows, and Elbow Tag.
My favorite part was seeing how the older kids were so patient all week.... They really were great with the younger ones. Thank you guys!
Here are some of the pictures from the week....
And if you want to see any other pictures.... here are the rest!
I learned a bit about myself this week, too..... Next year we may do things a little differently as I've discovered I'm better at coming up with ideas, plans, themes, etc., but not as good at the actual implementation. :)
For now, though, I'm off to take a nap!!
Today was our first day of BYEC -- and we had a lot of fun! About 20 kids came, including some older one who came to help with the younger ones (thank you!), and despite being still in the midst of this massive heat wave, we were able to play and explore in the back yard all morning.
After some practice of using our senses to explore, and starting our individual "Explorers' Kits," we divided into teams for some scavenger hunts. Our story today was about the life of John James Audubon (the bird guy), and it wasn't quite as exciting for the kids... hopefully tomorrow's lesson about the Vikings will be more gripping! But they did enjoy going around with their magnifying glasses and finding things to draw in their mini-notebooks, as Audubon used to do. Actually, a few of the kids were just so creative, they found alternate uses for the magnifying glasses, and apparently started burning leaves. As soon as I got wind of it, believe me, that was extinguished -- in all ways. :) Interspersed with several "cooling off" activities -- involving squirt guns, and eventually the garden hose -- we played several rounds of Sardines, Black-Cat and Hide-n-Seek. I forget how much energy kids can have -- even on hot days!
Some of my favorite summer memories as a kid center around a whole bunch of kids playing games in our yard all day long -- including the ones above, as well as Capture the Flag, Spud, Soccer, and our made-up game of "Capture." I'm thankful that our kids are having the opportunity to play these kinds of yard games with a large group. More kids = More fun!
Hopefully the rest of the week will be just as exciting.... although perhaps a tad less hot.
(If you want to see any of the pictures larger, just click on them)
