Adventure Thursday!

I started calling it "Adventure Thursday" back when the kids were really little and we'd go places like "the park" and "this other park" and sometimes someplace really cool like "the fire station." And even though the kids are all old enough now that it's not ACTUALLY an adventure, they still like piling into the car with no idea where we're going, and just doing...whatever.

Today's "adventures" included the library, Meijer Gardens, and Meijer the grocery store. Exciting!!!

This was the first time since we got our membership that we went to Meijer Gardens and just did whatever the kids wanted. We spent most of the time in the Children's Garden, and my kids proved that even big kids enjoy digging in the sand, playing hide and seek, and figuring out the old-fashioned toys in the cabin. All three kids spent ages trying to excavate all of the dinosaur bones in the sandbox and were hilariously impressed with themselves for succeeding.

When i finally managed to tear them away, we walked the boardwalk, which really is just lovely. It was all three kids' favorite part. The gardens were nearly empty today, so everything was pretty quiet, and we saw loads and loads of frogs, turtles, ducks, swans, chipmunks, squirrels, butterflies, and other creatures.

By the time we got to the farm, all three kids were fading, so we headed out. It's one of the things i love about having a membership - we don't have to try to get our money's worth out of each day. We can go for an hour or two and then just leave!

I really needed to go grocery shopping, so to make it an adventure, i bought everyone the Meijer version of the Slurpee right away, and they all sucked on those the entire trip. Yay! (Also, Zane needed new toothpaste, so i let him choose some, and he got Crayola brand, which all three kids thought was hilarious. They could not stop talking about how he was going to be brushing his teeth with melted crayons!!! Melted crayons!!! So funny!!!)

End of School Interviews (finally!)

What did you learn in school this past year?
Houston: The actual, not G-rated history of America, like that the Native Americans and Americans were not friends, and the Native Americans were just sent away. Quadratic equations. We read Animal Farm and the Anne Frank screenplay and a condensed version of Flowers for Agamemnon.

Zane: Symmetry. Food chains. Grammar. I seriously don't remember. A lot of it was washed out of my mind from the last week, because we had so many field trips.

Katrina: Lots of fractions. Cultures - like what culture is and their religion, i guess. Ecosystems. Space. Stuff like that.

What was the most interesting thing (not a field trip) you did this school year?
Houston: I actually liked writing essays. I don't know why. Last year i hated writing essays. I enjoyed writing letters from the perspective of a volcano photographer and stuff like that.

Zane: In science, we did circuits and electricity. We were building circuits and made light bulbs light up. In my group, we put like 5 batteries and 10 light bulbs, and it was really awesome. All of the light bulbs were lighting up.

Katrina: We went down to the pond and made observations about the ecosystem. And we got to make our own continent - like, you got to choose a topic (i chose reading and animals), and make the shape of the continent (we did a book), and then you got to choose like mountains, parks, islands, stuff like that.

What was the best field trip this year?
Houston: Chicago! We went to the John Hancock building and we saw the Sears Tower on the boat tour and we just walked around Chicago and i got a Chicago pen. And we did the thing in the John Hancock building where the glass goes out and it's really cool.

Zane: Lansing. We were gone all day, and i got Jupiter juice (that stuff was weird). We went to the science museum. I saw a huge eyeball - it was disgusting and awesome. We saw some enormous bones - one was like, the biggest bone ever. We went to the capital building, and we saw some really cool things like this awesome thing where you looked up and saw a bunch of stars and they were like two miles away. And on the way there, we saw a movie (Rio).

Katrina: Versluis Park. We got to go swimming. There were a lot of games and a lot of food.

Who was your favorite teacher, and why?
Houston: I liked Miss Miller because she was nice and funny and she liked what she taught (history) and it was interesting.

Zane: Miss Coughlin. I didn't have any other teachers. Wait...do you mean specials too? Then...still Miss Coughlin. She was just really nice.

Katrina: Miss Baareman, because i knew her best because she was also my Heart and Soul coach. She was really nice, and she understood what it was like to have lots of homework and be overwhelmed, so she didn't give us all the homework in the world.

What do you plan to do this summer?
Houston: Legos. Other cool stuff.... I could work on more games like Pumchecs, and make that game better....

Zane: I really want to take a long bike ride with Dad. And i'm looking forward to my birthday! Because...who doesn't?

Katrina: Make a paper mache volcano. Go to the zoo. Have ice cream. Sleep over at Alex's house and have her sleep at our house. Stuff like that.

What do you think next year's school year will be like?
Houston: Probably a lot harder and hopefully better. I'll be with my friends Chauncey and Melody.

Zane: I think it's going to be awesome! Because i'm going to go to Michigan Adventures!!! (But that's not the only reason i'm looking forward to it. Because that would just be sad.)

Katrina: Hard. Because i'll have more classes and the teachers seem meaner. One of my teachers might move up to the 7th grade (and she was my least favorite!).

Who were your school friends this year?
Houston: Anthony, Zoe, Brandon, Melody, Claire, Lance

Zane: Isaac and Finneus

Katrina: Emily, Emily, Madison, Isabella, Max, Kim, Phoebe

Summer days

I spent most of the past two days finding, choosing, and organizing pictures, and then trying to get them into a slideshow that works as a DVD for my aunt's funeral. And it is finished!

While i was glued to the computer, the kids amused themselves by being kids. They played with the dress-up clothes, concocting some elaborate game wherein they had to randomly pull out things to put on. They were entirely amused with themselves. Houston created a board game named Pumchecs, which has elaborate rules and is surprisingly enjoyable. They rode bikes and played with chalk and combined the two things with Zane's fancy chalk-drawing bike attachment.

Summer! 

RIP Aunt Marilyn

In my life, i've spent hours and hours trying to fit my Aunt Marilyn into some kind of box that i could then look at and say, "Okay. That's who she is." When we were little, she was the aunt that we were (or at least i was) a little bit afraid of. She was never afraid to scold us or tell us to be quiet. She was stubborn and opinionated and quite a packrat, but was also incredibly generous, kind, and sentimental, and she had a strong love for her family.

Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Billy lived in New York for most of my life. My family visited them for spring break when i was 13. The year before, they had visited us, bringing along Uncle Billy's niece, Monique. And so one of the first things i asked Aunt Marilyn when we got to New York was, "Are we going to see Monique while we're here?" Except i was shy and apparently spoke very quietly. Aunt Marilyn looked at me seriously but kindly and said, "Probably. But it's polite to call them black people now." I nodded (incredibly confused) and walked away. It was only later that she and my mom figured out what i had asked, which was not "Are we going to see more negros while we're here." (Much laughter ensued, mostly not by me. I was too embarrassed.)

When we were in 8th grade, Uncle Billy and Aunt Marilyn paid for us to fly to New York, and she was then our tour guide for a week. My cousin Helene is the same age as me, so the two of us went together. We went to the top of the World Trade Towers, drove through Times Square (back when there were lots and lots of places with peep shows), and...i'm sure we did lots of other fun things that i can't remember right now. The very, very best part was that we were there for the Fourth of July the year that the Statue of Liberty re-opened, and New York did a spectacular fireworks display that was synchronized and with seven (i think) different locations, all set to music. We went downtown and stood in a spot where we could see the Statue of Liberty and at least four or five different fireworks. It was the best fireworks ever, ever. (This was also the trip where i accidentally dropped a watermelon on the kitchen floor. It exploded. Aunt Marilyn was still bringing that up the last time i saw her....)

As a kid, it never struck me as odd that my Iowa-grown aunt had married a black man, way back in 1970 when the civil rights movements were still a very recent memory. That fits with her personality, though. She was the only one of her 8 siblings (as far as i know) who voted Democrat. She knew what she believed, and she stuck to it, but she was always very happy to talk (and talk and talk) with anyone about any subject.

A few months ago, she was seemingly completely healthy, and her health deteriorated so rapidly that it just stunned everyone. She was the one in a million people who gets Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which explains why the doctors couldn't figure out what was going on. In the end, it wasn't a shock when she died, and because it was expected, it's pretty easy to just go on as normal. But whenever i stop to actually think that i won't get to see her or talk with her, and that there won't be any new memories to be made with her, i'm really sad. She will be so very missed.

Our dollar store fireworks draw all the neighbor kids to the yard

Houston unintentionally amused me a few times today. First, he fell coming up the basement steps and totally skinned both legs (not the amusing part, poor guy). Katrina and i gave him lots of sympathy, and after a few minutes he went into the other room, where he promptly slammed his toe into a table. Several minutes later, Houston was all, "I'm pretty sure i might have actually broken my toe!"
Me: "Which one? Let me see it."
Him: "This one. No, wait. That one. One of those two."
Me: "Okay then. I'm pretty sure you'll be all right." (One of my general rules of thumb: If you can't remember which toe you "broke," it's probably not broken.)

Whenever we do pizza-movie night, Juanito prepares Houston two normal pizza crusts. Houston then rolls the sides up so that he has really thick crusts, and then fills the inside with tons of sauce. Tonight he rolled the sides up extra far, so that his pizzas looked extra tiny. I commented on them, and Houston said, "Yeah. I'm not that hungry tonight."
Me: "Um...you know that it's the same amount...."
Him, looking somewhat sheepish: "Yeah...."

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *  

Juanito bought some (very tame) fireworks at the dollar store the other day, and we did some of them tonight. There were poppers - the kind that you throw on the ground and they go POP! (Houston and i thought we'd be cool, so i threw one in his direction, and he used his arm to swat it to another spot...except that it totally popped on his arm. I was totally apologetic, but he was all, "Look! It burned a tiny bit! Do it again!!!") Juanito took his entire bag of poppers and emptied them all into a wrapper to make one giant popper, because...Juanito. There were those weird black snake things. And there were the kind that spin around and scream and light up, some of which pop and spark a few seconds after the spinning and screaming stops. The first time that happened, Beth and i both totally screamed.

In our neighborhood, there seem to always be loud fireworks everywhere. Tonight Katrina was all, "I can't wait until fireworks season is finished! It's SO LOUD when i'm trying to sleep!" Ours were really quiet, but they were apparently loud enough to draw neighbor kids to us. I'm fine with that, except that they're not quite as cautious as i am, and they make me really nervous. I'm all "Back up! Back up farther! Farther!!!" as they inch back a teensy bit at a time...and then run at the fireworks the second they stop. Meanwhile, i'm all, "Unsafe! Unsafe!!!!" (One of the kids was all, "My sister is 10, and she never ever brushes her teeth, so her teeth are all breaking off in pieces." So i guess their parents aren't exactly concerned with teaching them good choices?)

Harry Potter! In the Park!

Tonight Houston, Katrina, Beth, and i went to "Harry Potter in the Park." It was fun - a little bit cheesy, and definitely put on by amateurs rather than professionals, but fun.

We got sorted into houses. They gave us a sheet of paper with 10 questions on it, including things like "Left or Right?" and "Black or White?" and then did a whole little Sorting Hat ceremony for each person. And amazingly, every single one of us was sorted into the house that we actually belong in, so somehow those 10 questions were pretty accurate. Houston, Katrina, and i are all Hufflepuffs (according to Pottermore, the Harry Potter website that JK Rowling herself helped build), and Beth is a Ravenclaw.

(Side note: Hufflepuff is widely regarded as the lamest of houses, and yet, i think there were more people sporting Hufflepuff scarves/shirts/etc. than any other house. So.) (I don't know what that's meant to prove, but it made me happy.)

Blandford Nature Center came and did a whole talk about owls, including 5-6 of the owls they own. The owls were actually Houston and Katrina's favorite part of the whole shindig. (They WERE really cute.)

We got to make wands and flying key necklaces, and Katrina "transfigured" a rock into an owl (using paint). We tossed gnomes. We watched "wizard rock bands." We walked around and smiled a lot about all of the other people wearing their Harry Potter shirts or (better yet) fully dressed up as characters.

So yes. Fun! Yay!

Fun with friends!

September came over for the day today, and the kids were thrilled, especially Katrina. September's one of those weird friends that my kids mostly only know about because we talk about her family fairly often, but when they were little, Sep's family lived in town and we saw them regularly, so they totally were friends back then. And since they totally used to be friends, they're still totally friends as far as my kids are concerned.

For the entire morning and most of the afternoon, the kids played games. They taught September Exploding Kittens and This game was not playtested and Dweebies and Loopz. We all played Uno Roboto. They played Twister and ... i don't even know what else. And September helped Katrina finish up the game that she'd made up and had been working on finishing.

I wish we had neighbor kids that my kids really liked, because they all had so much fun and played together incredibly well.

And then, this afternoon, Juanito woke up just in time for me to leave him with the kids and run away for dinner and a movie with Beth. We say "The Boss," which has two actresses i love, and which i liked better than i might have, but not as much as i wanted to. I laughed really hard quite a lot, but then there were an equal number of parts where i was cringing in uncomfortableness. So...it all kind of evened out, and i liked it okay, but it's not one that i'd want to watch over and over.

Hanging out with Beth was fun, though! Yay!