Tuesday

J: STARBURST!
I: Why did you say it so loud?
J: Because I added an exclamation point.

Well, I guess he's learning something this summer.

The Lego chopsticks didn't work very well.

Last week: pictures I missed

Science camp involved a balance.  It was interesting for a while, but they didn't come back to it at all the rest of the week.  Joshua learned "water is heavy."

We had a mini-birthday party for Isaac.  (His first of two.)

Friday Joshua brought up that he wanted to go back to a garage sale and pick up an item that he had seen.  I was hoping that he'd forget about it, but I suppose that holding off on a purchase is a good life skill too.  Anyway, we had Mr. Ears (left) and now we have Baby Ears (right).  Baby Ears also spins, which filled Joshua will delight.  They're loud, but the boys have been enjoying them.

Joshua made an elaborate battle the Ben, Big Puppy, and me to do.  At the end we got badges that he had made.

Friday: on masks

The power went out for a bit this evening and I left my phone upstairs.  It annoyingly doesn't backup the photos unless I open the app.  So I thought I'd talk about masks a bit.  It has been such a divisive topic in this country and worthy of documentation.

Yesterday we went to garage sales.  A few people wore masks, but most did not.  Now yes, we were outside.  Most of the time we were at least 6 feet from people, but not all the time.  Isaac and I wore a mask but Joshua didn't because the mask I brought for him was too large.

On Wednesday I went to Meijer.  All of the people were masked.

Today I picked up groceries from Family Fare.  Now we stayed in the car so I only saw people that were already outside, but it seemed like less than half the people were wearing or holding masks. 

People do seem to be masking more, but it is not as much as I'm hoping yet.

Thursday: in pictures

Joshua made a ton of Lego things today, but my favorite was the stethoscope.

Today was neighborhood garage sales.  I gave them each $5 and it didn't completely burn a hole in their pocket.  They ended up splitting the cost of some foam stairs to use in their obstacle courses.

Our microwave finally died.  It's reset itself a few times lately, so I was wondering.  I replaced the fuse, but that didn't fix it.  So meal plans quickly changed because we had limited time.  (Although by the time I got back with Chick-Fil-A the food had thawed in the pan and it would have been fine.)  Speaking of Chick-Fil-A, their drive through process is simply amazing.

It also seems as though I bruised my thumb during bo-staff practice at karate today.  I don't remember doing it, but it's an annoying place to have a bruise.

Squirrel!

A few weeks ago we watched this very interesting squirrel obstacle course video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGg

Joshua was inspired and made a squirrel with a walnut and some of the obstacles.  I thought they turned out really well.

If you ended up watching the video, here's a follow-up picture: https://www.youtube.com/post/UgweYZ5AYil6iEcqYfR4AaABCQ

Tuesday: Lego

There were a lot of Lego creations made in the house today.

Joshua's first bad robot with a captured mini-fig.  The mini-fig isn't comfortable because he's laying on rocks.

Time out for a cold beach play.  It's surprising how it was rather cold today, but perhaps because of the huge dust storm from Africa?  The boys buried a bunch of beach toys are were so excited about it.

Isaac made a 3D marble maze.  It was quite good.

Joshua made a house to welcome Ben home.

Isaac made a house that had a sign and treats inside to welcome Ben.

Joshua made a skyscraper.

Bonus: on why our sons are crying

Ah, just to keep it real.  And because I find myself with a little bit of extra time.

Yesterday afternoon we cleaned up the basement.  I asked Joshua to walk instead of roll while doing it and he refused.  blah blah blah we eventually had a conversation.

A: Do you know why you lost screen time?

J: because my legs wouldn't work.

A: no.  Two seconds after I told you that you lost screen time you ran up the stairs

J: but my legs weren't working!

Last night Joshua came into the office:

J: next chore?

A: what's in your mouth?

J: nothing.

A: ...what's in your mouth?

J: nothing

A: come here

Joshua takes out a magnetic marble and stick.

A: what did you do wrong?

J: something I can't remember but was funny

A: no, the problem is that you lied.  There need to be consequences for that.  

This morning we told the boys they had to go to Larry and Cheryl's for a while.  There were a few questions about screen time and breakfast and a few minutes later I hear Isaac crying in the basement.

A: what's wrong?

I: I'm going to be apart from Tornado.

A: what? really?  Well, you can spend some time with him right now.

a few minutes later Isaac is crying on the couch

A: what's up?

I: Tornado kept leaving me!

Isaac and Tornado were reunited this evening.  Isaac said he didn't miss Tornado too much.

Saturday: stu visser, ladder skills

This morning Joshua and I took Isaac to Stu Visser trails.  It was even more flooded than it has been in the past.  We waded through one mini-stream, but the rest looked too deep or too yucky.

Here we are in our normal picture place.  The first one was early September last year, so I think we've hit all the seasons.  (Fall might have missed the colors though, because the colors went fast and it was rainy and cold so much.)

Horizon is still getting himself stuck in the rafters.  I put a ladder for him to come down because he hates having us help him down.  Remember, the cats know how to use the ladder due to ladder skills week?  Yeah, it didn't work.  But it did get us higher up so we could grab him better.

Friday: screen day

This morning Joshua decided to use his screen time day (it applies to both boys though).  It ended up being an excellent day to use it based on some of the other things I had to do.

Both boys ended up spending quite a bit of time coding their own video games.  Joshua even worked on his own after watching Isaac for a little bit, which was awesome.

Isaac's was pretty complicated, but it was interesting to figure out how to do things as I went though it.  At the end I did give up, but it was still good.  Joshua coded one with a lot of bosses and many minions.  He also added a feature that gave you infinite lives, which was rather nice.

Thursday: made it

I had my annual physical today.  They were able to get my blood numbers from a finger poke, so I got them back before I left.  Everything looks good!  My knee area had been giving me a bit of trouble at the beginning of quarantine, but it's gotten mostly better and the person said that she didn't feel anything wrong.

Joshua was in a bit of a mood at the end of "school."  I don't make them do school things, but if they don't do them they have to be bored and can't play.  I kept hearing, "I'm bored and I can't play.  I'm hungry and it's so long until lunch."  I finally called him out to do a tiny bit of yard work with me and that got us to lunch.

We went swimming in the lake.  During this time the painters were working on the deck and the lawn people mowed and I felt a bit weird about it all.  Isaac and Joshua got themselves into a bit of a situation when they both tried going on the duck only to realize that the donut wasn't attached.  They worked together and managed to bring both home though. 

This evening Isaac and I went to an outside karate class with our bo-staves.  The bo staves help keep everyone far enough apart.  It was a beautiful night to be out.  (I was afraid it would be too hot, but we were in the 6:30 class and there was a nice breeze by that time.)

Wednesday: in pictures

Isaac made a water run that spun a pinwheel.

He also made some merengue cookies.  I helped him find the recipe, but made him do some of it too.  Then he suddenly started it while I was reading to Joshua.  I decided to see what would happen.  He didn't completely get the directions correct, but we could salvage it.  He also didn't check to see if we had all the ingredients first.  We substituted lemon juice for lemon extract, but they didn't end up very lemon-y.

We also learned that after they're done cooling in the oven they need to be removed so that I don't turn the oven on for dinner and burn half of them.

The deck is all washed and I'm hoping to put the plants back out soon.  The cats have been enjoying them though.

Joshua did some sword training during karate today.

Tuesday: building

There was a lot of building going on today.

Joshua made a dragon's lair.

We got some weapons for karate (because his age isn't having classes outside near the parking lot) and he made holders for all of them, along with the blue knife we already had.

Isaac made a bunch of bad guys with his linking blocks.

Monday: it got better

Isaac started out the day with a rather poor attitude.  I was unimpressed.  However, he managed to turn it around and I was so happy.  He decided to do his 'boring' school things today, and he was excited to get them done and moved onto the 'not really boring' items.

Science camp was today.  They're making water runs this week.  Joshua was so excited when he figured out to tip the blue cup so it would catch all the water.

Isaac made assorted runs too.

Joshua's lego challenge was a rocket.  He made an excellent one and then made a background to go with it.

Saturday

I brought the pots in because the deck is getting washed and stained soon.  Horizon likes to sit on the top of the pot and try to grow.

Isaac made another scratch game here: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/404647645.  My high score is 186.  It's obviously made by a kid, but the game play works pretty well.

Friday: a pretty good day

This morning Joshua had lots of important things to tell me right after I woke up.  I think there was something about Isaac and a lot about this boss the boys made up called Gone-Gone.  He was so serious and I really just couldn't care.

This afternoon we went to Holland Electric Park.  It's the first time we've been there.  It was sunny and loud in a few parts, but there were a ton a flowers and the path was nice and paved.

Thursday: Lego, teacher

Today went much better than yesterday, although I'm not really sure why.  The boys worked for quite a while for their Lego challenges.

Isaac's was to grab a printed piece and make a scene around it.  He grabbed a target and made an archery range.  It had one...um..aisle that the target changed from a target to a monster that shot missiles.

Joshua made a party for Snowfoot.  It included an ice cream cake, donuts (those were actually for me though), a cake with a polar bear on it, ice water with a straw, a polar bear Popsicle, a knife (to cut the cake), and some fish (precut - the blue squares).

This afternoon Isaac had the chance to say good bye in person to his teacher.  He finally watched the goodbye video from last Friday today, so it was nice that he could see her right away again because he was a bit sad after that.  No one else came while we were there, so we spent a bit more time talking than I expected.