Wednesday: playground tour (Moran Park) and donut survey (Ryke's bakery)

 Moran park: I thought it was a great park.  The boys played on the teeter totter (second picture down) for about 20 min until Isaac almost got seriously hurt.  The play got slowly more and more out-of-control and although I was watching I wasn't really thinking.

Isaac: 7

Joshua: 9

Amanda: 5

Total: 21/25

We went to Ryke's bakery.  Most of the donuts were gone already, so we got other baked items also.  We used to go to a Ryke's bakery in Muskegon with my grandparents.  I don't actually remember much about it other than getting chocolate cake donuts.  I want to say the sprinkle donut reminded me of it, but it might be my imagination too.

We visited Grandma Hilldore and did our schoolwork there.  Joshua read to her and she gave Isaac his spelling words.  It was a good way to get her involved and have the school work done too.

Tuesday: half birthday

 We had Isaac's half birthday party today.  As birthday parties go, it wasn't awesome.  We put up streamers.  We got a cake.  The grandparents came over.  But that was about all.  Isaac loved it though.  He told me later it was probably the best day he's had since the start of COVID.

Monday: errands

Today was errand day.  It's been a while since we've done more than the minimum amount, so it took a bit.

One errand was to get a new stick.  The boys enjoyed carrying it together. :)

Friday: library

It was Friday, so as normal we went to the library.  For a change of pace we also did all the school work there.  (It was a rainy day, so it was a good place to go for that reason too.)

It was a lovely trip.  The librarians are so nice.  They did a book club where you read the book and then talk with one of the librarians about it...super low key.  It ended up being a good book, and the librarian I talked to said that most of the librarians liked it, which was unusual.  (Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson)

Joshua also got his library card.  I don't expect to use it much, because multiple accounts are annoying, but it's also a fun right of passage.

Joshua read Ms. Adrianne his Minecraft book that he wrote.

Thursday: playground tour - New Holland elementary - and strawberries

 We decided to pick strawberries this morning.  Isaac has wanted to do it, and Joshua didn't take much convincing.  (Joshua also found the berries delicious, so that was a bonus.)

The weather was perfect.  So perfect that we ended up going to a playground too.  The temperature was just right, the sun was just right, and the wind was just right.  

Isaac: 9 - something hurt his hands

Joshua: 10

Amanda: 4.5 - no sitting in the shade, no bathrooms.  But there was a lovely path that I could walk and I took advantage of that...especially since I didn't have my book.  The play stuff was pretty fun too.

Total: 23.5/25

Wednesday: Donut Tour - Collin's bakery

 After swimming lessons, in which Joshua swam two lengths of the short pool all by himself!, we went to a new bakery for donuts.  They didn't actually have many donuts, but they did have many delicious looking baked goods.

Would we rather go to Donutville (last time) or this one?  The selection was actually so different that it would depend on what we were feeling like rather than on our favorite donuts.

Tuesday: life goal

Isaac seems to really be enjoying working on this puzzle with me.  He's been able to find his own pieces and (today at least) he didn't talk too much.  He talked an appropriate amount about appropriate things.

It was absolutely wonderful.

My next life goal is to be reading a book and have a child snuggle up next to me while reading their own book.

Monday

 It was on the cool and windy side this morning (at least after recent weather) so we stayed inside most of the morning.  Isaac and I are working on a hard puzzle and Joshua is working through the stash of puzzles.

In the afternoon we went to visit Grandma Hilldore.  The boys had brought along some things to do, so they made good things to talk about.

Sunday: Father's Day

 Happy Father's Day!

Joshua has been working really hard on creating a game that he's wanted us to play.  The rules were pretty good, but the balancing was not.  The bad guys hit for about 40% of the health each time and the good guys hit for about 10%.  It did make the game go pretty quickly though.

Tornado enjoyed some cuddles after church.

Saturday: Grandpa Spaulding

Grandpa Spaulding passed away in the middle of the COVID season, so the memorial was put on hold for a bit.  It was a lovely service pointing towards God. 

The pastor talked about his Bible, looking through it to find passages that were bracketed.  I realized that while I do have a Bible that has notes and highlights, I haven't used it in a while as I've switched to a Bible on my phone.  So, obviously, the next best thing would be to tell you the verses that have been important to me here.  I'll do that in a future post. [pause.] I just added it to my to-do list, so it won't be forgotten as easily.

The boys did an amazing job.  They knew Grandpa Spaulding, but not all that well.  They stayed calm until the service ended, at which point they went exploring with some cousins.

Speaking of not doing an amazing job though, I completely missed the boat on dress clothes.  We've had assorted hand-me-downs or actually gotten a polo or something for years.  For church I've only required the boys to wear shirts without pictures on them.  Well, they grew and we didn't go to church this past year so it was a bit of a scramble to find appropriate clothes.  Joshua ended up in a nice T-shirt.  Isaac ended up in a button down long sleeve shirt that was way, way too short on the arms.  So we cuffed them and said that was the style.  It worked.  But barely.  I also forgot to change my shoes on the way out the door.

Fry Friday

 We started with a Story Walk, but there was a playground there too!  Joshua: 6, Isaac: 5, Amanda: 3.5 for a total of 14.5/25.  It was a good playground, but was rather small and we don't expect a second time would be nearly as exciting.

Then we started the story walk.  We all took turns reading the page.  It was a bit short for me, but it was a fun way to engage the kids.  We walked for a bit on other trails afterwards, but it was rather buggy.

Isaac really wanted to make some fries.  They actually turned out really good...and the boys both like them.  So it'll need to come into rotation a bit more since it's a vegetable.

Two of the three radishes were ready to be picked.  The third one had more leaves, but wasn't radish shaped...so I put it back in the ground and we'll see what happens.

Thirsty Thursday

Today was Thirsty Thursday.  As part of our errands we stopped at a convenience store for some different drinks.

 

One of the children separately told Ben and me that the kids couldn't have any alcohol even though it was Thirsty Thursday.  I took it as "permission" to open a bottle of mead.

Wet Wednesday and Donut Tour - Donutville

Today was Wet Wednesday.  The boys had swimming lessons.  Joshua managed to swim at least 10m by himself (and was thoroughly exhausted after it.)  BUT it makes me feel safer and safer.  He's changing from the automatically sinking if he falls in to having a decent chance of making it to a safe place.  I know that's not the only reason for swimming lessons, but it sort of is.  Joshua also had a new teacher because that's just how the schedule worked out.

Isaac continued some of his stroke lessons with his normal teacher.  He isn't a strong swimmer, but can get from one end to the other.

Wet Wednesday didn't end up being any more Wet.  There was about an hour when they could have gone in the lake but they declined.  It's not hot right now...which is nice, but not quite as nice for the lake.

After swimming lessons we started our donut tour with Donutville.  This is a place we've been to many times.  We ended up with a Vanilla Creme (Amanda), Lemon (Isaac) and a gigantic Apple Fritter (Joshua and Isaac).  I also got a chocolate cake donut as a control.

We all had a little bit of all of them.  Unsurprisingly, everyone liked the one they had chosen the best.  (Although mine tied with the apple fritter for me.)  The chocolate cake was rated as average by everyone.

Taquito Tuesday

Due to a "Funday Monday" comment I made last week, Isaac got it in his head to make special days all this week.  While I suggested "Take back the house Tuesday" (i.e., clean it up), that suggested was quickly discarded in favor of "Taquito Tuesday."

(He made a Lego taquito in the picture below.)

 It was a busy day.  By far one of the busiest we've had a in while.  We attempted to get a new life jacket but decided against it.  Isaac and Joshua were with Cheryl while Ben and I had a meeting.  (Ben and I also had lunch together, inside a restaurant!  It's the first time I've eaten inside for a year, and it was cold.)  I picked up the groceries.  I brought the groceries home and picked up Isaac and Joshua.  I waited for my headphone replacement to be delivered, since they wouldn't just leave the box at the door.  Isaac had piano lessons.

Phew.  We then had our taquitos and the boys played in the lake.  It was cooler today though, so it didn't last quite as long.

Monday: Playground tour: Eagle Crest

There wasn't a ton of time this morning, so I thought we'd hit up the Eagle Crest playground.  Joshua mentioned wanting to go recently, and Isaac was surprisingly excited when we pulled into the parking lot.

It ended up getting a 19.5/25.

Isaac: 6 - "it is very spread out."  (I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing.  I expect the low score is because he's used to it and while it was nice to be there without other kids, he's fully explored it.)

Joshua: 9 - "It gets boring after a while."

Amanda: 4.5 - good seating, no bathrooms.

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

The dishwasher got installed today!  Joshua is oddly excited about the top third rack.

Saturday: Playground tour: Rose Park

We started our summer playground tour today.  Ben and I both woke up too early (again :s) and so we were out by 8am.  It was a beautiful morning though...cloudy and about 70F.  Much nicer than the last two days.

It was an excellent playground!  A bunch of new things to play with and large.  

It was decided to rank all the playgrounds.  Isaac and Joshua both get 10 points and I get 5 points.

Joshua: 9/10 "It was so fun I got hungry."  (That is literally what he said.)

Isaac: 9/10: "There was a slide that was more like steps."  (Isaac was debating giving it 10 points, but apparently 10 points is a really high bar.  The slide mentioned was in the small children's part of the playground and they didn't spend much time there at all.)

Amanda: 4/5: No bathrooms, no seating with backs.  I think there was seating in the shade, but I couldn't tell since it was cloudy.

***********

After we got home we all worked on our respective Lego projects.

***********

This evening I got Isaac on the paddleboard and Joshua in the green kayak.  It is one of my summer goals to get them comfortable on them, and I can almost put a check by that. It went a lot better than I expected.

  

Friday: last day!

 School's out!

My alarms went from this:

...to this:

So here are all the pictures:

Isaac and his teacher, Ms. Huyser:

Joshua and his teacher, Mrs. Stolz:

Joshua made her a minecraft Pete the Cat:

I made Isaac deal with a lot of his papers.  He tried to pawn it off on me and I wasn't having any of it.

We went to the library and found out that you can sit in the chairs now!  It's a new library, so we haven't been able to sit there before.  The boys tried out all the chairs.

Grey Bear got a crown!