Last Monday: Mackinac Island

Monday we took the ferry to Mackinac Island.  We were hoping for a tour of the bridge on the way out, but the water was too rough.

After dropping off our luggage at the very close hotel, we started our bike tour around the island.  Isaac rode his own bike and did well, while Joshua was on a tag-a-long with me.  He is just able to ride a bike, but I think it would have been too stressful for him and I'm not sure he could do well with awareness of stuff around him.

Our first stop was Arch Rock.  We climbed all 207 steps.

We continued around the island, making lots of stops.  We played with rocks, climbed on rocks, saw Arch Rock from the bottom, etc.  For a while it seemed like we were stopping every half mile, which at our leisurely pace was still felt like once every five minutes.  (I'm not sure how long it actually was though.)

Near the end Ben and Isaac went ahead of us a bit, but we were never too far behind.  We had good bikes, but at the same time I just wasn't that fast.

We were able to get into our room a bit early, which was wonderful.  Ben had a comfy place to relax and the boys and I went to see the butterflies.  A whole bunch landed on Isaac and Joshua was rather annoyed with that.  One briefly landed on him, but it was definitely less fun.  There was an insect zoo attached to the butterflies and we spent a surprising amount of time there.

We met up with Ben for some fudge and then had a short rest time before dinner.

The boys were going a bit crazy, so we did a mirror maze and then walked a half mile to the school playground.  I thought the playground was a little closer, but at the same time it meant energy was being used up.  In the mirror maze we came out the entrance a surprising number of times before we finally found the exit.

Saturday: screen time day

The boys were elated yesterday to find out that we were having a screen time day today.  I think Isaac mainly played Minecraft while Joshua jumped around between several things.  (Joshua was forced to jump a few times because I needed my computer and that's the one he plays Minecraft on.  I felt a little bad for him, but he didn't seem to mind too much.  Normally it isn't an issue.)

Last Sunday: piano recital

Last Sunday Isaac had his piano recital.  It was at an outdoor park, but there was nice seating and it wasn't too hot.

We didn't invite anyone to join us since we wanted to quickly head up to Mackinaw afterwards.  I found a motel about 10 minutes from Mackinaw city that was surprisingly nice for the price.  There were some canoes/kayaks/paddle boats that we could have used along with corn hole.  We played a few rounds before bed.

Thursday: hike

We went for our first "hike" of the season today.  It wasn't super long, but it was nice.

We had testing at karate this evening.  Everyone passed, as passing is the default.  Joshua will be taking a break for the next few months.

Saturday: VBS

The worst part about VBS is that the songs get stuck in your head.  There are good songs this year, but the parts I don't ...resonate with as much... are of course the parts in my head.  It's annoying.

I also bought some new sandals.  The old ones were holding together by a thread.  Almost literally.

Last night Joshua decided he needed to sleep on the couch.  He was willing to sleep in his room if there was a partition up around his bed because apparently otherwise his room is creepy.*  Well, the thumbtacks finally all fell out and I don't want to put more holes in the ceiling.  I told him he could sleep on the couch if he couldn't handle it, and he quickly took me up on the offer, unfortunately.  (I was hoping we could just be done with the whole creepy bedroom attitude.)  So today we worked on a new system.  It's still pretty cobbled together with sticks, zip ties, an old baby food container, and the tacks, but I'm a bit more optimistic about it.  (The tacks go into a tack board this time, so it was a better solution.)  Two of the three poles I think will hold well while the third might slip down.  We'll deal with that later as needed.

*When the boys separated bedrooms last time...maybe three months ago?...we had some issues with Joshua sleeping in the loft because it was creepy.  So I hung up a sheet around his bed using thumbtacks put into the ceiling.  They've slowly been coming out, but held up longer than I was expecting.

Friday: VBS

Today was the last day of VBS.  It ended well, but I was not very excited about it today.  Isaac and I were in a few of the pictures posted on-line, but it was just our shoulders and our heads were hidden.  So they wouldn't be very interesting pictures.

Thursday: craft

VBS went well again today.  I have a great group of kids.  They participate during lesson time, they're excited for the memory work game, and can be trusted to get themselves from one spot to the next.

However, their coolness was seen even more today during the craft.  They were decorating crosses with some plastic tiles, and of course everyone is trying to make a pattern and needs specific shapes and colors.  I saw many of them help each other out.  Isaac even took a few tiles off his cross to give to someone, because he didn't care about the exact color of his tiles.  (Although he did have select colors that he was using.)

Honestly though, I thought Isaac's cross was the best of the group.  I like the color and shape randomness.  (It isn't a great picture of his cross, but it's the only one I have.)

In other news, Tornado has been spotted on Isaac's lap several times lately.  His lap must suddenly be large enough to be comfortable.

Wednesday: swimming lessons

The boys had their first swimming lessons today.  Joshua made it about halfway across the lap pool ( so 13m of 25m?) swimming without help right away!  And I thought he couldn't swim.  They are with the same teacher at the same time this year and I think it helped Joshua.  He actually said that he enjoyed swimming lessons, even though in the past he hasn't liked them at all!  Isaac has liked swimming lessons for a while, so that was normal.

The sad thing is that our normal teacher got a promotion and will only be able to do two of the five lessons.  She recommended a few others, but the time frames just really didn't work well for us so we went with a different teacher that I'm sure will be good too.

Tuesday: VBS day 2

Well, there were some pictures on Facebook about VBS this afternoon, but they've disappeared this evening.  The day went fine.  I got a whole bunch of cool teacher points because I stood on the chairs like the kids.  (We're the last row of kids, so while there are a few helpers behind us I don't feel too bad about blocking their view.)

I got a several chores done today too, but I'm trying to resign myself that's it's ok to perpetually have clean laundry in the basket and a mess in the house this summer.  I mean, it'll get cleaned up eventually.  Most of the important things are getting finished.  Mostly.

The pictures showed back up!

My group:

Joshua's group

This one is "find Isaac and Amanda"

Last Monday: Indy children's museum

On Monday we went to the children's museum.  We went a year ago and made it through most of the museum in the allotted time, so I was a bit worried we'd run out of things to do, but there were also a few areas that we didn't go to last time because it was too hot or they were closed.

We started in the outside area.  We didn't go last time because it was too hot; it was almost too hot again this time.  We did some of the things, but the favorite was the tree house.  Isaac also liked mini-golfing with Ben.

We did the water clock again, and it was just as interesting this time as it was the first time.

We spent a really long time in the dinosaur area.  We talked to the paleontologists for a bit and learned about dinosaur eggs.  (The biggest was about the size of a football, because otherwise the eggs got to fragile.  And you couldn't make the shell thicker because then the baby couldn't get out.)  We also walked by a program as it was starting so we did that.  I wasn't too sure of the program, as it just sent you to an exhibit and asked you to find information, but it actually worked really well.  Since there were specific things we were looking for we paid more attention to our dinosaur and learned about it well.  Joshua also got a scuba tank; Isaac decided to hold his breath.

We found Giraffe!  I'm not sure how Isaac's lovey got into the museum, but luckily he also got home before us.

We did a few exhibits twice, including the ball machine, space, and glass.

We had two very tired kiddos.  Isaac fell asleep in the last five minutes and was out until Ben bonked his head on the door while trying to get him out of the car.  He's just too tall.

Tuesday we took a few pictures before leaving.  (I like the adults in the mirror.)

Sunday: Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!  I unfortunately didn't plan much for Ben, but that's just how the day went.  We did spend some time with Lego pick-a-brick cups.

There was also a great conversation.

Amanda: Dad, do you want apple or pineapple for lunch?

Ben: Pineapple

Joshua: Pineapple

Ben: Is your name Dad?

Joshua: No, but it will be someday.  Right?

Ben: Well, it depends if you get married and decide to have kids.

Joshua: You can choose to have kids or not?!?!

Monday: VBS

VBS started today.  I'm teaching Isaac's class, 5th grade yellow.  Today he was the only boy in the class, but he was ok with that.  The day went fine.

Joshua said he didn't like the singing part, but I was able to watch him during some of the singing.  He got into the motions well.

The art project was a scratch off...Isaac drew bananas.

Joshua and I made our first strawberry pie.  It was delicious.

Last Sunday: playgrounds and donuts

The weather was rainy and humid today.  This was our low-key day, although we still were out of the house for most of the day.

We did a playground in the morning.  It was a really neat playground with lots of climbing and got high marks from everyone.  However, it looks like I didn't take any pictures.

It started to rain, so we went to a place called Doughnuts & Dragons.  They had delicious specialty donuts and a collection of board games to play.  The doughnuts were so delicious that everyone got a second round for breakfast the next day.  Laura and I went to IKEA while the rest played some games.  It was my first trip to IKEA...it was pretty cool and there were lots of things I could have gotten, but settled with just a few storage totes for fabric.  We somehow managed to keep our trip down to about an hour, but we knew the others probably had a limited attention span with the kids.  If there were closer ones I'd probably go more often, but I rarely need something when we're going to be close to one.

There was a LEGO store nearby, so we stopped for a quick pick-a-brick cup.  We haven't done one in a while.