Thursday: Biking, bubbles, and banners

We rode our bikes around the lake today.  It was a short ride, as they go, but I changed Isaac's training wheels from a little wobbly to very wobbly.  At first I was 'afraid' that he wouldn't really feel the difference, but about 1/3 of the way around he had a good balance.  It was probably only a second or two, but enough that we both realized it.  I was glad because now he at least knows what is good balancing.  (It turns out training wheels are loud.  It is a great thing, because then you know if you're balancing.  I never realized that about them before.)

We went to a bubble program through the library.  We saw a square bubble. (Link.  See bubble wonders library life interview, 1:19).  At story time yesterday it was mentioned that someone would get to be in a bubble, and Isaac mentioned several times that he wanted to be in a bubble.  He sat near the front but was not chosen.  I told him at the end if he was patient he could ask the presenter when most of the people had left, although the presenter might say no.  Well, Isaac was able to get in a bubble.


Joshua did it too.

It was a noisy afternoon and evening.  The boys played together a lot, but that also meant there was a bit more bickering than normal this afternoon.  They were also loud.  It got on my nerves, but I think that was more my problem than theirs.  They were playing some chase game in the evening that they were loving and they were happy and entertained, but I was also very glad to put them to bed.

Here are the banners.  They're really streamers, but the alliteration in the title was nice.  Isaac wanted to do this last summer and I finally got around to it.  Joshua said that they tickled.

Wednesday: fort

Isaac made a fort today, right around lunch time.  I was too big to get in it and I didn't push the point as I wasn't really sure I wanted to get in it.  I told the boys that if they made a spot where they could eat they could have lunch in there too.

By the end of the day it had a gazillion toys and a light.  But they were happily entertained for a large chunk of the day.

Monday: birthday party

Today was Isaac's half birthday party.  He's 5 1/2.  It's a bit early, but next week we're rather busy.

He took decorating his lemonade cake very seriously.  There were a gazillion sprinkles on it.

We decorated.

And people came!  The menu was spicy hot dogs (and other sausage and bratwurst), pineapple, crunchy beans, and chips.

I had the table set up outside for dinner, but a half hour before hand the temperature felt like it was dropping and the rain chance was rather high and it was windy.  I think moving inside was a good plan, but it was a bit warm.

He also got several presents he was very excited about.

Sunday: Happy Father's Day

Today was a rather normal day; I didn't do anything too special for Father's Day even though there are great dads all around me.

Today was a perfect puddle day though.  There are several requirements for a perfect puddle day...
1. There needs to be a puddle.  Usually this means it needs to have rained recently.
2. It can't be too cold out.  (Having number 1 and 2 at the same time is surprisingly hard.)
3. We need to be on our way home and not really in a hurry.

We played some Legos, as normal.

We got together with Ben's family for dinner.  Our gift to Larry was some Miracle Berries...they are supposed to block the sour sensors in your tongue for a limited time and change the taste of food.  They worked pretty well, although not everything changed quite as much as I was hoping.  Sour Patch Kids tasted completely sweet.  Strawberries were delicious and tasted like they were coated with a bit of sugar.  Grapefruit was good.  The lemon and lime were still tangy, but edible.  Bitter stuff didn't change at all like I was hoping.

Saturday: strawberries

We went to pick strawberries this morning.  We almost didn't go because it finally rained last night and it looked like there might be a little more rain coming.  The boys decided that they still wanted to go.

Isaac had his winter boots on, and it was a good thing.  There were dryish paths, but I don't think I could have kept two kids' feet mostly not wet.  It didn't rain while we were there, so that was nice too.

We didn't get a ton of strawberries, but it was still a nice outing.  And these strawberries are delicious!!  It was well worth the trip.

We gave Ben his Father's Day present early.  (It was Legos, of course.)  So we spent more time in the basement working on our sets.

Friday: this and that

Isaac made a duplo machine this morning while I was making curry.
(Joshua is playing on a big piece of brown paper in the background.)


Then we went to close beach.  We took a kayak, which was really a rather nice way to get there.  We almost left after about a half hour because I was done playing "look for tiny rocks in this big bucket of sand."  However, the boys started pouring water into a hole near the top of the beach and watching how it went down.  Then Isaac made some channels.  An hour later we finally left for home.

We received a delivery and the box was coming apart.  I finished taking the box apart to make sure all the pieces where there (they were).  The boys can't resist the lure of a box though.

Thursday: rumba

Isaac finally finished cleaning his room for the week (although to be fair, it was a weird week).  So it was time to rumba.

Isaac was excited to play "keep away from the rumba."  He invited Joshua to come play too.  They closed the door.

Fifteen minutes later I hear, "Joshua, do you want to ride the rumba?"  I went down to the basement.

Fifteen more minutes pass, and they come out of the room.  Isaac's hair is wet; he played "keep away from the rumba" so hard that he got all sweaty.

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Joshua got to see Dad before picking up Isaac at science camp.  He got to see the robot wheel, something that we had told the kids last time that they might never get to see.  (The accelerator is now called "robot wheel," because that's apparently the coolest part of it.)  When the robot wheel moved, his mouth opened in amazement.  Then he got to move the robot wheel with the buttons.  He proceeded to take advantage of the time without Isaac by asking what every piece of equipment did.

Isaac was very jealous that Joshua got to see the robot wheel and he didn't.

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Aunt C stopped by to add some more flowers.  She hollered goodbye to Isaac.  Isaac ran outside to find her and they talked for a while on the porch.