Tuesday: particle accelerator

Today Isaac got to participate in an experiment to see if he Gadolinium was actually Gadolinium.  (I'm not sure if I've relayed the saga.  Gd changes magnetic properties at 68F.  Except that it's actually a curve, so it's not like flipping a switch at 68F.  So doing the experiments in winter was a poor choice, because the house wasn't warm enough.  We finally boiled it for a few minutes and got a few seconds of non-magnetism.  I think experiments in the summer will be more fun.)

Anyway, during the time that we weren't sure if it was actually Gd Dad offered to check with the particle accelerator.  So Isaac joined me at Hope for a few hours while they did some tests (of Gd and a few other elements.)  It seemed to be mostly fun, but had some boring times too.  Isaac's wanted to see the accelerator in use, so this was a fun way to do it.

Long story short, it is gadolinium.

Sunday: donuts

 Sunday morning we went to a donut bar.  You could choose your type of donut, a flavor for the chocolate or vanilla frosting, and toppings.

The kids were all excited about their selections, but honestly they all sounded a bit disgusting.  The adults all got "normal" donuts, and I was very happy with my decision.

Saturday: Fort Wayne

Yesterday we went down to visit Nathan and family for the weekend.  The cousins immediately started running around together, which is wonderful.  There's a lot of laughter and pattering feet.

We had been thinking about going to a state park, but it was a bit more of a day trip and it was rather cold.  So instead we went to a nearby park for a little bit in the afternoon.

I thought this part of the forest was really pretty; many of the leaves hadn't dropped in the fall.

We got home and I took a nap on the couch.  I really did crash...the kids were loud and although I woke up a few times to do a quick check I also went right back to sleep.  

The children are being put to bed a little early.  They woke up at 5:15 and ran around a ton.  Isaac, Nathan, and I are going to play a game of Catan after bedtime because Isaac's been asking for a while and there's never been enough time.

Thursday: rain

Since talking about how we're all a bit sick but slowly getting better, I wanted to share a story from yesterday.

It was raining out when I picked up the boys after school, but luckily I had remembered to pack umbrellas.  I was approaching Joshua from behind and there he was with his little umbrella and three other kids crammed under it, and he was saying, "huddle up!" in his cute little voice.  I felt a bit bad for taking him away.

Wednesday: still under the weather

I didn't have a fever still today, but this has transformed into a bad cold.  I was able to get several things done this morning before I crashed.

The boys also had eye appointments today.  Isaac's eyes are great, while Joshua is slightly far-sighted.  I think the plan is to get him some cheap glasses to use when he's going to be doing a lot of close up work and see if he notices a difference.  

Tuesday: hmm

After waking up from a restless night, I took my temperature.  It was high for me, but not really considered a fever.  As the heat felt like it was rolling off my body I decided it was wrong.  It might not be a high fever, but I had a fever.  In a winter morning it's supposed to be cold to get out of bed, not a relief.

So I taught remotely.  It's not my favorite thing to do because there's no feedback on whether the students are understanding something or following along, but it isn't too hard either since everything is on a computer.  I think we all survived.  I was really tired during the second class though, and found myself yawning several times.

The fever hasn't returned, although I do seem to have some more cold symptoms now.  They're annoying, but easier to deal with.

Sunday - Tuesday: Florida

One of the things Isaac really wanted to do while in Florida was to go to the cake restaurant.

So we did.  (The boys had such low expectations for this vacation that we were able to get them all done.  They included things like "Play Mouse Trap" and "Swim in the pool".)

Excitement at going fast on the boat:

Watching the train.  I was surprised at how many times their heads moved together.

Cake!  In the past the favorite has been orange crunch, but this time around it was the pineapple one.

We picked up some shells.

We also saw dolphins (unpictured) and a ton of manatee.

Tuesday we had to go home. :(  It was a later flight, so we had a nice morning and we were still able to get some gelato.

Joshua showed us why he wanted to find a spiral shell on Sunday.  I was surprised that he had such a specific thing in mind, but it turns out he saw it on the floor of the airport.  Oh, that was a bad picture.  Oh well.  The flights back went well, although Isaac was not feeling well at the end.