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.