Old things

 1) I realized I didn't have any pictures from the program of the black belt ceremony.  I was a bit bummed that a sentence got messed up in mine, but I also know Mrs. Galli was trying really hard to make them all correct and the computer program she was using was fighting her.

2) We got home after Labor Day and the kitchen was a disaster.  It was a bit sad because it had been clean earlier that day, but between making food and eating lunch it had devolved.  I told Ben I wasn't going to do anything about it that night, and as normal he didn't care.  And then he said, but the dishwasher thinks it's clean.  And that's why I love him.  (The pronoun was vague, but I took it to mean 'the kitchen'.)

Tuesday: back to school

Today was back to school.  The short week is nice, but things actually start this week.  Isaac had his first day of math at Hope College (PATH).  He said it went really fast.  He's learned some of the material previously though, so hopefully that will help him get into the flow.  As expected, there's a lot of work.  Hopefully he'll be able to finish a good chunk of it at school.

Isaac was a bit overwhelmed today as a whole though.  There are a few transitions to middle school that he's still getting the hang of.  I'm fully confident that he'll get into a groove, but it might take a few weeks.  (This is also completely understandable.  There are a lot of changes this year.)

Joshua took an interactive field trip to the statue of liberty and was very intrigued by it.  I heard a surprising amount about it on the way home.

I was just happy that scheduling all went ok.  There's a fair amount of driving to do and times to hit.  I travelled one stretch of road three times today.  Classes went fine too...the first class has been good about asking questions, but the second class was quieter last week.  Today they had more questions, and that makes the time go by so much faster.

Monday: Happy Labor Day

 Happy Labor Day!  This morning we did some work, but we also played Space Base.  I was convinced that Ben or Isaac was going to win, but then I got some lucky rolls and pulled out the win!  I was a bit excited.

We went to Larry and Cheryl's for the later afternoon/evening.  The kids enjoyed playing in the water and going tubing.  There was also a ton of delicious food and I ate way too much.

I'm also rather tired.  It was a long day, but my back has been hurting more than normal and I've been a bit anxious about some things that are going to work out just fine.  They're just new-to-me things and I don't have a routine down yet.

Sunday:

 

Vacation Tuesday: Science Museum

Our second day of vacation started out with leftovers from the night before.  Basically, we all had dessert for first breakfast.  (Second breakfast was a bit healthier.)

We moved on to the science museum in Detroit.  It was fine.  We ended up spending about four to five hours there so it was worth it, but it also wasn't quite as amazing as I had hoped.  (They also canceled our IMAX movie because of the heat the day before.  This confused us a lot, but isn't something to argue about.)  Anyway, I didn't end up with many pictures, but we still had a fun time.

The timing was actually pretty nice because then we were able to get on the road before things got too busy.  I had found a rock shop that was more or less on our way home, so we drove a bit and then took a quick break.

It was exactly what I had been hoping for.  Lots of different rocks, a microscope in the back to look at them, and not much "new age" type of stuff.  I'd highly recommend it, if you happen to be in the area.

Saturday: Grey Bear

Joshua's Lego challenge for us today was to make Grey Bear or a grey bear.  Joshua ended up making a throne for Grey Bear.

The Grey Bears.  Mine is on the left and Isaac's is on the right.  I spent most of my time on the head, and while it's a bit hard to see I had some really cool building right above the eyes to get the ears at a nice angle.  Isaac concentrated more on the droopiness of Grey Bear's body.

Ben's grey bear and the throne.  He ran out of time to fix the one hand, but has since updated the claw and changed them to black.

Friday: to do list

 Last night I realized I had a bunch of really short items on my to-do list.  So this morning instead of ordering things by importance, I put the <5 minutes ones at the top.  I knocked out so many things today!  It was amazing.  (I wasn't going to get many things done today anyway because the kids were home from school.)

Isaac and I also hung up a display for his rocks.

And we went to the library.

And apparently Joshua made a video.