Wednesday: to do list

Well, I was on-track with getting the to-do list under control before camping, but now it exploded a bit again.  It isn't really surprising since camping does take a lot of time on either end, but it's still a bit annoying.

I'm also doing a really good job at growing these plants.  I know some are thistles, but what are the others?  Any chance they're something interesting?

Tuesday-ish

 I got Ben's photos from the weekend:

Yesterday I worked more on my puzzle.  It was at a really weird stage where there were only three (out of about one hundred) pieces that wouldn't fit in, but I still only had a success rate of 20% in the afternoon.  I worked on it a bit more with Isaac after dinner and we had better luck, so I should be able to finish it tomorrow. (Spoiler: I did)

weekend: camping

 Oh, it was a good weekend camping.  Ben got in Saturday morning after being gone all week, so it was nice to have him back.  The kids were significantly less excited to see him than I was expecting.

Joshua palled around with his friend all weekend.  We saw him, but not nearly as much as last year.  I don't know too much about what they did, but there was laser tag, playground, and scooters.  At one point they went to the beach and talked.  What did they talk about?  Minecraft.  Do they talk about anything besides Minecraft?  Umm...sometimes?

We also picked up a friend for Isaac to spend Saturday with.  She ended up leaving a little bit before supper, but it sounds like she had a great time and it was nice to see Isaac out and about with a friend.  He played ball tag and laser tag with the other friends in our group throughout the weekend too.  

The weather throughout the weekend was weird.  Friday was hot.  Saturday was cool.  Sunday started out cool, warmed up nicely, and then rained.  The rain left sooner than I was anticipating, so we ended up with a camp fire at night.  Monday, which I thought would be dry and cool, was a very light rain and cold.  People were packing up sooner than normal because it just wasn't all that nice out.

I took a walk on the beach Sunday afternoon and then Isaac joined me for a short walk to where I had seen some good rocks.  There was another rockhound there, and she told us all the types of the rocks that Isaac had found.  I let him keep five.

Monday morning we just kind of hung out.  We read.  We played a game.  Joshua hung out with his friend and both boys did some scootering.  We had lunch on the early side.  Isaac asked for a water bottle, so Ben gave him one with barely any water in it.  Haha.  Then Ben gave him the red one, but I think someone filled that one up with water from the campground and the water did not taste good.  So Ben grabbed a third bottle from the counter.  By this time I was up and asked him if he'd prefer cold water.  I grabbed the one that had been in the freezer until Saturday night.  So it was cold, it had water, but it still wasn't an ideal case.  It was very funny though, and it had enough water.

Everyone helped pack up and clean out the trailer and it went nice and fast.  The kids decided that they did want to play mini golf - it's pretty much an annual tradition to play it right before we leave.  It was cold, but the mist had stopped so the weather wasn't too bad.  After getting a hole in one on the first hole, Joshua decided he wanted to keep score.  (Usually Ben and I just keep a running tally between the two of us.)  Unfortunately, Isaac won, Joshua came in second, and Ben and I tied for third.  (I had one hole where the ball kept coming all the way back to me!  One time I hit it against a tree to return it, one time it hit the edging, one time it made it past the tree but then rebounded on the rock!  It was a bad hole for me.)

On the way to our last pie/ice cream of the weekend we stopped by the rock for the annual pictures.  Apparently there are a lot of traditions associated with this trip.

Friday: odd things

 I can't get away from the "mom mom mom" even when they're at school. 

I kept sitting down at my puzzle and staying there longer than expected. I made great progress on it though,  and figured that time to work on it was also part of my present. 

I didn't finish putting the laundry away because Tornado was sleeping in the basket... for at least four hours. He barely even shifted when i would walk by. 

My male mallards were back! And all sitting in the same direction. 

June bugs (probably) came out while we were sitting at the fire camping.  First it was just An oddity.   Look at this large beattle!  But then within 10 minutes we are up to 9

Thursday

While I was taking in the laundry I saw this group of male mallards under the tree.  I tried to take a video because they were so talkative!  But just a low buzz - it was like a party where everyone was calmly chatting.

 

Joshua decided to try this route today - it was a 5.10+ and 5.11-.  (He rainbow climbed, which meant he used both routes.  It tends to make climbing much easier.)  However, those values are still really hard.  Isaac has done a 5.10 before but that's his current max.  Anyway, the nice thing about the rope is that I can actively belay.  There were a few times I pulled Joshua up a few inches so that he could reach the next hand-hold...I think we both had fun with it.

Wednesday: times tables

This weekend Joshua asked me if he could play a computer math game, and we settled on multiplication 1-12.  That made me wonder...why do we learn through 12 by heart?  That's a weird number.  Why not 10?  Or 15?

My guess was clocks.

The internet was helpful!  Well, mostly helpful.  The first result helpfully reminded me that multiplication tables don't stop at 12 but go through infinity.  It went on to say that there used to be 12 pence in a shilling in England, so to do any shopping you needed to know through your x12 well.

As I'm thinking about this, I realize I use my x12 fairly often.  Sometimes converting between hours and days, sometimes between inches and feet.  So I guess it's still important to have them memorized.

Tuesday: life

 

Ben is gone for work this week, so I've had this cutie sleep next to me.  He sleeps over on his side pretty well, although I had gotten all ready for bed, moved some things around, and whatnot while he stayed asleep.  When I finally got into bed he turned over and said, "I can't get to sleep!"  I told him he was sleeping and to just go back to sleep.

There was another box sighting in the morning.

Isaac finished his belay test at rock climbing today!  Since Joshua was with us he helped with the official test this time.

And then he belayed me, all by himself.  I promised you a picture of the sandbags.  Oh shoot.  We forgot to put them away.

I also completed the route that I've been working on for a while!  It's only rated a VB+, but is in a rainbow shape and I was having a really hard time going down.  Isaac had coached me through it a lot on previous days, and I got it the first time I tried it this time!  Of course, no one was watching.

We talked with Ben a bit in the evening.  It wouldn't be a family talk without all the lovies too.