Monday: VBS

 VBS started today!  They shortened it significantly this year: both from 2.75hrs to 2hrs and it isn't on Friday.  It did make it feel much faster!  The group was good.  My helper is an 8th grader.  She was good but rather cute as she transitioned from being in VBS to helping with VBS.  (The adult snacks are 100x better than what the kids get!  And you can get more than one cookie!)

After that we quickly went grocery shopping.  Isaac carefully choose a new hairbrush for Ben for Father's Day.

Our total was under $100!  It seemed weird for the grocery trip after vacation, so I'm sure we missed a lot of things.  Both kids got a treat.  Joshua picked out DingDong cupcakes and Isaac chose two watermelon.

Sunday: Happy Father's Day!

It was a very nice Father's Day, although since we just got back from vacation there weren't any gifts.  We went to lunch with Larry.  

The "big" news is that we finally got World of Warcraft up and running again, and the whole family is playing it.  Isaac seemed to be doing very well.  Joshua was also doing well, but coordinating everything was a little tricky.  He wasn't that far behind Isaac though, so things were going pretty well.  I expect within a week he'll have no problems.

I did want to call out Horizon though.  He was in the rafters meowing away.  For our silent cat, it sounded like he was completely stuck.  I eventually went to go get the ladder and as I was putting it up he was watching me.  Just as I got it up he comes walking by on the floor.  Dumb cat.

Saturday: the curse

Today we had to leave.  The trip was so much fun and went by so quickly.  I was up way to early; I always am nervous of flying days.  We decided to leave at 8 and were out of the driveway at 7:58.  Ben and Isaac took a quick swim before we left and realized they were also swimming with a snake!  They saved it.

The trip to the airport was fine.  I4 has been quite backed up for us during our travels, but we were in a different section at a different time today.  We did a reserve an appointment to get through security and that was pretty slick.  (We would have been fine without it, but it was one less thing to worry about.)

We got to the gate and proceeded to have lunch at 9:30am.  It was supposed to be a second breakfast but it ended up being lunch and the boys found this rather funny in the end.  So...we were waiting for the plane and wondering if it would actually be on time when it was delayed 20 minutes.  Ok, Ben's flying curse kicked in but 20 minutes isn't a big deal and we had a non-stop flight.  Then there was lightning.  Again.  We boarded pretty late, but I wasn't really watching the time.  Maybe 45 minutes late?  Then another storm segment came through, and then we had to wait for the other 20 planes to go that were ahead of us.  I was dozing in and out at this point, but we ended up getting in 2.5hours late.  Annoying, yes.  But at least it wasn't stressful.  We didn't have a connection, we didn't have any super important plans, and we knew it was only due to weather.

We finally got home around 5:15pm, only having a small snack or two after second breakfast.  (We did pick up food on the way home, so we could eat right away.)

I was honestly rather done that that point.  I putzed through the suitcases and dealt with some clothes.  The kids were finally settled and so I went in the basement for some alone time.  

Isaac: I'm cold.
Amanda: We're at home.  You can figure it out.
Isaac: but then I'll be hot.
Amanda: eye roll

And now I'm about to go to bed super early.  I can barely keep my eyes open.

Saturday: travel

We flew to Orlando today.  As always, Ben makes traveling an adventure.

The first adventure was neat!  Larry was on our flight.

The second adventure was normal... The flight left about thirty minutes late.  Benand Joshua sat by Larry.

The third adventure was a new one!  We landed just as a lightning storm started.  We had dinner before looking for our bags.  When we finally got to baggage claim we learned that ground services was shut down.  We waited for an additional 1.5 hours as they slowly opened up.  We were the third flight to get our luggage out of about 10 in the queue.  We had small bags and so they came out quickly.  Ben had already gotten the car and so we zip zipped out of the airport.

We got to the hotel without too much effort and found our room.  It was huge!  There was an extra empty spot in the middle of the room.

Friday: last day of school

 2nd and 5th grade are in the books!

...but, for all the excitement of today Joshua had a rough afternoon.  He refuses to look at the (analog) clock to figure out if it is before or after 3pm, which is snack time.  Then he almost had a meltdown when a mess was made while he and Isaac were playing a game in the basement.  I absolutely said, "It's going to be a long summer." already.  Joshua did perk back up after dinner, so I think he was a bit hangry.

Thursday: almost done

School only has a half day left: 1 drop-off, 0 recesses, 0 more lunches to make, and 1 more pick up.  At one point I counted how many years I was going to need to deal with pick-ups, but then COVID hit and now I don't count things like that anymore.

Giraffe had an adventure today!  He was a Gir-inking Giraffe.  I crack myself up.  Good thing it's almost summer so they can stop having adventures.

Wednesday: Success!

O:CtH kitchen edition is a wrap!

I finished the last little bit today and dealt with the pile of stuff that was on the counter.  I know the puzzle is still there, but I need to start it after VBS and don't want to forget.

I'll also note that it took me so long that I probably need to start over at the beginning, but I'll just gloss over that.  It is also importation to remember to clean under things in the kitchen.  The bottoms of the cabinets and drawers were especially disgusting.  I absolutely could do a better job of keeping the drawers clean too, but if I think realistically I know that won't happen.

Next up is the little storage room off the office.  I'm going to see how summer goes though; I wouldn't be surprised if I do a minimal number of chores.  It can wait until fall.

In other news, the bears had a straw-bear-y adventure today.