Sunset Series, class pet and organizing

This was also on our Summer fun list and I wasn't sure how were going to fit it in.  They are only on Thursday evenings which is a tricky day for Mark.  I know Lydia, Jared and I could have just gone but we are so glad we found a week Mark could make it too. The Shaw's joined us which was great.  It would be great if we could switch our church activity night.  There are lots of people we would love to meet up with at the Sunset Series but they all have one or more family members who need to be at the church.  We enjoyed our ice cream and catching up with friends.

 Last Friday we picked up Calvin, Jared's class guinea pig and brought him home for the weekend.  Jared has become quite attached to him and Lydia was thrilled to have an animal in our house.  She still struggles with the idea that you cannot treat a real animal like a stuffed animal.  She was constantly taking him out of his cage and carrying him around.  She was very careful but I think he was happier to go back to the 32 kids in Jared's classroom.  

Before school started and then the first few days after I did some major organizing in Jared and Lydia's rooms.  I love doing it so much.  I really loved Lydia's bedroom set that we got a few years ago but it was just too big for her space.  She was ready for a change and so was I.  We posted it online and were able to give it away the same day.  In Jared's room 2 of the drawers on his dresser had broken and I wanted a new way to organize toys and clothes.  Awhile ago I read an article on kids organization (mostly laundry) and fell in love with the idea of putting their clothes in those fabric storage boxes.  I typically fold the clothes and then they are in charge of putting them up and taking care of their socks and underwear.  Often they would shove them in their drawers and then not shut them all the way and it drove me crazy.  Sure I could just shut their bedroom door but I really needed them to stop it.  Since 2 of his drawers were no longer working and Lydia needed some kind of storage I got to implement the storage box idea.  While doing that I also threw out tons of junk we had collected and it felt so good! 

Lydia has so much more space now and her room feels so good. 

New storage

 

We also for the first time have started an allowance system of sorts.  There are certain things I just wanted them to do each day.  They really did an okay job but I felt like I was constantly bugging them to get it done.  I have long been opposed to allowance for chores because I want them to just do things because they should help out at home.  But I like the idea of them saving and paying tithing regularly so we are trying it out.  I made up a daily 5 list.  They can earn 5 cents for each of the things on the list they do each day so a quarter a day.  It is their job to write down tally marks on their calendar for the things on the list they do.  Then on Saturday we add up the amount and pay up.  They can earn $1.25 a week (its just for weekdays) not enough to wreck our budget another concern, but enough to entice them because for so long there wasn't anything.  So far its been great.  I think having the list and the task of checking it off has helped them. 

 

And, This girl:  

she fills my heart up to the brim! She was quite impressed with this outfit she put together.  I bought the skirt quite awhile ago and was waiting for it to fit her.  Adorable! When we picked up the guinea pig up on Friday one of Jared's teachers made the comment that she is my mini me.  I saw it more a few years ago but for someone who hasn't really seen us together much I totally get what she was saying.  She is looking so gown up. 

Ice Activities and Science Experiments Day summer fun list continued

What a fun Summer we had!  We managed to check off almost all of the items on our list.  We tried to star gaze one night when there was supposed to be a meteor shower but it was too rainy/cloudy and I am sure we will have a campfire when cooler weather comes.  Its funny that New York was one of the closest places to visit on on our list and we never made it there. Technically we did go to both airports in NY several times but we wont count that.  I hope we can go one day in the Fall before our airport days are over because NYC in the Fall sounds magical.

Our ice activities and science experiment days turned out really well.  I am sure they will make the list again.

Ice Activities

Ice cube boat races

This was Jared's Quidditch boat

Painting ice with salt and watercolors

Fizzy, ice cube sidewalk paint

Science Fun


LEGO volcanoes

Magic Milk

Skittles Magic

 


LEGO race cars

Citrus Eruptions

Mentos and Diet Coke

Elephants toothpaste

 Removing the M from an M&M and the S from a Skittle

These activities were easy to put together.  Thanks to teaching preschool I already had 98% of the supplies on hand.  We made sure to talk about all the science behind the activities too but mostly they were just fun to do together.

1st and 3rd grade

Last week I took Jared and Lydia over to Baker-Butler to get some back to school pictures.  I like having this time to be at the school and talk to them about how they feel about the upcoming year.  And I know I won't be rushed and the lighting will be way better than the morning of.  After pictures we went out for donuts and brought some to Mark who was already back at school for meetings and such.  His school is right by the new donut place we love and it was nice to visit him at school, Jared and Lydia love playing in the gym and climbing this big rock out front.  Mark loves it when we visit him and it is not something we do often.

Lydia:

Jared:

 

Both Lydia and Jared were super excited to go back to school.  To be honest, when I found out who their teachers were I was really disappointed.  There are 3 different 1st grade teachers I really like and  I really hoped Lydia would get one and she didn't get any of them.  I didn't request one of them because we are not supposed to but I wish I would have.  Jared got placed in the "Big Blue Room" a sort of experimental classroom that has lots more students and 2 teachers.  Last year was the first year they did it so at least they have done it once and know some things to change.  Baker-Butler has yet to let me down with great teachers for them so I hope it continues.

Lydia has Mrs Hariston.  I really know very little about her.  A good friend who's daughter had her was not happy with how the year went so that added to my disappointment.  I knew who she was but she always came cross as really reserved and kind of well boring.  Which sounds awful because I have had zero interactions with her.  I talked to a few people and they all had great things to say about her, parents and students.  The main descriptions came up as: kind, one who never yells, that she is very even keel.  I can easily see that just from being around her at open house.  I think it has more to do with the fact that I really wanted one of the other teachers and very little to do with Mrs. Hariston herself.  One friend told us that when she wants to get her classes attention she will start singing which sounds fun to me.  I guess I just have this idea that while a teacher does not need to entertain children its nice if they come off as excited and fun especially for younger kids.  Lydia was perfectly happy with her.  When I picked her up yesterday she said she had a great day then she gave it a 5/10!  I asked her to describe her rating in more detail and she said it was because a boy at the lunch table spit his food out at her.  I don't know if he was just being gross and she happened to be across from him or if was directed at her but that would make my rating go down significantly as well.  I think she is disappointed to not have more kids from her class last year.  The ones she does have she was not particularly close too.  She misses her best friend who moved away.  I remember her taking awhile last year to make friends and think with some time she will find some good buddies.  She was perfectly happy to go back today so fingers crossed.

Jared couldn't wait to go to school and gave his first day a 9/10!  I was so happy for him.  When I first told him which class it was he said he was nervous it would be too loud and distracting.  After I found out his class assignment I texted his best buddies mom to see what class he got put in and fortunately for us he is in the same class as Jared.  Once I told Jared that all his worries went away.  He is so happy to be in class with Marcus again, never mind the 32 other students in there.  They have now been in the same class since 1st grade.  I have quite a few concerns about this class.  I know that in general Baker-Butler's policy is to have an increased use of technology in 3rd grade.  Each student is assigned their own computer to use.  But anytime I walked by the classroom last year it seemed like students were on computers.  I just really don't think 3rd graders need their own computer or that much screen time.  I have also heard that Minecraft is used as a teaching resource and that just put me off.  Again I know nothing about Minecraft because neither myself or Jared and Lydia have played it but I know I don't love the idea of it being used frequently.  It will be interesting to see how it is used.  Everyone I talked to about the 2 teachers (Mrs. Shafran and Ms. Graybill) said they loved them both and were really impressed with them.  They are really young and are best friends.  This is their 4th year teaching both starting at Baker-Butler.  They were the ones who asked to co teach this class together.  So everyone loves them but the class itself has mixed reviews.  I am not a big technology in school person, well for elementary school kids and that is a big part of the class.  I am interested to see how it goes and am having an open mind.  They have a pet guinea pig named Calvin and Jared loves him so even if I have concerns Jared is really happy and looking forward to the year and that is great.

We left for school earlier than on other days because I knew it would be crazy with parents dropping kids off but I did not expect to find traffic at a standstill so far from the school  I took this picture (since I was stopped and all) right near the dance studio which is a mile away from the school.  There were 2 buses in front of us but they were not picking anyone up.  I have never seen it backed up so far before.  I am sure it will be better but I hate being late and this certainly slowed us down.  I knew there wouldn't be a spot but thought I might catch someone leaving.  No such luck instead I just got stuck in the parking lot waiting for others who were waiting to either leave the lot or get a spot.  In the end I just had to drop them off at the drop off circle.  I was the first and only car in there at the time and happily broke the rule to get out of the car and take a quick picture and give big hugs.  It really was fine, just not what I had planned on.  As I pulled away I noticed Jared's water bottle had fallen out of his bag so I decided if there was a spot at the top of the hill I would take it in to him.  There was so I went ahead and dropped it off and walked to Lydia's class to wave hello.  I was glad I could see them settled in their classrooms.

Another concern about school is whether or not we can even stay there.  We got an email about the student population at Baker-Butler.  The school is currently 45 students over capacity.  I have noticed the school being more crowded each year especially last year when I would go pick them up.  They will be looking to see how to help this problem either by adding portable classrooms or redistricting.  We are in a spot that would likely be moved out of the school.  I can't see where they could send more students though.  The next closest school is full, its class sizes are around 24 while Baker-Butler is at 20 or less there are just more classrooms.  The other school nearby is really small.  It is only set up with 2 classes per grade level so I can't see where they could absorb more students (space wise).  In the past our street has gone to this smaller school, Broadus Wood and while I don't really have any problems with the school exactly we clearly bought our house to be at Baker-Butler.  There is a clause that if your child is in 5th grade they will be grandfathered in but if its decided next Spring/Summer Jared will be a year off.  Typically siblings can stay for at least that year but then Lydia would be in 3rd grade and I doubt they would let her stay after Jared left if they even let her.  The bigger concern is not really the elementary school but the middle school.  I would much prefer them to go into Sutherland, the school Baker-Butler feeds into than the one Broadus Wood goes too.  At this point Jared and Lydia still want to go to school with Mark so it may not even matter and its years away yet it will be decided soon.  There is not much I can do so I am not going to lose sleep over it but it is a disappointment.

I'm just happy Jared and Lydia are happy to be at school. We celebrated by going out for Soft Serve to talk about their first days.  I am not going to be teaching preschool this year, all the families who contacted me had 3 year olds and I kept holding out for 4 year olds so now I don't have a class.  I was really frustrated and sad and mad June and July but am over it now.  I am waiting to see when they open up jobs at the airport as Mark's manager said they planned on doing it in a few weeks.  Right now they have below wing jobs but I want above wing even if I do have to deal with all the irritated people.  I'm not totally convinced I want to do it but want/need to find some kind of job.  I just really want to have the same hours as Jared and Lydia so need to find something to do that fits that.

Rio de Janeiro

Rio De Janeiro is about 1.5 hours from Petropolis.  When we told people we were heading there for a few days they all told us to be really careful.  Even though I didn't feel like I was traveling somewhere dangerous I knew I didn't want to take Jared and Lydia.  Mostly because of the nature of the trip (Mark reuniting with mission people) we already knew it wasn't really a kid friendly trip but I could tell Mark wasn't interested in worrying about them in the city too.   He found us an Air b-n-b in Barra da Tijuca which was about 35 minutes away from the city center.  It is where his mission office was and where they are building the Rio de Janeiro Temple.  Our place was right across the street from the beach and had a lovely view and a hammock on the balcony.  Our first day there was all rainy the second day was better and the third day was all sunshine.  We used just about every form of transportation in Rio.  Mark was not interested in driving in the city and he was especially not interested in finding and paying for parking there.  We started with a taxi from our Air b-n-b to the bus station.  From the bus we got on the Metro and then walked where we needed to.  We also used Uber a lot which worked great as long as we could find an internet connection which wasn't too hard.  The funny things about visiting Rio is that none of the places were visited were actually places he served.  He told me that he didn't serve in any pretty places.  The neighborhoods he lived and worked in were too dangerous for us to go into.  I'm glad he made it out of there with only stories to tell.

Beach on one side, Lagoon on the other. 

Our typical lunch in Brazil.  Meat, black beans and rice.  Mark mentioned that while he lived there lunch was the big meal of the day.  I loved this.  It was way nicer to relax and eat a nice meal in the middle of the day.  We found a restaurant called Kilograma where you pay by weight.  We loved it and ate there each day we were in Rio.  

Day 1

SARAA Market for souvenirs

Escadaria Selaron

Parque Lage

Temple Drive By

One of Mark's favorite Brazil memories was all the fruit and fresh juice.  SARAA Market is where all the locals go to shop.  You can find pretty much anything and its much more reasonable than actual shopping centers.  We found what we were looking forward and sound fresh juice which he was excited about.  

The Ecardaria Selaron was one of my favorite places in Rio.  A Chilen artist named Selaron lived on the street and one day he decided he was going to try to make his neighborhood a nicer place.  He was an artist and on a whim decided to take his trashy smelly street and turn it into something special.    He did this by adding tiles to he dilapidated steps.  He began with blue, green and yellow tiles, the color of Brazil's flag and then added red.  When he ran out of money he started receiving donations from around the world.  The tiles are unique and it completely changed the direction of the neighborhood.  It was a great stop.  I had never heard of it before we started planning this trip and am so happy we got to see it. 

Brazil: I Love You, Selaron

The neighborhood is also known for some of the best street art in the city.  The mayor of Rio De Janeiro recently legalized street graffiti on surfaces as long as it wasn't historically designated. 

Parque Lage is a public park in the middle of the city.  We took a really long walk in the rain to find it.  On a clear day you can see the Christ the Redeemer statue really well but that was not the case for us.  The park has a fun cafe in a beautiful setting and its basically a mini rainforest.  As we were leaving the cafe to go check out the park the clouds parted at the top of the mountain and we got our first glimpse of the statue.  We didn't see many animals as the weather was poor, but we felt like we were in a tropical rainforest.  The trees were thick and there were so many different varieties.  It was a fun stop. 

We found some cool cave to explore complete with Stalactites and a little aquarium.

Mark was so exited to stop by the Rio temple.  He was so happy for the members there when they announced it.  After serving there I think it was really meaningful to get to see a temple there.  

Day 2

Parasailing

Sugar Loaf Mountain

For a really long time I've wanted to go parasailing.  When we were planning our trip Mark found a company that took people out and we decide to spend the money and do it.  I am so glad we did.  While I do not love being on a boat, parasailing was awesome.  We were supposed to meet our guide at the marina at 11:00.  It took us a long time to find them and then once we did we learned we had to wait longer because the wind was not strong enough.  Around 11:45 we got on the boat and headed out.  There was a man from Angola and an older couple from France.  The older couple just wanted a nice boat ride and they got a long one.  These poor guys had to drive all over the bay looking for enough wind to inflate the parachute and keep it up.  We drove back and forth across the water.  It was beautiful out and had great views but I was so bored.  Boats just aren't my thing.  They tried throwing the chute up three times and each time there wasn't enough wind, it just landed in the water and then they had to untangle it.  And the chute got heavier each time it landed in the water.  Finally on the last try they found enough wind.  The commented that they had never had to throw it three times before.  As we were waiting I ended up taking a little nap on Mark's lap.  I was the second one to go up and loved it.  It was not scary at all and required no real skills.  You are strapped in a harness and then a pulley pulls you up.  We felt perfectly safe and couldn't believe how peaceful it was once we got up there.  With his long legs Mark was able to do some fancy tricks and had a great time too.  We both had the drivers lower us to dip our feet in the water.  It was so nice and fun.  

 Mark hanging upside down

Since it did take such a long to find any wind we had to really hightail it out of there to have time to eat and make it to Sugar Loaf Mountain in time for the sunset.  Originally we planned to hike up to the lower mountain and then catch the sky tram to the top, but we didn't have enough time.  We got off the metro and stopped for a yummy smoothie to enjoy on our fast paced walk.  The neighborhood right by the Metro felt pretty sketchy but we were fine.  We took the tram to both mountains and got there with about 15 minutes to spare.  It was beautiful.  When we were down in the city it felt chaotic, disorganized and dirty.  When we got to the top it was peaceful and the city looked beautiful.  Its surrounded by water and mountains.  We could see the beautiful beaches and the boats bobbing in the water.  It was amazing.  

Copacabana Beach is behind my shoulder 

Day 3

Morning Picnic on the Beach

Tijuca National Park/Christ the Redeemer Statue

Copacabana Beach

Our last day in Rio was also Mark's birthday.  We started with a simple breakfast picnic at a beach 20 minutes away from our Air b-n-b.  We went on a short run on the beach, watched some surfers and saw two different models doing a swimming suit photo shoot.  The beach was small and in a beautiful setting.  We were nervous as the day started because we planned to go to the Christ the Redeemer Statue and it was really cloudy which could mean we wouldn't be able to see much of the statue or the beautiful views.  Luckily the clouds all cleared up and it turned into a beautiful day.  After our time at at the beach we went back to the Air b-n-b and packed up all our stuff.  Mark had talked to front desk person (it was a condo) and he said we could park in the lot above the parking garage so we grabbed a taxi and headed back into town via bus routes and the metro.

While the neighborhood we stayed in was clean and safe it was a bit of a hassle to get into the city but it worked out fine each day.  We got off at the closest metro stop and then walked part way to the pick up spot for the statue.  There is a train you can take to get up there but Mark had read about a really great viewpoint and wanted to get there another way so we could stop there.  We found an internet connection and got an uber.  The driver was really nice and was happy to stop and the view point for Mark.  

Looking out both sides

Ubers and taxi's are only allowed to take you up the a certain point.  You can't have them take you all the way to the statue.  It is located in a national park and has a visitors center where you purchase tickets.  You can walk all the way up if you want but we opted for the bus shuttle.  We had about 45 minute to kill before our scheduled shuttle and enjoyed a Guarana on the patio.  The shuttle drops you off at the bottom of a large, steep set of stairs.  There were a good amount of people but it wasn't too bad.  We were really luck that the weather cleared up so nicely for us.  The views from up there were amazing.  It presents the city as this beautiful organized place.  It was certainly cleaner and more organized than Egypt but it is deceptive .

We stopped for lunch at our favorite place and Mark picked out a few desserts to sample for his birthday.  We then made our way over to the beach.  We got there a little later than we wanted and wished we could have had more time to walk on the beach.  We are not huge beach people but Copacabana was beautiful and the weather was just right.

I had  been wanting to get a picture the way houses/neighborhoods are built and when we walked around a corner from the beach I got my chance.

After that we picked up our car and drove to the airport.  We are so thankful we got to take this trip together.  It was a great experience.