Summer week 7

This week we crossed off go to a "water park", science project day and parent child dates.  We also threw in another Harrisonburg day.  I spent a fair amount of time looking up fun simple science projects and then we got our supplies and began experimenting.  I had about 8 projects and we did half of them.  I think when Mark goes back to school we will have another science project day and do the rest.  It was good for me to start to get back in the habit of looking up activities online at night.  I told myself that I would not worry about preschool work until August so I have been far away from Pinterest and preschool blogs which has been a nice break. Last night I finally got down to work and started looking at my lesson plans from last year to try to remember what my notes meant and if I needed to replace stay activities or mix up the lessons a bit.  It took me awhile to get going but as I did I really enjoyed it.  I am ready to start getting stuff ready and am looking forward to next year.

The science projects were fun and interesting and we enjoyed doing them.

Pencil and Ziploc Bag experiment:

The first attempt at this was so bad.  Jared grabbed a pencil and jabbed it at the bag so hard.  The bag almost tore in half and therefore water spilled all over.  We were at the dining room table and the water of course slipped right into the crack so water was on the table, ground and inside the table.  That was a bummer.  I should have done the first one myself but I wanted the surprise to be from their actions not mine, oh well. Lesson learned.  It ended up working perfectly and was pretty cool.

The next experiment was melting skittles and it was the favorite. It was so easy to set up.  It was great for patterns and patience and science.

The runner up was a Star Wars themed experiment.  We made a baking soda and water paste and used it as "carbonite." Jared and Lydia picked small items to freeze in ice cube trays and then rescue after they froze with vinegar. I bought one of those really large vinegar containers and they went through more than half of it. But thats okay, that why I bought it.  It was a hit.

The last one was a rocket experiment.  They were much more complex to make and harder to make work but once you figured it out they flew really well. Mark and I did most of the putting together and I didn't really ever figure out how to make them fly well but everyone else did.

We drove up to Staunton one day to check out their public pool and it was my favorite one of the summer so far.   While we were there Lydia all of a sudden figured out how to dive! And then Jared did shortly after that.  It was very exciting and unexpected. Swim team all summer and he couldn't get it but then at the Staunton Pool it clicks! I am not sure they could do it anywhere but the side of the pool but they did it.  It always cool to see your kids learn these new skills. They are really great little swimmers.  When we put water park on our summer fun list we planned on going back to Roanoke to go to the pool there.  It has big slides and more water features. I didn't really like the slides there and it is 2 hours away so when we found out the Staunton pool had slides we decided it would be this years water park.  We don't see any point in going to one of the big expensive ones yet because A. they are pricey and B. Lydia isn't tall enough to go on most the slides at them and that just sounds unfair and frustrating and a waste of money.  They will be in for quite a surprise when we do actually go to one, then we may not be able to go back to the Staunton pool.  I really liked this pool though.  It was really clean and well kept up, it had 2 simple slides and wasn't too crowded.  It is located in a really nice park so before we went swimming Jared and Mark played some tennis and Lydia and I enjoyed the playground.  Mark also found an awesome old fashioned 50's diner that was a great find.  You got to sit at the old booths and place your order on a telephone.  They had old menus there that showed the price of food in the 50's and 60's which was fun to show Jared.  They had a juke box and delicious ice cream type drinks. We were glad we stopped in.  After swimming we stopped by the duck pond and fed the ducks.  There were cute little ducklings an dit was fun to see them waddle with the Mama Duck.  At the lake there were the little candy dispensers filled with duck food. Jared and Lydia each got a quarter to get some food.  Lydia got hers and crouched down to feed the ducks. I think she as expecting them to eat politely from her hand but this big swan came and nipped at her really aggressively which she was not expecting and it made her drop all her food.  She handled it really well but it did really shake her up, I don't know how excited she will be to feed ducks again.  I have lots of memories of feeding ducks with my family at Ellis Lake. I also had similar experiences with swans. One in particular where my sister Susanna and I were far ahead of our parents and these swans started chasing us.  We ran away and of course one of us fell and we were sure we were going to be pecked over and over again.  Luckily that was not that case, they are really aggressive for sure!  I have wanted to take them to feed ducks for a long time but its been surprisingly hard to do in Charlottesville. Its nice to know this pond is there and we can avoid swans in the future if needs be. It was a fun day in Staunton.

Jared and I went to Jefferson Coin for our date with a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts.  He had an eye appointment that morning so after that we went out.  It was great.  The eye appointment was not that great but the date was.  We have ben putting eye drops in for the last 9 weeks or so and sadly they haven't helped his vision at all.  When we started this process his eyesight was 20/300 in his left eye and now he is at 80-20.  Not great but some serious progress. The Doctor let us know that he will always have to wear glasses.  That made me sad. I handled it better than I did 2 years ago when it started.  It's frustrating because it we had caught it when he was younger he would have had a better chance of correcting it but such was not the case.  Oh well.  Having eye sight is 1000 times better than not so glasses it is.  He was bummed but seemed to already have accepted that, which I think I had too but now its really final. Its just hard because he can see great with his right eye, 20/20 vision but if it were to be injured he would lose vision which sounds awful so he will wear glasses just in case there is some freak accident where his right eye got injured in just the right way.

 We stopped by the bank and Jared took 10 dollars out of his account and loved checking out and learning about different coins.  He bought a few and has been happily examine them.  Mark and Lydia went out to Yoders and fed the animals.  The plan was to do that then get ice cream but when they got there the Donut Kitchen Truck was there so they started with donuts.  Then they fed animals and they got ice cream!  She was pretty excited.  Mark loves ice cream  and eats generous scoops regularly but once they got the serving even he was impressed with the amount scooped. I'm really glad we did these dates. I really want to make them a somewhat regular event. I am going out with Lydia tomorrow and Mark and Jared will go out too.

Their special this month was a "s'mores" donut which Jared thought was amazing. 

For this Harrisonburg day we went roller skating. Always a good time in my book.  After some practice loops with the "walker" Jared pretty much figured it out and could skate around without it.  Lydia had a small summer cold and passed it on to Jared so he wasn't feeling great and took lots of breaks but seemed to have a good time.  Lydia also took many breaks but had fun.  She seemed to prefer skating with Mark and I more than the walker which made Mark really nervous.  She pulled him down one time and then he was ready for a break.  She was really sweet and sincere when she apologized for making him crash. It was sweet.  It was even more fun as two of our friends joined us.  There were some injuries but overall I think everyone was glad they made the trip. We skated around and then stopped for ice cream on the way home.  Neither of these families had been to Funkys and I hope they had enough fun to go again. I am sure we will be back this winter.  I do love roller skating!

This wasn't on our summer fun list but Jared started piano lessons this week.  He will be going to the same teacher as me and having a 15 minute lesson once a week. He was pretty apprehensive about it and was not looking forward to it whenever we talked about it but he loved his first lesson.  He is worried that it will be too hard and he won't be able to do it and it will be hard but he can totally figure it out and Breanne is great. We planned to have him start when school started but things just lined up for him to start now.  I know there will be battles and he will not always love it but we are doing it and I am happy about it. There were multiple times this week when he mentioned wishing it was Tuesday so he could go to piano , or that he couldn't wait for his next lesson.  Feels my heart right up.  I will have to read this paragraph a lot in the coming months/years I am sure. When we were in California I went through my Mom's old music and found sheet music for "Walk Tall You're a Daughter of God" and knew it was the next song I wanted to play. Luckily it was at my level. I have been working on it the last few weeks and finished it this week.  It makes me so happy to play it and having those lyrics in my head the past weeks has been really lovely.  It fills me up with the spirit and makes me feel proud of myself.  That I am playing a song I love on the piano and doing it well.  It just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. I really love playing the piano. My new song is Let It Snow and while it doesn't make me feel quite the same way, it does make me really happy to be playing Christmas music which is one of the big reasons I wanted to learn to play.

 

Summer week 6

We put down a Harrisonburg day on our summer fun list. I love Harrisonburg. It's about 50 minutes away from our house. I know I also say I love Charlottesville and I really do but I think I would be quite happy in Harrisonburg too.  It just has a different, friendly feel that I really like, more down to Earth. Plus their children's museum is way better, they have an official roller skating rink, cool-different parks, public swimming pools that aren't way over priced and Hobby Lobby.  Its also way more affordable than Charlottesville. It's got a lot going for it.  Charlottesville seems to have this superiority complex. I don't know if its UVA or Monticello or what but I feel a big difference when I am in Charlottesville or other nearby cities.  For this Harrisonburg day we went to the Children's museum as I had 2 free passes, had a lovely picnic lunch and then spent the afternoon at their public pool.  I originally wanted to go to this pool because online it said they had water slides and "visit a water park" is also on our summer fun list but when we got there the slides were gone. I was admittedly pretty irritated because just the night before I had checked their website and it showed pictures of them and talked about them and we were all looking forward to trying them out. But I still love it there.  I think it would be fun to drive up there on one of the school professional development days this Fall and park hop. Jared and Lydia are starting to age out of parks but I think trying out new ones would excite them.  We met some friends at the museum and enjoyed the exhibits.  Since the last time we had been there they had opened up the 2nd floor and it was nice to have another space to explore.  They are also aging out of children's museums, they are just getting so much older.   It was a fun day.

I loved this real life only "shorter" kitchen.  Lydia spent a lot of time in here. 

Tuesday we went to a friend's birthday party and then went creeking at Preddy Creek in the afternoon.  The weather last week was amazing!  We had hiking and creeking on our list too and were happy to check them off.  We hadn't been to Preddy Creek since last Fall probably and it had really changed.  Well, the hike was the same but when we got to the creek we discovered a really nice bridge was almost done being built.  The "entrance" to the water and course of the creek had really changed.  I actually like it more now.  Jared and Lydia were happy to play in the water and were great sports on the little "hike" more of a walk to get there.  At the party we enjoyed slip-n-sliding on a super fun slip-n-slide and snow cones.

These bowling pins were great. 

"Traffic Jam"

Were lucky we have such fun cool friends. 

Totally did not expect to see this massive sturdy bridge here!

It looks like they are almost done with it.

Since the weather was so nice we went on another little hike the next day. I had heard a lot of people talk about swimming at Sugar Hollow and how much they loved it so we added it to our summer fun list. My 10K took place there, its a really pretty area. I remember thinking as I Ran it that it would be fun to bring our bikes there.  Its pretty and really flat and not busy at all.  The hike was really easy and pretty.  We crossed over the river and the water was so clear.  It was lovely.  We were fortunate that there were only 2 other families there as online it talked about how popular it was.  The hike was easy and a great length for Jared and Lydia.  Apparently there are 2 waterfalls.  We only hiked to the first one and Jared and Lydia could have hiked more but it was a good stopping place.

The water was super clear and so pretty with the rock wall.  It was my favorite spot on the hike. We chatted with two older gentlemen at this spot.  They were in their upper 60's and had great southern accents.  It was fun to chat and see these 2 older guys out hiking with each other. 

In order to get Jared to jump Mark told him he would jump in too.  Once Jared jumped he loved it and did it multiple times, Lydia too.  The water was quite cold and so pretty.  We will for sure do this hike again.

That was the end of the summer fun list for the week.  Mark and I have been talking about needing to stain our deck for awhile now.  Since the weather was so nice Mark decided now was the time to get it done.  We borrowed a pressure washer and went to town washing everything we could think of!  I could not believe how much mildew and algae had "grown" on our deck and house.  It was fascinating and kind of mesmerizing to watch the wood turn back to wood color.  I read about it online and some people said it was okay to pressure wash the siding on your house and others said it was not.  Isn't that the case with everything?  It kind of drives me crazy. Anyway. We went ahead and did it and I think our house looks much less green now and more gray which makes me really happy.  We did our front porch, deck, siding, shutters, doors, fence and the brick on the bottom of the house. It all looks great and was even kind of fun.  I think when Mark finishes the deck (which is a huge project, I mean our deck is massive and two levels.)  we may even spruce up our front door and shutters.  I think that popular pretty dark blue would look great.  Jared and Lydia did a great job playing at home in and out while Mark and washed everything.  Mark did 99.3% of it but I am happy I can say I did help.

It was crazy to watch the green stuff come off.  I couldn't believe how much there was and how easily it came off.  A friend who used to do this for a job stopped by and commented that we were adding years to our deck just by cleaning.  It really is a nice space so I'm glad we are taking care of it. Even it if is huge and more money than we maybe wanted to spend on our deck. Aren't all projects though more money than you want to spend?

Ready to paint!  We went ahead and bought a paint sprayer.  We do want to paint our basement (maybe next summer?) and it is a big room.  It was a life saver for the railings for sure. Not great for the floor but I think Mark is still glad we got it. I can't believe how much lighter it looks.  It sort of always looked wet before he cleaned it up.  It was also pretty slippery, the preschool kids would occasionally slip on it since we have recess there.  Hopefully this stain will help. A friend (and colleague) of Mark's who lives up the street came by and helped Mark.  They often do this, help each other on projects.  It's nice.

It's just so big!! Mark worked most of the day and is probably just under 3/4 of the way done. 

Gray! My 2nd favorite color. 

Mark sent me a picture of the stain samples and I of course knew I wanted gray. I am happy with it. Its sort of odd to not have it more wood like, seeing as how its a wood deck, but I think it looks nice.  I do think it will have blue undertones at times which I don't love but I can't control the lighting outside so so be it.

As Mark was pressure washing everything outside, Jared, Lydia and I were on our hands and knees cleaning the grout in our kitchen.  I had known it was dirty and needed a good scrubbing but also didn't really pay a lot of attention to it for the last 2 years or so, whoops.  So we made a baking soda and vinegar paste and got to work scrubbing it.  Jared and Lydia were a big help, they didn't love it although they did think it was fun to clean with a toothbrush.  We got about half of it done and already it is looking dirty again. Sigh. We even purposely chose gray grout not white so it wouldn't look as bad but I don't think it worked as well as we hoped.  I just need to add it to a cleaning rotation or something, then maybe it wouldn't take as long. Who am I kidding, it will probably always take much longer than I think it should.  Oh well.

By Saturday afternoon Mark had finished pressure washing most of our property... so we headed over to the Earlysville Reservoir to go kayaking.  We hadn't gone as a family in quite some time and it was a great outing. We had Lydia ride with Mark for the first half than with me for the second.  She really wanted to paddle this time so I let her and ended up much wetter than I normally do.  Next year she will be in her own kayak!  There as a strong wind that we had to paddle into on the way out and then when we turned around hoping to get a little boost from the wind it died down. I was proud of how well Jared paddled, we went pretty far and that wind was strong! It was a great family outing though and we were all glad we went.