Jack Smith Park

We always love to see the kids working on construction projects in the morning!

Alice was very proud to tie some leaves of grass to this plastic stick.

I took the kids to Jack Smith Park for the day while Zac worked on more of the backyard playground installation. I always find it funny when I pack for the park and set up camp to spend 5 hours there, while other families come and go, sometimes spending as little as 15 minutes there. It reminds me of people who take their kids to the library and they check out two books. When I go to the library I bring saddle bags and come home with about 40 books.

For this particular excursion, I brought picnic lunches, kites, Simon's bike, Alice's scooter, plus a folding chair and book for myself.

Simon wiped out in the muddy field running with his kite in the first five minutes. I had packed a change of clothes, thinking that was great foresight, but now I was thinking just one change of clothes wouldn't be enough for the whole day.

Simon spent most of his time riding his bike and trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to fly his kite. Simon was frustrated because he couldn't fly his kite and Alice was frustrated because she couldn't get up the rock wall, and I was unable to help her. Both kids were pretty whiny and annoyed with me that I wouldn't do everything they demanded. I thought feeding them would help, but it only slightly reduced the complaining.

Alice strongly dislikes sandwiches, so she requested leftover spaghetti in a thermos.  Weird picnicker! (Also notice the sandal drink holder.)

Simon ate his sandwich in style.

Later, I was sitting there reading twitter on my phone when Alice grabbed it from me and declared, "I want to take a picture!" 

I asked her, jokingly, "Of me? Your beautiful mom?"

She replied, "No! Of a sheep."  Of course.

She also took a picture of this beautiful mud puddle. How can I compete with that?

Later, when I was talking on the phone with my parents and not paying attention, she somehow got to the top of the climbing rock (I think she got a bit of assistance from someone).

The problem, of course, was that now she was scared to get down. Luckily, Random Park Dad stepped in to help coach her down. I think it was one of his kids that helped Alice get up there in the first place, so he must have felt obligated to help rescue her.

Finally, around 3 pm it started raining and we headed home.

Backyard Playground

While I was taking the kids out all weekend, Zac was at home installing my birthday present: a backyard swing and play area for the kids.  How is this a present for me, you ask?  Time. The kids play on it and I have a bit of free time. Especially useful this coming week when I'll be home with the kids for spring break. We've been thinking about doing something back here for a while and finally got around to it. It was a surprise for the kids.

Day at the Museum

Saturday was rainy. It was also the Sci-Tech Expo at our downtown science museum.  I just love that we have such wonderful free events and resources so close.

The kids folded origami boxes.

They watched a robotics competition.

They made paper rockets.

The tried to identify fossils.

They learned about volume (ok, really they just played)

A stranger offered to take our picture. (Simon didn't cooperate).

We enjoyed the view of the city from the skybridge.

They made fans out of styrofoam plates.

We watched a live musical about STEM (not pictured).

We watched a demonstration on the states of matter.

The kids made light up pictures.

And they played outside afterwards.

Alice's Backpack

I made Alice clean out her backpack for spring break. She had quite the collection of old papers and junk in there.

She also brought home some work from art class:

I ran uphill

After my last day of work before spring break, I could have stayed later to grade essays, but I noticed on the radar that there was a two hour break in the rain, so I decided to go home and take a walk instead. I had the greenway (very green now) mostly to myself.

It's been a rough winter. My ability to exercise in the months after my initial surgery recovery was impeded by the fissures in December and January and then by being sick for a month and half during Feb-March. But I've been back at it for a while now, and this week I was even able to go out Monday, Wednesday and now Friday. Although I've started interspersing my walks with a bit of jogging, it's been hard to really gain stamina when my opportunities to exercise are so spread out (usually I'm lucky to get out twice a week).

Normally, if I jog a bit, it's on the flat parts between the hills, but today I was feeling good so I tried doing some of the hills too. I was shocked to discover that I just ran right up the steepest hill and rather than collapsing at the top (like the last time I tried it), I was able to keep going a bit further even.  It was an amazing feeling--almost like I've been reincarnated.

I'm almost to the equinox of my illness.  It was around this time in April last year that things started to get really bad in my colon. Three months later I would be so sick I could barely get out of bed. Three months after that, I'd need my colon removed in order to regain my health. Three months after that I'd wonder if I'd always have pain and suffering as I dealt with recurring fissures. And three months after that, I'd just run up a hill like it was nothing.

When I was so sick over the summer, I remember remembering running and feeling like it was so impossible. I had trouble walking up stairs or walking from my car into work. The idea of walking miles, or even running for a few minutes seemed so impossible.  What a journey this last year has been!

Royal Family

Alice figured out how to use a brooch to fasten together a cape, and Simon followed suit, sort of.

Dillard Drive International Festival

On Thursday evening, Alice and Simon's school had their annual International Festival. It is a great evening showcasing the amazing diversity of this region.  Each class researches a country and makes a poster about it. Parents bring in food from the different countries. And new this year, cultural performances on the stage in the gym. Although the event isn't actually that exciting, I love the concept of it so much.  I almost teared up when I was there just thinking of the beauty of bringing people together from so many backgrounds and embracing the diversity.  Given all the vitriol towards immigrants and minorities spewed by Trump and his cronies, it is so heartening to be in an environment that appreciates cultural diversity. I'm so glad the kids get to go to this school where they are friends with people from all sort of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Here's Simon being silly with some of his classmates:

We also saw his kindergarten teachers, Ms. Liso, recently back from her maternity leave. She mentioned how surprised she was when she came back and Simon was "out of his shell."

Alice and Parker watching the performances.

Parker's third grade class got to do a dance with the drummers. I'm so proud of my 3rd child!

Climbin' Simon: Terror in the Trees

See if you can find Simon in this picture:

Simon loves climbing trees and finally is tall enough and coordinated enough to do it well. It is terrifying for us to see him so high, but he loves it so much we can't bear to tether him to the ground.

Alice's dab

Sunset in Wellington Park

The view from our front door this evening.



The dogwood blossoms almost look like snow in the evening light.

Alice's Owl Pellet

Alice had been eyeing an owl pellet at the Durham gift shop for a while, and she finally had enough money to purchase one at the atrocious price of $7.

She enjoyed dissecting it, but was disappointed that it only contained mouse bones.  She said she was expecting it to have the feathers and bones of a bird and she was going to keep the bones and feathers in a glass jar in her room. She was disappointed. I was relieved.

Life with a Little Brother

I took the kids to Durham for the day. Alice was trying to do a nice pose in the tree, but Simon disrupted the photo shoot.

At lunch he got cold from his drink, so Alice was kind enough to lend him her fleece.

Easy Peasy

Some times I notice that things really are finally getting easier. Like when I came down this morning and Simon was working on copying words from Alice's kindergarten word ring, and Alice was coloring the picture from the morning paper's comics.

Birdhouses

I took the kids to the Saturday morning workshop to build birdhouses.  They did great! I like these crafts because it teaches the kids how to follow directions and hammer, two important life skills.

Then we played around in the store for a bit.

I'm an excellent child-watcher

This weekend, I invited Andrea's kids over to play so she could have a break for the afternoon, then come back to join us for supper. I asked her to send the kids with extra clothes in case they got muddy (last time Zac took them to the creek).  I had no idea they would get this muddy.  I just took them down to the pond, but they found a mud flat and Murphy got a little carried away.

Simon mostly played along the shoreline with some tadpoles.  He couldn't quite keep up with how quickly the bigger kids changed venues (from the island to the tunnels to the mud flat) plus Simon has an attention span and can play in one place for quite a long time. It was really hard for me to keep an eye on all four kids.

Alice also got stuck in the mud flat, but didn't enjoy it.  So once she extracted herself from the muck, she busied herself dissecting an onion plant.

Back at the house, we made everyone take showers and change clothes. Andrea came back and gave us rides in her new Tesla (which was awesome).  The kids actually played games in the living room, completely unsupervised by adults. It was a miracle.

Morning Math

The kids are doing math problems on a notepad while they wait for the school bus.

Cookie Butter

Bun

Alice asked me to put her hair in a bun, then take a picture to show her.

I'm not very good at buns.

Alice knows about cats

Alice passed the time one evening by making this report on cats.  Since the spelling is atrocious, I will translate it for you.

A cat is a mammal.
A cat has

• Claws to scratch
• Sharp teeth to bite
• Ears that twist and turn to hear where a noise is
• Reflective eyes to see in the dark
• A tail to keep balance
• Whiskers to feel around
• Cats make different noises to communicate

Vampire Bat

This is what Simon slid under our door this morning.

Vampire Bat