Myrtle Beach State Park - Camping

For part of spring break, Jess and Rosa invited us to join them camping at Myrtle Beach State Park in South Carolina. I'm not that fond of beaches, but the kids are, and I do love to go new places, so we were in. Jess and Rosa love this campground, but it wasn't really my style. There were way too many RVs and it was very crowded in our section. But camping is camping and we still had fun. You could walk to the beach from the campground and there were some gorgeous live oaks between the campground and the beach.

One night, the girls thought they'd try to sleep in the hammocks. It went about as well as you would imagine. Lots of set up and prep, and they lasted a couple of hours.

Reading

 We still read every night with our kids. We alternate nights. Since Alice reads so much on her own, we read aloud to her. Zac's been reading the Hunger Games series and I've been reading her Lord of the Flies.

Simon still never chooses to read on his own, so we read to him, but he also has to read out loud to us. Usually Zac and I do different books with him. Simon has been working for a long time to read My Sides of the Mountain with Zac, and finally finished the book.

Titans Swim Meets

 Alice has continued to do year-round swimming with the Triangle Aquatic Center (TAC) Titans.

She mostly seems to enjoy it and is progressing well, achieving BB times in several events. I spend the better part of a weekend approximately once a month at the swim meets. So far they've all been held at TAC, so at least we don't have to travel.  Her best events so far seem to be butterfly and IM.

Simon's creativity

 Simon does not spend much time drawing or painting, but his creativity has other outlets. For example, did you know you can make an "h" out of cranberry sauce?

He's been more interested in rocks and minerals since doing a unit on it at school.

He goes in phases with legos, sometimes ignoring them then coming back to them for a while. Currently he likes to build mansions.

Here's a portrait of him at the dentist, because he has bad teeth.

Signs of spring

 The end of February starts bringing signs of spring and hope.

Simon loves cats

 

House Project: Siding, windows, gutters

 We finally bit the bullet and forked over a small fortune (via home equity loan) to replace the siding, windows, and gutters on our house. We bought this place six years ago knowing we'd need to replace and fix many things. This was the most expensive, but it should be the last big project.

After (above)

Before (below)

The cool thing is we can now open all of our windows and they all have screens. Now all we need is some nice spring weather!

Self portrait

 

In her early work, simply titled "self portrait" the artist shows herself reflected in a computer screen, taken by her phone. The idea that her self is being transmuted through two screens symbolizes how screens have come to dominate our lives and affect our sense of self. Furthermore, the artist looks very bored, as if she is so tired of screens, but also tethered to them in order to perform her job requirements and live in a modern society where communication, banking, and planning are all done with computers. The fact that there is no window visible, except the computer Windows logo at the bottom of the screen, is meant to reflect the way that screens separate us from nature. The WUNC sticker under the monitor and the reflection of the pen and paper connote another time period, when writing or radio dominated -- two communication technologies that probably also unsettled society and changed daily life when they first emerged. The paintings on the wall in the background depicting trains and ships also connect to the idea of technological advancements that opened new frontiers and sped up communication. In it's whole, the photo reflects not only the tedium of modern life, but also the idea that technologies have always been altering human life, and that there is really nothing new under the sun.

How to build a fort

 Simon and Harrison spent a lot of time working on building this fort structure down by the pond. When they finished, Simon made a schematic to explain how to build one. 

Fruit

 I'm still making insane plates of fruit for the kids' snacks. Simon now likes to create his own beautiful plates. He took a long time making those cherry halves!

Zac's birthday and game night

Zac turned the ripe old age of 44 on a cold Saturday. After opening presents and completing Simon's treasure hunt, we spent the rest of the day getting ready for our game night party. Zac and Alice frosted the cupcakes (my hands were squeezed out after decorating his cake that morning). We cleaned the house and I chopped a bunch of fruit and veggies to go with the pizzas. It was a really fun party. The adults seemed glad to have a chance to play games with other adults (like euchre). Meanwhile, the kids played games, went outside, had an illegal nerf gun war in the basement, and generally caused chaos, but everybody had fun.