Growing Everyday

The family took a trip to Peoria last weekend to visit friends there and to celebrate RCC’s new building opening. We got to do a nice long visit with Rose and Mel. It was wonderful to see them and to get spoiled. We also got some decent Chinese food. Beka and Jared loved playing in the pool at the hotel and visiting a friend and her rats. Jared was excited that the rats wanted to keep playing with him. Beka just wanted to see her friend.

RCC’s building is amazing. It was so nice to see everyone again and feel like a part of the family. The building already looks full. I was so amazed at how smoothly everything was running after only three weeks in the building. It was a wonderful little vacation.

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We spent the afternoon outside painting on the easel and making pictures with solar paper. Andrew had bought the solar paper this fall on one of his business trips. We just finally got around to using it. You place different items on the paper in the sun. Then once the paper is white in place it in water to stop the reaction. The solar paper places shadows where the items were on the paper. The kids were impressed at the shapes they made on the papers. Oh, I almost forgot…I also brought out the CD player for some music.

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Within a couple days of each other, Beka and Jared both have scraps on their chins. Jared went first. He was trying to do some complicated "big kid" trick on the playground equipment when he lost his grip and fell face first into the woodchips. Three days later, Beka was swinging and decided she was going to hold a stuff animal at the same time. She completely let go of the swing and proceeded to fall face first into the wood chips. I am just glad it isn’t school pictures time yet.

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Andrew has aught the kids to play kickball. Not really alot to say about it. Beka and Jared love to play for about 5 -10 minutes and then like with everything else lately they are done. Is it time for school to start yet? They need something new to challenge them. And Mom is running out of ideas.

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As a family, we visited an park that is also the site of an archaeological dig. There is a center there that tells about the Indians who used to live there and has hands on displays of arrowheads and other pottery and things found at the dig site. An archaeologist is onsite as well to answer questions. When we went, she let the kids and Andrew try out an atlatl.

"An atlatl or spear-thrower is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in spear-throwing, and includes a bearing surface which allows the user to temporarily store energy during the throw. A well-made atlatl can readily achieve ranges of greater than 100 meters." source Wikipedia

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"You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing. What! Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long? Never in his life will he be so busy again." ~Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762

I found this quote earlier today and I am going to admit that I keep feeling we are just wasting away the summer with play time. We play at numerous playgrounds, we go swimming, and we explore outdoors, but it still feels like we are doing nothing. Some days it just feels like a waste especially on the days we are home all day and I keep hearing "I’m bored". But I try to remind myself that even though we are playing, Beka and Jared are only little once. And when school starts, play time will be limited. We can only enjoy this summer right now. So I need to remember that being happy, impulsive, and curious is something.

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A friend let us borrow so eye droppers and color mixing equipment. The ice cube trays were my idea. The kids had a blast seeing how many colors they could mix together before it turned balck or brown. They ended up filling the ice cube trays twice before they decided they were finished with the project. I really enjoy watching them experiment and the conversations that come out of it.

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Andrew took Beka and Jared for a walk one Saturday morning and they found a red-ear turtle. We played with it a bit and then let it go in the big pond by our house. Beka especially wanted to keep it like she does all animals, but we convinced her it would be better for it to live in the wild.

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I bought Beka and Jared some water guns to play with this summer. I thought they would go after each other with them. You know, a safe way to beat up on your sibling. It seemed like a great idea until they turned the guns on me.

We actually had a great time running around, laughing, and spraying each other.

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The other night Jared decided he wanted to help mom with the dishes. He actually did a great job. I am thinking about permanently hiring him for the job.

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