Saturday, May 21, 2016
Piggyback
Mr. 4 comes along every Wednesday to cello lessons. This Wednesday was no exception and Mr. 11 tagged along as well. We tried to take a walk but Mr. 4 was so very grumpy. Until Mr. 11 offered to piggyback him and then he was all smiles!
A Day in the Life
We've been on our own all week with David in Mountain View for the Google Making Science launch (it's awesome - https://makingscience.withgoogle.com/science-journal/). There have been ups and downs (getting everyone out the door to school was not pretty) but today was a great day!
6:30 - Mr. 4 is up. He tries to snuggle with me (since I don't want to be up) but after 5 minutes or so he decided to go read books in the living room and I get to sleep until almost 7!
7 - Mr. 4 and Mr. 11 are up (typical for our house) so I get up and join them. Mr. 4 and I work on his Koala crate and make a bird mask and some wings. They're hungry so we make pancakes.
8 - Mr. 7 and Mr. 13 are up. Everyone seems happy to I leave Mr. 4 watching Alton Brown Good Eats with his pretend food so he can cook along and jump in the shower.
8:45 - Time for the 5th grade car wash. Mr. 11 heads out with me and Mr. 4 to walk to school and we leave Mr. 7 and Mr. 13 to work on chores and relaxing.
9:30- Mr. 4 and I leave Mr. 11 happily washing cars and walk back home. After a quick planning meeting we decide that Mr. 4 and I will run to the garden store and then Mr. 13 and Mr. 7 will meet up with us at the car wash. Mr. 4 helps me pick out some new adirondack chairs, potting soil, seeds, a watering can, and a few other odds and ends. We text Mr. 13 and head back to the car wash.
11 - We're back to get our car wash and to visit the bake sale (Mr. 4's second trip). Mr. 13, Mr. 7, Mr. 4, and I play tag on the playground while Mr. 11 finishes the car wash and then we head home.
11:30 - It's a beautiful day so I unload the car and start working on the garden while the boys have a water fight. Mr. 7 and I had built the new garden box on Friday night and now it's time to put it in place. The old box had rotted and it was time for it to go. It takes a while but I think we managed to get it in place without killing any of the strawberries plants (we'll see how they do).
1:30 - Mr. 4 is starting to tear apart the kitchen looking for food so we head in for lunch. After leftovers for everyone, it's time to finish up in the backyard and to plant our seeds. Mr. 4 has been carrying around the packets and has lost quite a few (I actually had to put the remaining watermelon seeds in my pocket early in order to have any left to plant). He helps me plant them and get them watered. They're sitting on the porch so hopefully we'll remember to plant them!
6:30 - Mr. 4 is up. He tries to snuggle with me (since I don't want to be up) but after 5 minutes or so he decided to go read books in the living room and I get to sleep until almost 7!
7 - Mr. 4 and Mr. 11 are up (typical for our house) so I get up and join them. Mr. 4 and I work on his Koala crate and make a bird mask and some wings. They're hungry so we make pancakes.
8 - Mr. 7 and Mr. 13 are up. Everyone seems happy to I leave Mr. 4 watching Alton Brown Good Eats with his pretend food so he can cook along and jump in the shower.
8:45 - Time for the 5th grade car wash. Mr. 11 heads out with me and Mr. 4 to walk to school and we leave Mr. 7 and Mr. 13 to work on chores and relaxing.
11 - We're back to get our car wash and to visit the bake sale (Mr. 4's second trip). Mr. 13, Mr. 7, Mr. 4, and I play tag on the playground while Mr. 11 finishes the car wash and then we head home.
1:30 - Mr. 4 is starting to tear apart the kitchen looking for food so we head in for lunch. After leftovers for everyone, it's time to finish up in the backyard and to plant our seeds. Mr. 4 has been carrying around the packets and has lost quite a few (I actually had to put the remaining watermelon seeds in my pocket early in order to have any left to plant). He helps me plant them and get them watered. They're sitting on the porch so hopefully we'll remember to plant them!
3:30 - Backyard is finished and I head inside. Mr. 7 and I practice cello together while the older boys clean up a few things and then everyone gets a little screen time. I take advantage of the quiet to do the dishes, make coffee and clean up. I get dinner started because we have a play to go to tonight so need to eat a little early.
5:30 - The boys are happily making a science video which is an activity I had suggested yesterday but didn't get off to a great start due to everyone being so very tired. Mr. 13 composed the theme song and Mr. 11 started designing the logo. Now they've decided to work on an aeronautics video and find instructions for a homemade wind tunnel. Happily our upstairs neighbors have a big cardboard box and they find a fan in the basement. They're figuring out how to fly gliders when I interrupt them. We have to eat or we'll be late for the play. The transition does not go smoothly and there is a lot of difficulty taking a break but eventually we all get to the table. I had made dumpling (thanks to Blue Apron) and everyone seemed to enjoy them except Mr. 11. The rice wine vinegar and tamari sauce did not go well with his canker sore!
6:30 - Into the car for Little Women. Our upstairs neighbor S and one of Mr. 11's best friends R are in it. It's a great performance but long. I bribe Mr. 4 through the first act with the promise of cupcakes but we cannot make it through the second act. We wander the lobby looking at the artwork for the rest of the play. It's actually impressive he made it considering there is no music to distract him!
10 - Home and trying to get everyone to bed. Tomorrow morning is going to be a bit rough but we'll get through! Just church, teaching sunday school, soccer for Mr. 7, a birthday party for Mr. 11, soccer for Mr. 4 and I'm the assistant coach, and then home for dinner and hopefully an early bedtime!
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Camping
Some weekends start out crazy and just get crazier but you wouldn't have wanted to change any of the individual parts.
Mr. 11's best friend G is moving away and we've been trying to squeeze in some extra time with his family because we're going to miss them so much! Mr. 11 invited G for a sleepover and they had a great time hanging out together and it was amazing to reflect on how much these 2 guys have grown up over the years. There were some Minecraft battles, some Playmobil stories, and time to hang out but not enough sleeping! After lunch we tried to pack up for our first cub scout camp-out while keeping the 5 boys in our house somewhat quiet (and inside) because our upstairs neighbors were having an open house (another sad move for us - but at least they're only moving 15 minutes away rather than 1500 miles). We had hoped to be on our way earlier but it just didn't work out.
We snuck out finally around 2, got G home, and then headed out to do some camping. It was a great group of Tiger Cubs (Mr. 7's compatriots) and we hiked, cooked over a campfire, played hide and go seek in the woods, told stories around the fire, and slept in a tent. It was definitely a trial run for us but the boys have been asking when our next camping trip is since we returned (especially Mr. 4)!
Sunday afternoon we managed to squeeze in a little soccer and then dinner with 2 of our favorite people! Hard to beat such a great weekend although Monday morning was a bit rough getting this crew out the door!
Mr. 11's best friend G is moving away and we've been trying to squeeze in some extra time with his family because we're going to miss them so much! Mr. 11 invited G for a sleepover and they had a great time hanging out together and it was amazing to reflect on how much these 2 guys have grown up over the years. There were some Minecraft battles, some Playmobil stories, and time to hang out but not enough sleeping! After lunch we tried to pack up for our first cub scout camp-out while keeping the 5 boys in our house somewhat quiet (and inside) because our upstairs neighbors were having an open house (another sad move for us - but at least they're only moving 15 minutes away rather than 1500 miles). We had hoped to be on our way earlier but it just didn't work out.
We snuck out finally around 2, got G home, and then headed out to do some camping. It was a great group of Tiger Cubs (Mr. 7's compatriots) and we hiked, cooked over a campfire, played hide and go seek in the woods, told stories around the fire, and slept in a tent. It was definitely a trial run for us but the boys have been asking when our next camping trip is since we returned (especially Mr. 4)!
Sunday afternoon we managed to squeeze in a little soccer and then dinner with 2 of our favorite people! Hard to beat such a great weekend although Monday morning was a bit rough getting this crew out the door!
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Rock obsession
Mr. 4 is current obsessed with rocks. He picks up every one he sees and his pockets - jacket, pants, sweatshirt, and he as even tried to sneak a few in mine. This mean his jacket always weighs a million pounds and his hands are always filthy. We've tried to hold to a "no rocks in the house" policy but he does his best to sneak a few in at every opportunity. We finally gave him a yellow bag to store them in that must be kept right by the front door. So now guess what goes with us wherever we go?
Monday, February 15, 2016
Our first family ski trip - best classified as a learning experience
The older boys have been so excited about the idea of renting a condo that you can ski in and ski out of since they first figured out such things existed. Their enthusiasm rubbed off on us and we decided to try our first family ski trip over Presidents Day weekend. Mr. 13 and Mr. 11 are good skiers. Mr. 13 is cautious and takes it slow if he's a bit unsure. Mr. 11's hockey skills serve him well and he loves to tuck his poles under his arms and go fast. Mr. 6 is getting pretty good but still gets nervous if he feels it's getting too hard. And Mr. 4, well he was the wild card. He doesn't like to keep his mittens on and one of us ended up having to stay with him at his first and only lesson because he wouldn't do anything unless we were there. So we knew it was a gamble but thought to give it a try.
We set out after work on Friday. I had picked up our skis earlier at a local shop (much cheaper to rent in Boston and with 6 of us it adds up quick) so as soon as David got home we headed out. Well, an hour later than expected. And then we needed dinner. So we arrived rather late at the condo but managed to find it without too much trouble. We left all the ski gear in the car and just took what we needed in with us. The condo had an upstairs loft area with 4 single beds and a murphy bed downstairs in the living room so it was perfect for us. Despite our late arrival, everyone was up bright and early. I had brought groceries with us so we had a full weekend breakfast with pancakes and scrambled eggs and so by the time we actually got everyone in their snow gear to go get the skis it was getting close to 10. We went down to the car to get our skis and realized we had no idea how this worked. The parking lot was on the far side of the condos from the slopes and trying to get the kids to carry everything was impossible (and did I mention Mr. 4 wanted nothing to do with this and kept running away). It was really cold and Mr. 13's boots had frozen in the car and he couldn't get his foot in. Even the two of us together couldn't get his boot on and mine weren't that much better. There was a lot of unhappiness and tears. After almost an hour we managed to warm up the boots and get them on and transport everyone and all the gear to the other side of condos. Okay, now close to 11, we were on our way.
We skied down to the lodge to get our tickets. We had bought 2 day lift passes for Sunday and Monday but thought we'd just try the beginner area on Saturday. When I went to buy the passes for Saturday, I brought Mr. 11 who desperately wanted to ski the whole mountain. The half day price started at 12:00 so I decided it wasn't that much more and we'd just do that. So we had to wait another 30 minutes before we could get on the lift. Snack and a bathroom run filled up that time pretty quick and we were ready to ski. We thought to try a nice easy green and David would ski with Mr. 4 between his legs. Only it turns out the green was a little harder than we anticipated and Mr. 6 fell and refused to go any farther. And I mean refused. After coaxing and cheering and lecturing, I finally just put him between my legs and we skied down. And everyone was done. David fell with Mr. 4 multiple times (it was icy and he was not cooperative) and everyone was cold. Fine, we went back to the condo to warm up. Ski in and ski out to the rescue.
Around 2:30 I finally got Mr. 11 excited about going out again. He skied down to the lodge with me and we got in line to take the Chondola to the top. And right in front of us they closed it. The winds were too high. That was all Mr. 11 had in him. There were lots and lots of tears. I finally convinced him to take the other lift up and we had fun skiing down a few times but he was definitely still disappointed. Back to the condo for dinner and The Sound of Music.
Sunday was cold. Very cold with wind chill well below zero (we were told it was -40 at the top of the mountain). David went and exchanged our lift tickets for vouchers and we stayed at the condo for movies and games. We finally headed out around 11 for the main lodge where they had set up a bounce house and games for kids. We got a little energy out and then it was back to the condo for the afternoon. Unfortunately we were beginning to run low on our kindles by that point and the only internet was in the rec room. So we got the kids in the pool and I took my phone and all the kindles and bought books and slowly transferred books by tethering off my phone. Tedious but glad to easily be able to fill everyone back up with books. Swimming, reading, movies, games filled up the rest of our day. We cooked a big dinner and made ate lots of popcorn. It was actually a great day although not necessarily what we were intending for our "ski" vacation.
Monday morning dawned cold but so much better than Sunday. The high was in the 20s which was felt brisk comparable to Sunday. We were determined to get some skiing in so I signed Mr. 6 up for ski school for the morning and Mr. 4 up for daycare for the day. The plan - drop off Mr. 4 at daycare, come back to the condo, get everyone down to the lodge, drop off Mr. 6 at ski school, ski with Mr. 11 and Mr. 13 for a few hours, pick up Mr. 6 and add him to the mix, then get Mr. 4 and head home. All was going well until we dropped off Mr. 6 and discovered that both the lifts there were down. The cold from the day before had frozen parts and nothing was going to be running until 11am. And the chondola was down for the day. Options - hike up the mountain to the next lift (in our ski boots, carrying our skis) or take the shuttle over to the other lodge to pick up a lift there. The shuttle line looked impossibly long so we chose hiking up with 2 very disappointed kids. I carried one kids skis and David carried the other. I trudged on ahead, having used up most of my good will in the pep talk I tried to give them to get us moving, and David stayed back and cajoled them up the mountain. By the time we got up to the lift (about a 30-45 minute hike), both were in full mutiny and ready to just go home. But somehow we got them on the lift and the rest of the morning was great. It was a perfect day for skiing. We stopped for hot chocolate at the upper lodge at one point and just enjoyed being together. And when we went down to get Mr. 6, we had actually skied on our ski vacation.
We grabbed Mr. 6 who had loved his lessons and quickly got some lunch. I went to the customer service desk while the boys finished eating and explained exactly how disappointing the morning had been with the lifts down and the man gave us vouchers for the day and told me that he would appreciate it if I would bring everyone back for another day of skiing sometime in the next year and give it one more try. He was incredibly nice and made a rough day so much better.
Mr. 6 was eager to show off his skills so we spent the rest of the time on the lower slopes together except for a few quick runs that Mr. 11 and I took on our own. Mr. 4 had a good day (although he had wet his pants in the afternoon and I hadn't brought any back-up clothes so he was in the snow pants and barefoot but happy) and we even managed to get everyone changed and into the car before it was too late.
So now we have 2 full days of lift tickets. Are we brave enough to try again next winter? I don't think anyone would doubt that we are that brave (or that crazy) so we'll see you on the slopes next year!
We set out after work on Friday. I had picked up our skis earlier at a local shop (much cheaper to rent in Boston and with 6 of us it adds up quick) so as soon as David got home we headed out. Well, an hour later than expected. And then we needed dinner. So we arrived rather late at the condo but managed to find it without too much trouble. We left all the ski gear in the car and just took what we needed in with us. The condo had an upstairs loft area with 4 single beds and a murphy bed downstairs in the living room so it was perfect for us. Despite our late arrival, everyone was up bright and early. I had brought groceries with us so we had a full weekend breakfast with pancakes and scrambled eggs and so by the time we actually got everyone in their snow gear to go get the skis it was getting close to 10. We went down to the car to get our skis and realized we had no idea how this worked. The parking lot was on the far side of the condos from the slopes and trying to get the kids to carry everything was impossible (and did I mention Mr. 4 wanted nothing to do with this and kept running away). It was really cold and Mr. 13's boots had frozen in the car and he couldn't get his foot in. Even the two of us together couldn't get his boot on and mine weren't that much better. There was a lot of unhappiness and tears. After almost an hour we managed to warm up the boots and get them on and transport everyone and all the gear to the other side of condos. Okay, now close to 11, we were on our way.
We skied down to the lodge to get our tickets. We had bought 2 day lift passes for Sunday and Monday but thought we'd just try the beginner area on Saturday. When I went to buy the passes for Saturday, I brought Mr. 11 who desperately wanted to ski the whole mountain. The half day price started at 12:00 so I decided it wasn't that much more and we'd just do that. So we had to wait another 30 minutes before we could get on the lift. Snack and a bathroom run filled up that time pretty quick and we were ready to ski. We thought to try a nice easy green and David would ski with Mr. 4 between his legs. Only it turns out the green was a little harder than we anticipated and Mr. 6 fell and refused to go any farther. And I mean refused. After coaxing and cheering and lecturing, I finally just put him between my legs and we skied down. And everyone was done. David fell with Mr. 4 multiple times (it was icy and he was not cooperative) and everyone was cold. Fine, we went back to the condo to warm up. Ski in and ski out to the rescue.
Around 2:30 I finally got Mr. 11 excited about going out again. He skied down to the lodge with me and we got in line to take the Chondola to the top. And right in front of us they closed it. The winds were too high. That was all Mr. 11 had in him. There were lots and lots of tears. I finally convinced him to take the other lift up and we had fun skiing down a few times but he was definitely still disappointed. Back to the condo for dinner and The Sound of Music.
Sunday was cold. Very cold with wind chill well below zero (we were told it was -40 at the top of the mountain). David went and exchanged our lift tickets for vouchers and we stayed at the condo for movies and games. We finally headed out around 11 for the main lodge where they had set up a bounce house and games for kids. We got a little energy out and then it was back to the condo for the afternoon. Unfortunately we were beginning to run low on our kindles by that point and the only internet was in the rec room. So we got the kids in the pool and I took my phone and all the kindles and bought books and slowly transferred books by tethering off my phone. Tedious but glad to easily be able to fill everyone back up with books. Swimming, reading, movies, games filled up the rest of our day. We cooked a big dinner and made ate lots of popcorn. It was actually a great day although not necessarily what we were intending for our "ski" vacation.
Monday morning dawned cold but so much better than Sunday. The high was in the 20s which was felt brisk comparable to Sunday. We were determined to get some skiing in so I signed Mr. 6 up for ski school for the morning and Mr. 4 up for daycare for the day. The plan - drop off Mr. 4 at daycare, come back to the condo, get everyone down to the lodge, drop off Mr. 6 at ski school, ski with Mr. 11 and Mr. 13 for a few hours, pick up Mr. 6 and add him to the mix, then get Mr. 4 and head home. All was going well until we dropped off Mr. 6 and discovered that both the lifts there were down. The cold from the day before had frozen parts and nothing was going to be running until 11am. And the chondola was down for the day. Options - hike up the mountain to the next lift (in our ski boots, carrying our skis) or take the shuttle over to the other lodge to pick up a lift there. The shuttle line looked impossibly long so we chose hiking up with 2 very disappointed kids. I carried one kids skis and David carried the other. I trudged on ahead, having used up most of my good will in the pep talk I tried to give them to get us moving, and David stayed back and cajoled them up the mountain. By the time we got up to the lift (about a 30-45 minute hike), both were in full mutiny and ready to just go home. But somehow we got them on the lift and the rest of the morning was great. It was a perfect day for skiing. We stopped for hot chocolate at the upper lodge at one point and just enjoyed being together. And when we went down to get Mr. 6, we had actually skied on our ski vacation.
We grabbed Mr. 6 who had loved his lessons and quickly got some lunch. I went to the customer service desk while the boys finished eating and explained exactly how disappointing the morning had been with the lifts down and the man gave us vouchers for the day and told me that he would appreciate it if I would bring everyone back for another day of skiing sometime in the next year and give it one more try. He was incredibly nice and made a rough day so much better.
Mr. 6 was eager to show off his skills so we spent the rest of the time on the lower slopes together except for a few quick runs that Mr. 11 and I took on our own. Mr. 4 had a good day (although he had wet his pants in the afternoon and I hadn't brought any back-up clothes so he was in the snow pants and barefoot but happy) and we even managed to get everyone changed and into the car before it was too late.
So now we have 2 full days of lift tickets. Are we brave enough to try again next winter? I don't think anyone would doubt that we are that brave (or that crazy) so we'll see you on the slopes next year!
Monday, January 4, 2016
Strandbeest
On Saturday, we took our last chance to get up to Salem and visit the Peabody Essex Museum to see the Strandbeest exhibit. This has been on David's list all fall and we knew our engineering-minded children would love it. So despite the fact that Mr. 4 looked a bit under the weather, we bundled everyone into the car after lunch and drove up. Mr. 4 immediately fell asleep so the rest of us enjoyed a good audiobook without the constant background demands for music.
The exhibit was amazing and we even had a chance to see the largest beest demonstrated. I hope that I will one day see these creatures wandering on the beaches in Europe - or perhaps a 3-D printed version wandering around my house.
We made it home just in time for Mr. 4 to spike a fever and start coughing!
The exhibit was amazing and we even had a chance to see the largest beest demonstrated. I hope that I will one day see these creatures wandering on the beaches in Europe - or perhaps a 3-D printed version wandering around my house.
We made it home just in time for Mr. 4 to spike a fever and start coughing!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)