The first week in April

Okay, so we are officially into the second week as I post this, but we've been so busy! So I'll just summarize some highlights of last week.

Monday of last week was so long ago that I can't really remember what we did all day, since there is nothing on my calendar. The evening says "7:30 Senor Pancho's with L" though. I had a nice time visiting over margaritas with my friend.

Tuesday morning we saw Growing Up A Slave, a live production at the Bushnell Theater in Hartford. From the Bushnell website:

Growing Up A Slave was derived from slave narratives transcribed by the Federal Writers' Project in the 1930s. Three characters share their dramatic accounts of slave life, their food and eating habits, clothing, religious and superstitious beliefs, music, the auction block and the dire consequences faced by runaways. Throughout the accounts, the spiritual resources of these oppressed people pulsate. The human spirit triumphs. Appropriate for grades five and up.

Often theaters will abridge shows for schools to bring kids to see in the daytime. This is exactly what this show was; it was also offered in the evening at a higher price. Typically I would spend the money to see the full program, but this time around I thought that they might water it down a bit. Wrong. They talked about a girl defending herself against a rape. That definitely went over E's head, but I think it's time to start talking about this sort of thing with R (age 11).

Overall the show was quite good. They left time at the end for students to ask questions. I was surprised at how little "grades five and up" actually know about slavery. We have been soaking up knowledge about it since Martin Luther King, Jr. day in 2007. We've been spending extra time on it recently since we plan on stopping at a real Virginia plantation, and The National Civil War Museum, on our drive down to the Great Smoky Mountains for our vacation.

This week we also watched a video from the library about the US civil war. I don't remember exactly what it was called, but it was a perfect 30 minute summary of the basics; exactly what we needed. I also took home several books from the library on the topic, and R chose out this one for us to read together.

That boy really does love ships; I knew he'd choose this book from the library basket. I only wish that during our drive to the Smokies we were passing closer to the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, VA so we could go see pieces of one of these fabulous ships, called the Monitor. Luckily it's only about 40 minutes from Colonial Williamsburg though, so we'll eventually get there.

Wednesday brought playgroup, which was fun as always. We were happy that indoor soccer is over and we had a week off before outdoor starts. That evening B and I (the boys stayed home with Nagy Papa) went to the CT Homeschool Network Take Action Forum to discuss and learn all about SB 162, and what we should be doing about it. I left there feeling a lot better about what I need to do. More on that another day.

Thursday we headed up to White Memorial for our monthly class which has resumed now that spring is here. I have a very good friend who has been very sick and I was thrilled to see her again after four months! We had a great time catching up, and E was just thrilled to see his best friend Q again. The younger kids' class was first and they headed out to the woods with a checklist of things to notice.

After that we went to my friend's restaurant for some pizza and blue soda, and I returned R in time for his class, which he says was the best one yet. They used microscopes and I have been told that we absolutely have to get one ASAP. (OK, I have put that on the list for when we return from vacation.) Here is the drawing of what he saw under the microscope.

Thursday night I had my womyn's circle, which is always rejuvenating.

Friday we had a full day of TV watching. Another fun thing we plan to do on our vacation is stop by the Davy Crockett Tavern and Museum. So we started out with Shelley Duvall's version, which E loved. Then we moved on to Disney's version which both boys got a kick out of. I figured it would be fun to start with the tall tale, since not many people know much else. But we at least waited for B to get home to watch the A&E version, so he'd know the real facts too.

This one E refused to watch. He's only seven, after all. R really enjoyed it though, as well as B and I. It was nice to have all facts filled in. Surprising though, that the Disney version mentioned Crockett's standing up against what would become the travesty of the Trail of Tears, while the A&E version said nothing about it. We'll get the facts at the museum. It was cool to see some of the museum staff speak on the documentary. We are going to see if they still work there when we go.

Over the weekend the boys all had lots of fun while I mostly stayed indoors making all the reservations for our trip, and planning fun things for us to do. E started outdoor soccer. And at one point I looked out the window and saw R doing this, which I later found out was him making a boat (notice the headphones for the audiobook). Eventually they took their boats and rode their bikes to the Farmington Canal Linear Park and floated them down the stream there. Unfortunately though, they did end up getting stuck in some brush in the water, and they had to leave them behind. I was glad that they enjoyed the experience, rather than the boats themselves, because they honestly did not seem too upset over losing them.

They stopped at Brooksvale Park where our friends live (their Dad is the park ranger who did the maple syrup thing back in March) and ran into our friends. They hung out and visited for a while and had a terrific afternoon. Weekend actually. I'm glad B loves spending time with our boys as much as I do.

Craft night in Maine

Grandma hosts two craft nights per year; one for all the girl cousins, who have been doing it for many years now, and for the past two years, one for the boys who were born in 1997 (and E, even though he's younger, because "he's my grandson"). So we headed up to Maine on Saturday after both boys' basketball was done, and arrived near bedtime.

Sunday morning found us at a diner having breakfast with E's namesake, and Aunt Debbie.
Sunday afternoon was filled with crafts.
Unfortunately, like last year, one of the cousins couldn't make it. Different cousin at least. Everyone had a wonderful time anyway, and Grandma found out that her thought that no one was really into it, was far off the mark.

My sister and I did some shopping and had an enjoyable lunch at Applebees during the crafts, since it's strictly a drop-off party. We arrived back early enough to ensure that we got a photo of all the attendees.




While in Maine, we also enjoyed the 12 inches of snow which had fallen before we arrived. The boys love going down the steps along side the house, down into Grandma's backyard. It's a good hill and the bumpiness is enjoyable; at least that's what I hear.











They also worked hard to make a tunnel in the plowed snow, and were very proud to get it done before we had to come home.

Grandma ventured down into her backyard to explain to the boys how her new pier is going to look when it's done.
We enjoyed some shopping with Grandma on Monday, and then when Aunt Debbie got out of work at four, a movie. We went to Smitty's, where dinner is served before the movie, and enjoyed some pizza, chicken nuggets, chicken quesadillas, and french fries before watching Enchanted. Heads up to parents of little ones, the ending of this movie is scary. It was very contradictory to the tone of the rest of the movie, and the previews gave no indication that it would end this way, so if you have kids who are sensitive to that sort of thing, beware.
We enjoyed it though, although it wasn't as funny as the boys had hoped. "They took all the funniest parts and showed them in the advertisement." A good lesson in marketing.

We also enjoyed some fun with my nephew Mikey. The boys had a blast playing with their little cousin, and E loved when Mikey wore E's Sponge Bob slippers as long as he did. What a cutie. I'm so glad he enjoyed being with the boys as much as they enjoyed him.
His dad, my brother, had gastric bypass surgery while we were there. I got to see him in the hospital, and other than a grouchiness which demonstrates the disappointment that his idea that the whole thing was going to be a walk in the park was wrong, he is doing fine. Unfortunately though, bringing him his belongings meant that we got a late start home, and missed R's soccer practice. Not ones to waste an opportunity, we stopped into the West Farms Mall, and got some Christmas shopping done for B, and a quick heely around both floors of the entire mall, before continuing home.

I've learned the beauty of listening to audio books while driving to Maine alone. I can listen to whatever I want since the boys watch the DVD player, and the three and a half hour drive zips right by. I still have two discs to finish though! Ender's Game has been great so far. I will probably pick up the next one (it's a trilogy) in book form.

B was making hamburgers when we arrived home, so when they were done we all sat and visited and recounted our weekend. We all had a really enjoyable time.

Winged Migration, Southington Fun, and Harry Potter

Today we started out at the movies, at 10 am, to see a free presentation of Winged Migration. I've heard about movie theaters showing free movies during the summer, but this is the first time we've gone to one. Mostly they show all the animated stuff we've already seen, but I was happy to find something I thought would be of substance.

This movie was visually spectacular and I'm glad to have seen it on the big screen. For two reasons. One is that the exquisite cinematography might not translate as well to a smaller screen. And two is that if it were on TV the boys would have turned it off after 15 minutes. The movie really is visually stunning, and I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys just watching nature. But I was extremely disappointed in the missed opportunity to learn something. Me and my kids, both. Imagine March of the Penguins without any narration, and that's pretty much what you've got. Once in a very small while there were subtitles which blinked by too fast for me to read the whole thing to the kids.

What my kids were saying through the movie:
"What kind of bird is that?"
"Where is that?"
"Why is he doing that?"
"I wonder why..."
It was so darn frustrating! And it's so unfortunate, because with some decent narration this movie could have rocked. The kids actually wanted to know about the birds, not just look at them!

After the movie we walked around the mall a bit. I let the boys dictate what we did for quite a while. They spent all the money Grandma Rocks had given them on Saturday at their cousin Sean's birthday party. We had a pleasant and easy going afternoon. At one point we stopped into a book store in the mall and R saw the strategically placed Harry Potter display. Seeing it up close and touching it had him asking if I would buy it and read it to him. This from the boy who only wanted to hear Jim Dale read it on CD (list price $79.99). I had reserved the audio book at the library, which we were due to visit, and told him to let's wait and see if we could find out where on the list we were for it.

On the way home we stopped at BJ's for gas and I ran inside to get a soda. And there it was: the ENORMOUS Harry Potter display, with the audio book for only $42.99. R agreed to give up his allowance for a month, and I would pay the balance. However, we'd still wait to open it till after the library. Well the librarian told us we were "way down there" on the list, so we now officially own our own copy. Needless to say E is losing his mind without someone to play with.

We finished up the day with some Southington Fun. The first show was a performance by a Polynesian Dance school. It was very interactive for the kids (click on the photo to see it closer):It was great that they got to interact, but it would have been nice if they could've had the kids sit down during the straight performances. It was very difficult to see. I did not get any photos of all the cool hula skirt numbers because they saved all that for the end, and by that point all the kids were standing and we could barely see a thing. E was getting really pissed.

Unfortunately, all the interaction made it challenging for the next entertainer; a juggler. Get a load of this...
Ha ha! The guy really was amusing, and very talented as well. He did an admirable job staying patient with all the kids running up onto the stage to touch "this" and "that" too. I have to say the parents were really neglectful in their basic good manners lessons for the evening. The performer did manage to refrain from screaming at kids, but I could see he was wishing parents would pay attention and help him out. His frustration was pretty obvious.

Later the Southington Park and Rec people actually started speaking to the kids, especially as the show got to the point where being onstage or even too close wasn't a good idea.

The guy was a really good juggler. The lawn chair thing was my favorite. It was also fun when he got up on his six foot unicycle and took bites out of an apple as he juggled it, a machete and a juggling pin.

We had actually seen this guy perform during Southington Fun a couple of years ago. Yes! I remembered it! But the boys didn't.

R was thrilled when I told him he could stay up as late as he wanted to listen to his book. He turned in an hour after his regular bedtime. As I write this he is on disk four of 17. And he keeps wondering why he keeps hurting himself. I had hoped he'd sleep a little later than usual the day after, but the garbage trucks woke him up.

What an amazing day. It was one of those days when I wasn't thinking about anything but where I was. And totally enjoying it. I'm so glad to be getting better at it.

Another Movie

We were scheduled for a playdate with some new folks in Waterbury today. We "met" through a yahoo group I'm on. Four families were to have gone. Were.

At 12:50 just before walking out the door, something prompted me to check my email one last time. There I found all the cancellations. Actually, two of the three. One cancellation showed a time stamp of one hour before we were to have met, one was timed 17 minutes before we were to have met, and one actually cancelled AFTER we were to have met.

I understand it was a hot day, but common courtesy, people! It would have been nice to know before we got all slathered up with sunscreen. Thank goodness I checked my mail, as I would have been incredibly frustrated to be sitting in 97 degree weather in the middle of Waterbury waiting for no-shows with two boys having no one to play with.

So we went to the movies instead. We just couldn't sit here looking at each other all day, especially after the prospect of meeting new friends. We went to the dollar store in the mall and stuffed my bag with goodies before heading in to see Evan Almighty, which I must say, was very fun. The boys had seen trailers for it several times and wanted to see it, and after I read through the review on Screen-it, I had decided it was okay. I got a book out of the library about Noah's Ark so they would know what the heck the story was about, and they both really enjoyed it. I did too. It was fun.

I wish they'd be more careful about the scenes they show before the movies though. The scenes themselves are supposedly acceptable for "all audiences", but to have my seven-year-old watching this was definitely NOT appropriate. Check out Rule #1.

We've picked up quite a bit on the reading around here, which is a giant relief to me. E picked up Arthur and the Minimoys at a book sale after seeing Arthur and the Invisibles (which was quite good), and we've been enjoying reading that. R and I have been enjoying Henry Winkler's books about Hank Zipzer immensly. Hank is dislexic and in the fourth grade and R really relates to him. The books are very funny, and although I wish R was capable of reading them to himself, that would mean I would miss out on the fun. And the conversations about beating up on oneself, trying one's best, etc. We are getting there though; R is finally making some long strides in his own reading ability.

R finished up golf camp a while ago, and is now enjoying tennis lessons every morning for eight days. We are still discussing the pros and cons of the Academia Futebol League (soccer), but it looks like we are leaning toward waiting at least another year before becoming that competitive. Thank you Uncle Larry for your incredibly insightful perspective.

It's been hard without B here. Even though we speak to him daily, E is close to the edge almost all the time, and R is missing him too. My heart goes out to all the children out there who don't have fathers to share their lives with. And all the moms without partners. I have to admit to missing B more than I thought I would.

Tattoos for sale

A few days ago E had a tattoo sale. We all looked very cool walking around in our tattoos and matching Incredibles shirts.

Today we went to a used curriculum sale. For me one of the harder things about being an unschooler is that when I was a kid I loved all the workbooks. I've learned the expensive way though, that they just don't fit into our lives. We did get a few other books though. I'm very careful now though seeing how I have two cartons of books in the basement to donate to the CT Homeschool conference.

We stopped into Barnes and Noble today too. I had the browsing books urge, I guess. E bought himself four sticker books with some of his birthday money, and R bought himself a Harry Potter chess set. I bought nothing. Yay me!

This evening E and I read a book about Raccoons. One night last week we (okay, I) forgot to close the van doors and in the morning we found we had had a visitor. The boys questioned why he didn't go through our extensive garbage, but it seemed pretty obvious to me as our giant BJ's tub of pretzels was all over the place. It was kind of cool to see his footprints on thick roll of newsprint I had recently bought from our local Step Saver (a Pennysaver type thing). Anyway E decided he wanted to learn all about raccoons, and I happened to have a book on the subject.

Rain on Wednesday and Kohl's on Thursday

We got caught in that huge rain storm on the way home from playgroup in Hamden yesterday. All the traffic lights were blinking as we entered Cheshire. I've never had to drive so slow because of rain before; we did 15 miles an hour for quite a stretch.

We got home to find ourselves without electricity. Luckily the Chinese restaurant down the street uses gas stoves, so we were able to get food for dinner there. I owe them a dollar though since their credit card machine was unavailable, and I was short on cash.

Boy my family is way too reliant on gadgetry. R and E used the laptop for 15 minutes until the battery died. I read a couple of books to them, but they will only sit for a couple at a time. R borrowed my rechargeable batteries to listen to an audio book (he's on the Lemony Snicket thing now). When B came home he was so bored he passed out on the recliner. I enjoyed the time reading with one of the headlight flashlight things we have for camping.

I was bummed that it lasted as long as it did. The woman I've been freelancing for in Marlborough sent me home with a Mac CPU so I could start working from home (woo hoo!). I had told her I could give her more hours if I were here, so she set me up! Anyway, I had gotten it all assembled and connected, and had work to do last night from 8pm till 12. I was embarrassed to have to call and let her know that I couldn't get the work done. I had called CL&P and their recording said my electric would be on by 6 am. So I got up at 6 am to do the work this morning. Don't ask me how because I'm still in shock myself.

After finishing the work by nine, we had an asphalt guy come and give us a quote on ripping out our old driveway and putting in a new one. Ouch. Still waiting for our tax refund.

I did not manage to get myself onto the treadmill today, but definitely will tomorrow. I'm not used to sitting for such long stretches and my legs are getting crampy.

After lunch we headed to Kohl's. I have a credit card of theirs so every once in a while I get a coupon in the mail for a certain amount off everything. This time around my coupon was actually for 30% off, so we went shopping.

R got a couple of bathing suits and some flip-flops. I got some sandals, two leather bags, and two sun hats, E got some shorts and I chose out some shoes for B. Thirty percent off on top of their sale prices was a lot. E's shorts were only $4 and my leather handbags were only $20 each. Even my leather sandals were only $14. We really struck gold with that coupon. B wants to use it again to look for some shirts for himself.

The day ended, of course, with soccer practice. I managed to get dinner done before we had to go, so rather than drop R off and come home to cook, I hung out at the field and read my book. I'm reading Nextby Michael Crichton, and it's got me hooked. E spent the whole hour and a half playing in the playground with some kids there. He is getting to be a social kid at last.

We had a birthday party scheduled for tomorrow, which has been postponed due to the weather yesterday, so we find ourselves free for the day. I'm voting for staying home and getting some things done; maybe some laundry, gardening and cleaning the basement. But I'm not the only one with a vote, so we'll see how it goes.

Aquarium and Blueberry Picking

At the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk, where we spent Fun Friday yesterday, there was a permanent exhibit of model ships. R really enjoyed the whole exhibit, and said that he wants to build a model ship one day. When we saw this particular ship R told me what kind it is (he knew them all) and said we had seen one like it at Mystic Seaport. When we approached it I read the description and it said it is a model of a real ship that went out of commission in 1985, and was donated to Mystic Seaport. What a cool moment when we realized we had actually set foot on it and seen the inside!

The best part of this aquarium is that its focus is on the marine life of Long Island Sound. We really enjoyed seeing the river otters and the touch tank devoted entirely to the Sound. E was soaking wet by the time we were done. The moon snails were the coolest, but we also enjoyed learning about horseshoe crabs. Apparently they hide in the depths and only come up to shallow ground once a year to mate. We were lucky enough to have been at the beach in June, when this apparently happens:

The aquarium also had a great display of residue one is likely to find on the beaches along the coast of Long Island Sound. We recognized some things and vowed to remember others. "When can we go to the beach again, Mom?"

I also dished out another 14 bucks for an Imax Movie; Ocean Wonderland. I couldn't help feeling like it was a show on TV that described everything you can see at an aquarium. Yes, the screen was large, but so what? Ho hum.

R decided he likes the Mystic Aquarium better. I think they are both different and have merit. However, I most definitely would not get a membership to Norwalk, and would be more likely to use one for Mystic. And the traffic coming home from Fairfield County was a nightmare.

Today we enjoyed some blueberry picking. Nagy Papa came with us. We were also happy to run into some friends while there!
Mrs. W. was the one who told me about this farm, so running into her and the girls was very cool. It was a 40 minute drive for us, but well worth it. We ended up with about 12 pounds of blueberries, and had a very enjoyable morning. Nagy Papa had fun too, I think. His tongue certainly got blue enough. He was also reminded of his own Nugy Mama who used to adore picking fresh fruit every year when she went to visit Uncle Richie out in Long Island. He misses her deeply.

We enjoyed some Chinese food afterwards, and after dropping Nugy Papa off at home we spent the afternoon watching Nanny McPhee, which was really enjoyable. After it was over we had to go back and watch the food fight again. Ah, life with boys.

E learned how to work the shredder on the food processor completely alone today, and also got a look at fractions via measuring cups. R is currently all about the Durham Fair. He is preparing his lego submission. We are all starting to think about photographs to enter (even Nugy Papa) and E is planning some sort of building made out of soda cans.

E and I have just started reading James and The Giant Peach. We are loving Roald Dahl - our favorite so far was The Twits. E has a dark sense of humor. R and I are enjoying the audiobook Eragon in the car. E gets bored though and we have to compromise on how often we listen. (On the way there, or on the way back?) So it will take a while to get through it.

Cheshire Pool and a Birthday Party

This fun Friday we couldn't go too far from home, since we had a birthday party to attend this evening. So we spent the afternoon at Cheshire pool. It was a lot of fun. Even all the camp kids couldn't detract from our enjoyment. We did lots of swimming and R enjoyed jumping off the diving board several times.

We came home for a while and after I showered R read me half of Green Eggs and Ham.

From 6:00 to 8:00 we attended a party at Imagine Nation in Bristol. R and E had become friendly with K in Craft and Swim, and were invited to his birthday. He's the one with his tongue sticking out. B was invited too - he's the one all the way on the left.

The boys had a very fun time, although they would have preferred to have more time exploring the museum. They spent an hour and a half having pizza, ice-cream, and cake, opening presents, bopping eachother over the heads with balloons, and making slime out of borax and glue. So that left only half hour for exploring. It was a fun museum that we will probably visit again sometime. And the boys decided they would like to get to know K better. So I'll be emailing his mom to set up a playdate this week.