Summer is coming to a close. The Beginning of Year Faculty/Staff meeting on campus is tomorrow. We meet the girls' teachers on Tuesday evening and Elgin starts school on Wednesday. I start school next Monday. I know that technically summer doesn't end until sometime in September, but let's face it, summer really ends when school starts. It's flown by and I didn't get to do nearly the things I wanted to.
Things that didn't happen: trip to Leonardo's Discovery Zone, riding the train by Quartz Mountain, lots of learning opportunities for my children via daily lessons with the people they stayed with, blogging every few days, going swimming at the water park, going roller skating, and enjoying a long summer break.
Things that DID happen: going to Roman Nose State Park and swimming in an Olympic-size swimming pool, swimming lessons, getting to help all week in Vacation Bible School, going to the Minton family reunion in Arkansas, having the family over for the Fourth of July, going to the Natural Museum of History, surviving another education course with an A, the girls making lots of art with Grandma, the girls continuing to read throughout the summer, getting to design a new system at work complete with a database and interactive forms, implementing Google apps for Education at work, learning how to do string art at the library, serving more fruits and vegetables as a result of my Child Safety and Nutrition course, and making lots of memories.
So, we had to make our final days of summer good.
Thursday, the girls and I continued our lessons about the solar system. Having looked at the sun, we now turned to the planets. I made a not so stellar attempt at making planet pancakes. Then we went outside, drew the sun and orbits out on the driveway and practiced being planets ourselves. Three of us were Mercury, Venus, and Earth, and the fourth person was the moon. The planets had to walk around the sun and discover how many more times the inner planets could walk around the sun before the earth made it around. The moon had to run around and keep up with the earth. It was a lot of fun. Then we looked at an online game at NASA where you could tour the solar system. You zoomed in on the planets and were able to twist them around to see everything. You could also zoom in on all of the satellites that are out there. The earth was surrounded by them.
After that it was time to head to the wading pool in Old Town North for one last time. They close next week so this was the last opportunity. The day had been absolutely wonderful with temperatures in the mid-eighties all day. A very welcome respite from over fifty days of 100 degree weather. It made for a bit of cold swimming though. I got in with them and we had lots of room since most people had decided it was too cold to swim. It was just us and three others in the pool. After a bit of time at the park next to it, we headed home in time to fix a supper of meatballs orbiting on spaghetti noodles around a sunny round buttered bread.
For the girls, though, Thursday paled in comparison to Friday. It was their very first sleepover. We had Alyssa Jones' family over for dinner and then Alyssa spent the night. They were all in their PJ's by 7:00, before her parents had even left. They watched Scooby Doo while we parents played UNO and talked. When it was dark, I took them outside to show them how to find wolf spiders with their flashlights. Then they came in and went running all over the house screaming - which Greg just totally didn't understand. I tried to explain it was a girl thing but he just didn't get it. They played a few games and then around 10:30 they started watching Spy Kids 2. I thought Hailey and probably Jordan would drop to sleep in just a few minutes. To my absolute surprise, all four of them were still awake to the end of the movie at midnight! That's when the storm hit. The lightening flashes freaked them out and everyone ran carrying their sleeping gear up the stairs. Hailey climbed in bed and was asleep in two minutes. I think Jordan was asleep soon after. Alyssa squeezed in with Ashley on her twin size bed and according to Alyssa, she and Ashley talked for quite awhile before they finally went to sleep. And yet they STILL woke up at 6:40 am.
Saturday, after Alyssa went home, I went to a Close to My Heart Scrapbooking Open House. I haven't scrapbooked for literally a year and when I came home, I was ready. I pulled everything out and went to town. I scrapbooked Hailey's Valentine Party from pre-K that afternoon from start to finish. Plus, it was a complete Julie-original. I didn't rely on a sketch or any ideas from anyone. I haven't done that in awhile even when I was scrapbooking. It felt good. I love that creative part of scrapbooking and the accomplishment when you finish. Sunday, I worked with Jordan and Ashley and we got most of their pages done. They need to add their journaling and a few finishing touches and they'll be done. Plus, we'll all three have a page we can enter in the fair.
Things that didn't happen: trip to Leonardo's Discovery Zone, riding the train by Quartz Mountain, lots of learning opportunities for my children via daily lessons with the people they stayed with, blogging every few days, going swimming at the water park, going roller skating, and enjoying a long summer break.
Things that DID happen: going to Roman Nose State Park and swimming in an Olympic-size swimming pool, swimming lessons, getting to help all week in Vacation Bible School, going to the Minton family reunion in Arkansas, having the family over for the Fourth of July, going to the Natural Museum of History, surviving another education course with an A, the girls making lots of art with Grandma, the girls continuing to read throughout the summer, getting to design a new system at work complete with a database and interactive forms, implementing Google apps for Education at work, learning how to do string art at the library, serving more fruits and vegetables as a result of my Child Safety and Nutrition course, and making lots of memories.
So, we had to make our final days of summer good.
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| Planet Pancakes with sun in the middle. Mercury is the grey blob and then clockwise in order to the small drarf-planet of Pluto. Obviously my planets were not to scale! |
After that it was time to head to the wading pool in Old Town North for one last time. They close next week so this was the last opportunity. The day had been absolutely wonderful with temperatures in the mid-eighties all day. A very welcome respite from over fifty days of 100 degree weather. It made for a bit of cold swimming though. I got in with them and we had lots of room since most people had decided it was too cold to swim. It was just us and three others in the pool. After a bit of time at the park next to it, we headed home in time to fix a supper of meatballs orbiting on spaghetti noodles around a sunny round buttered bread.
For the girls, though, Thursday paled in comparison to Friday. It was their very first sleepover. We had Alyssa Jones' family over for dinner and then Alyssa spent the night. They were all in their PJ's by 7:00, before her parents had even left. They watched Scooby Doo while we parents played UNO and talked. When it was dark, I took them outside to show them how to find wolf spiders with their flashlights. Then they came in and went running all over the house screaming - which Greg just totally didn't understand. I tried to explain it was a girl thing but he just didn't get it. They played a few games and then around 10:30 they started watching Spy Kids 2. I thought Hailey and probably Jordan would drop to sleep in just a few minutes. To my absolute surprise, all four of them were still awake to the end of the movie at midnight! That's when the storm hit. The lightening flashes freaked them out and everyone ran carrying their sleeping gear up the stairs. Hailey climbed in bed and was asleep in two minutes. I think Jordan was asleep soon after. Alyssa squeezed in with Ashley on her twin size bed and according to Alyssa, she and Ashley talked for quite awhile before they finally went to sleep. And yet they STILL woke up at 6:40 am.
Saturday, after Alyssa went home, I went to a Close to My Heart Scrapbooking Open House. I haven't scrapbooked for literally a year and when I came home, I was ready. I pulled everything out and went to town. I scrapbooked Hailey's Valentine Party from pre-K that afternoon from start to finish. Plus, it was a complete Julie-original. I didn't rely on a sketch or any ideas from anyone. I haven't done that in awhile even when I was scrapbooking. It felt good. I love that creative part of scrapbooking and the accomplishment when you finish. Sunday, I worked with Jordan and Ashley and we got most of their pages done. They need to add their journaling and a few finishing touches and they'll be done. Plus, we'll all three have a page we can enter in the fair.
