Year 3, June 8th, 2018: Still Recovering

Playground fun! Homeschool park morning at Southeastway Park went fine.  Abishai recognized the ladder he fell from last time and didn't even try it.  I didn't make a big deal out of it, but next time we go back, I'll try to get him to go back up on it.  However, he had no fear when climbing up and down the higher playground.  Justin and Keturah talk a long walk with a bunch of the kids and a couple of parents on the paved trails around the park.  It was also 85 degrees and I could tell my patience was running low because I couldn't sit with the other moms because Abishai needs supervision when the playground equipment is that high.  But they had fun.  We visited Daddy at work, and then went home for lunch.  We got Benaiah out of bed at 1pm and then visited Grandma at a fundraising garage sale for Lifebridge.  Our last stops of the day were the bank for Benaiah to drop off a check from church for working an event and Wal-Mart to look for a toy (and subsequently remembering other things I've been looking for) that Abishai had seen a little boy have at the park that I totally forgot existed and we've never had but I have always wanted.  So, yes, spoiled youngest got the $15 toy and it's a great hit!  Finally, we came home to rest by staring at our screens, again, as always, it's just the normal thing we do to decompress.

We had a simple supper, and puttered around at home, which always feels good not to have to be somewhere or do something.  Soreness update: thanks to having two appointments yesterday that worked on my back and all the newer supplements I'm taking, I'm actually not that sore today!  I'm still dragging a tiny bit and my head isn't in the game, but I've got my to do list ready to go for tomorrow.  There's a strawberry festival going on, and if the morning goes ok, we might try to go, but I won't be upset if we skip it.  I love strawberries.  They are/were my favorite fruit/food, except for chocolate.  But my priorities put strawberry picking pretty low.  If there are any left by next weekend, perhaps we'll go.  But we all need to just have a home day, too, because Sunday will be crazy.  We'll see.  It's hard to prepare sometimes because of how I feel in the morning.  I almost changed our plans for this afternoon, but I was feeling good enough to run errands, but not good enough to make decisions at home, so, I spent money on more stuff.  Go figure.  Life is short.  I did say no to most of the stuff at the garage sale that I could have bought.  We did find things to fit some needs.  The Wal-Mart run included things that I had been thinking about for awhile, and it was less than 10 things.  We had just talked about Justin not having any new mini figures in the last couple of years, (maybe he did at Toys R Us last year, but we can't remember), and so on a whim we checked and they had the 40th anniversary (of the first Legoland in the Netherlands? of Lego, as we know it, itself?) ones! Score!  Plus, none of the stores I had looked at recently had had the version of The Greatest Showman I wanted to get for Keturah's birthday, but Wal-Mart did!  Score! Plus a father's day card.  And that's it.  I didn't buy a drink.  Or gluten free cookies.  Ok, I bought bananas, but that's because they were right there in front.  So overall, yes,  I bought a few things, but I choose carefully and didn't go all out like I sometimes do.  I know I'll be going through things at home soon enough.  Oh, and at the garage sale, Keturah got winter PJ's for $2 each and a salon chair for her American Girl type doll for $4.  We found sandals for Justin for $2, although, he could probably use a brand new pair.  I didn't buy Abishai the garbage truck he liked because I knew I was going to try to find the bubble mower.  Benaiah got a version of Guitar Hero for the Xbox, although he has it for the PS3 he has, for $15.  Keturah got a pair of flip flops as well.  So, that's it.  I spent about $100 total.  I feel pretty good about it.  And my kids know how to shop well, that's for sure.  Delayed gratification most of the time, but also sometimes, just buy it on a whim.  What a fun, low key day!

We arrived a bit late to the playground meet up, but the kids found their friends right away.  I think my goal of getting to know at least faces from this group is happening.  Now, if I just didn't have to follow Mr. Toddler around so much so I could have one on one conversations with the ladies, that would be awesome.  I think I'll have to wait until gym days to do that.  We'll be replacing Keturah's gymnastics morning with Friday gym days.  It's still 30 minutes away, but it will be worth it.  It's every Friday, and these ladies are so organized and have kept the same schedule for years.  They don't waver at all and people show up consistently.  That's the kind of group I like.  And I need to be better at that with our own group at our church.  Speaking of, I think we'll need to take the summer off and regroup in August or September when church programming starts up again.  Leading a group is hard work!  And I don't always have the headspace to get that work done.  Eek! I try though, and I know we've helped other families connect with one another, so it's been a success so far.  We'll be going on Thursday afternoons to the library during the school year so we'll see more of that group then if the library continues the homeschool class.  I'm looking forward to these routine changes, can you tell?  I'm always tweaking and planning.  Meanwhile, summer is just ramping up!

This things spins around.

I had to hold the bottom for her to step onto so it was steady when she reached for the top.

He's a beast!  Most of the ladders to the top elements were these rope contraptions that I haven't seen anywhere else.  They are awesome, but also a bit trickier for the little guys, so this playground was definitely geared towards the older ones.  However, he conquered some of these ladders today.  He even would come down them with just one foot per rung instead of two.  Even when he was a bit unsure of where his foot would go, he never panicked.  He knew I was right there and he let me guide him.  Amazing!

This is awesome!  Abishai chased a squirrel and it went up the tree!  It kept going around the tree as it went up so Abishai was trying to run around the tree in order to see it!  Boy vs. squirrel and the squirrel won.  Cute!

He said, "This is my size tree."  Yes, this tree is the right size for you!  Just like there's a playground that is meant for the smaller kids and we call it a "your size" playground, so is this tree something you can handle.  Same with sizes of bikes or shoes or chairs.  "This is my size tree."  Hilarious!

He spent 30 minutes in the car because his pants got a tiny bit wet and he didn't want to put the shorts on that I had in the bag.  He just wanted to play in the car, but it was hotter and there were more mosquitoes so I eventually convinced him to get out and play again.

Beast.

Beast again.  This wall is actually not solid, but gives a little, so it's made of something more rubbery.  And yet, he scaled it like a pro.  No hesitation.  Reach and grab and push and pull up.  He'll be rock climbing before the rest of us even get a chance.

He had to try out each type of swing, just like always.

This is a nice shot of how tall the rope ladder was.  I walked away quickly and walked back to him quickly, I promise.  And this was after he had already done the ladder numerous times.  But, when we went over to the other smaller playground, he identified the ladder he fell off of two weeks ago.  No one had mentioned it to him, so he's remembered on his own.  I didn't push him to try the ladder today, but next time I will.  Poor guy was obviously traumatized by it.  It's still not scared to climb in general, but he wouldn't go near that ladder.

Goofballs were rolling a water bottle down the slides, but it was a guess as to which one the roller would choose.

Stopped at Daddy's office.  Abishai showed off his muscles by moving this chair 12-16 ft from it's position in the middle of the room to Daddy's desk all by himself.

Uh oh, I think I made a mistake when we went looking for the Lego minifigures.  I tried walking past quickly but he saw the Hotwheels and Tonka trucks aisle and led me down it.  I could have been mean about it and walked on, but what's the fun in that?  He played with lots of them and was super excited, but didn't have an issue when we moved on, thankfully. That's because we already had the bubble mower in our arms and he knew it was for him.

Then we found this.  Oh my goodness.  So cool!  Keturah started chasing Abishai and he loved it!  He only pretended to be scared.

Abishai's turn!

And finally Justin's turn!  He just happened to be holding a Jurassic World Lego set in his hand at the time.  That's why there's dinosaur heads out.  The second Jurassic World movie comes out this month.

He could not wait for me to put the bubble mower together!

He went all the way down to the end of the yard and mowed up the hill in a straighter line than Justin does!  He's been watching the boys for a couple of months now and knew how to turn and everything!

The bubble mower doesn't have batteries but there are mechanics that turn the bubble wands inside as the wheels turn and somehow produces air to push them out.  It works really, really well for a bubble toy.  I never like to just sit there and hold the jar helping them blow bubbles, so this seems like a nice solution to me!

Justin had to try it out.

So did Keturah.  They were both impressed.

Miah mower, Justin mower, Abishai mower.

Cute Canadian sitting in his Canadian seat just eating his apple with not a care in the world.  He loves sitting in this camping chair!

He went back out several times to mow.  He had gotten his shirt wet from the apple and since he can't stand being wet, he took it off.  Then he was mowing like others do (not our boys, they keep their shirts on, although we never made it a rule), without a shirt, but with a determined look on his face that read "I'm going to mow straight lines back and worth until it's done perfectly."  And he did!  He stuck to this little patch we are trying to grow and went back and forth, turning when necessary, avoiding the plants and rocks. 

Happy little guy just working away.

What?! Mountain Dew comes in a 24 oz can like Arizona sweat tea does?  That's crazy! I didn't check the calories on it.  Benaiah had bought himself some drinks when we were at Wal-Mart.  He bought other store brand drinks.  But that's a big can!

Um, we need to work on our parking job.  He actually didn't hurt anything, but he was less than 1 inch from the pipe on the outside of the water heater.  Yikes!

This is what Abishai did when I said that the bubble mower couldn't come in.  He crumbled to the floor and rolled around crying.  I'm not even that happy about it blowing bubbles near my boxes in the garage, but hopefully he won't do it that much in the garage.

Sad face.  Another one of our small plates broke when it slipped from the cabinet to the countertop.  These are the dishes we have had for 17 years and this is the size we use the most.  I think we still have 6 out of 8 of them.  I do have a whole newer set of dishes I could switch to though, that we got when we first arrived back from PEI.  Now would probably be a good time to make the switch.  They are not as heavy as these and have a pretty flower pattern on them that were popular maybe in the 90's?  My parents had a similar set at some point.  But, it's no fun when something breaks.

Always hanging around.  She helped Daddy put drains in the big tire swing so that there would be no more water stuck in the tires.

The kid had come in for a bath because there was grass on his feet.  So what does he do right after the bath?  Go back out and get his feet dirty again.  Oh well, it's his childhood.  I am feeling much more peace about making this house our home because of the big yard and it's potential, as well as the indoors when I get it fixed the way I want it.  I just don't want to be like Elastigirl on The Incredibles movie where she calls up Bob and said she finally unpacked the last box after 3 years of moving into their home.  But then, that home blows up maybe a week later.  I hope that we can stay put for another 10 years.  That would be great!

Interesting sunset because there has been threats of pop up thunderstorms this evening.   I've heard the rolling thunder but it hasn't actually rained.  I saw the dark clouds, too.

Dark clouds on the left.  Beautiful colors on the right.