My wonderful sister-in-law, Megan, came and visited for a week and besides being a great help, she took loads of pictures and has written up a blog post about her Florida Adventure. Despite the fact she didn't go to the beach, I think she had a good time. Anyway, here is her blog for our fans to see some pictures of the kids:
http://megascoob.blogspot.com/
In other news, we caved and bought a camera today, so hopefully I will have some pictures of my own to post soon!
17 November 2012
09 November 2012
Everything is better in Florida
Several weeks ago, Eric bought William a shirt with the phrase "Everything is better in Florida" on it. He wears this shirt proudly and often quotes it to prove a point. Though, not always effectively. Not far from our house there is a McDonald's with a jungle theme. Unfortunately, it is not the McDonald's less than a 10 minute walk from our house. Or maybe fortunately, come to think about it. Anyway, we went there last week with Aunt Megan and we were all impressed. They have various robotic animals hanging from the ceiling, a tree (Will was super impressed by this), a couple of slides, a few tvs, and a few game stations. And the bonus for me was that it didn't smell bad. I tend to think that McDonald's play areas have a unpleasant odor associated with them. The kids loved it, they ate pretty well, and Will walked away feeling that his shirt had once again been proven true.
Later we were telling Eric about it and Will got into an argument with him about the quality of chicken nuggets available there versus the chicken nuggets available at Chick Fil-A (the parental fast food restaurant of choice, which has a quality play area as well, though without all of the technology). There is a Chick Fil-A within walking distance of our house as it turns out. Will eventually brought out the big guns with the well-known fact that "Everything is Better in Florida" unable to comprehend that this argument didn't work when comparing two things that both exist in Florida. Eric, understandably, remains unconvinced and I very much doubt he will go to McDonald's anytime soon. His loss.
In an unrelated story (though I could tie it in to the general theme if I had more energy) relates to our adventures in Homeschooling. Which is going quite well, by the way despite the following anecdote. We just finished our first quarter and Dom is doing very well and continues to have a great attitude.
Anyhow, we had gotten away from doing state collages as the move came up and I've yet to begin them again. However, I purchased a coloring book of the states and each page contains the general information that we covered on the collages anyhow. State bird, State tree, State flower, State capital, and so forth. They also have a picture of the state with rivers, lakes and mountains. Dom knew that the lines denoting rivers were areas of water, but understood them to be the border of a larger body of water and so tended to color the area to the north of the river blue as well. As he worked on North Carolina, I explained to him what the rivers were. He was disappointed not to color more areas of water and so I pointed out that he could paint the area to the east of the state blue because it was the Pacific Ocean. He didn't look convinced, but went ahead with his coloring. Eventually he asked me why it was the Pacific Ocean and I started to explain about it being more calm than the Atlantic. He then asked if there were two Pacific Oceans. I silently congratulated myself on understanding his confusion since we live on the Gulf side of Florida and therefore there are two areas of the ocean we are closer to. But, before I could start to explain this misunderstanding he goes "You know, because Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean". I was properly humbled and am proud that my son is better at geography than I am. Perhaps we will do a study abroad to ensure that this subject is properly covered.
Later we were telling Eric about it and Will got into an argument with him about the quality of chicken nuggets available there versus the chicken nuggets available at Chick Fil-A (the parental fast food restaurant of choice, which has a quality play area as well, though without all of the technology). There is a Chick Fil-A within walking distance of our house as it turns out. Will eventually brought out the big guns with the well-known fact that "Everything is Better in Florida" unable to comprehend that this argument didn't work when comparing two things that both exist in Florida. Eric, understandably, remains unconvinced and I very much doubt he will go to McDonald's anytime soon. His loss.
In an unrelated story (though I could tie it in to the general theme if I had more energy) relates to our adventures in Homeschooling. Which is going quite well, by the way despite the following anecdote. We just finished our first quarter and Dom is doing very well and continues to have a great attitude.
Anyhow, we had gotten away from doing state collages as the move came up and I've yet to begin them again. However, I purchased a coloring book of the states and each page contains the general information that we covered on the collages anyhow. State bird, State tree, State flower, State capital, and so forth. They also have a picture of the state with rivers, lakes and mountains. Dom knew that the lines denoting rivers were areas of water, but understood them to be the border of a larger body of water and so tended to color the area to the north of the river blue as well. As he worked on North Carolina, I explained to him what the rivers were. He was disappointed not to color more areas of water and so I pointed out that he could paint the area to the east of the state blue because it was the Pacific Ocean. He didn't look convinced, but went ahead with his coloring. Eventually he asked me why it was the Pacific Ocean and I started to explain about it being more calm than the Atlantic. He then asked if there were two Pacific Oceans. I silently congratulated myself on understanding his confusion since we live on the Gulf side of Florida and therefore there are two areas of the ocean we are closer to. But, before I could start to explain this misunderstanding he goes "You know, because Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean". I was properly humbled and am proud that my son is better at geography than I am. Perhaps we will do a study abroad to ensure that this subject is properly covered.
04 November 2012
Florida
We have been here for a little over three weeks and since the kids are otherwise occupied, now is as good a time as any to give a run down of everything we have been up. No pictures though, sorry! We lost our digital camera and have yet to replace it. Though, I'm hopeful a couple of house guests will provide ample photographic evidence that the kids are as adorable as ever.
We got in late afternoon on Friday, October 12. Saturday morning some guys from Eric's new unit were roped into unloading our truck. I am grateful to them as well as grateful that it took less than an hour, so they didn't have to give up too much of their Saturday. The kids and I made ourselves scarce by inviting ourselves over to our friends' house. The next few days were a blur of trying to empty and put away as many boxes as possible before Eric left for his SOS course. We were pretty successful, if I do say so myself. There are a few boxes in our room to unpack still and all of the boxes of pictures have yet to be emptied, but for the most part, we are pretty settled. Which is great, because I was correct in my suspicion that I would have no motivation to unpack as a single parent. This is evidenced by the fact there are two boxes of my things still sitting on the floor of our bedroom. I'll get to them tomorrow...
We have loved the weather here. The kids can play outside every day and they do. We have four kids on our circle that are close to the boys ages and a new infant next door. He doesn't hang out as much as the other kids, but I'm sure he'll be in the mix soon enough.
We also live within walking distance to a post office, grocery store, library, coffee shop, McDonald's (though not the cool one...more on that later), the high school (with great sport events), and a Chinese Restaurant. We had no idea when we rented this house we were hitting the jackpot as far as location. It also is great that Dom just started riding his bike and his confidence and ability has grown by leaps and bounds since we moved in. I am not exaggerating when I say he has ridden his bike 2 hours every day.
We have visited the beach three times and as we left it yesterday, I realized it was getting easier and easier each time. Now that I know what to expect, I can prep a little better and it doesn't feel like such a chore to get the kids de-sanded after our venture.
We started attending a great church with a priest who is very welcoming of young children. In a lot of ways, the architecture reminds me of St. Lawrence. There seem to be a lot of families there and I am looking forward to enrolling the kids into the religious ed program so they can start meeting some of them.
The kids and I have been doing pretty well with Eric's absence. Homeschooling really helps give an organization to our day as well as a lot of activities to fall back on when the minutes start to go by slower. It is also very helpful that Megan visited last week and Mitzi is coming this week. And then, it will be Thanksgiving!! Though, you'd never know it based on the weather here. 82 today and yesterday. I see pictures of people bundled up and remember that it is November and not the summer.
Ok, that is enough for now. I will try and get a post up about our Halloween. Will is still celebrating it. He has worn his costume at least a part of each day since Wednesday!
We got in late afternoon on Friday, October 12. Saturday morning some guys from Eric's new unit were roped into unloading our truck. I am grateful to them as well as grateful that it took less than an hour, so they didn't have to give up too much of their Saturday. The kids and I made ourselves scarce by inviting ourselves over to our friends' house. The next few days were a blur of trying to empty and put away as many boxes as possible before Eric left for his SOS course. We were pretty successful, if I do say so myself. There are a few boxes in our room to unpack still and all of the boxes of pictures have yet to be emptied, but for the most part, we are pretty settled. Which is great, because I was correct in my suspicion that I would have no motivation to unpack as a single parent. This is evidenced by the fact there are two boxes of my things still sitting on the floor of our bedroom. I'll get to them tomorrow...
We have loved the weather here. The kids can play outside every day and they do. We have four kids on our circle that are close to the boys ages and a new infant next door. He doesn't hang out as much as the other kids, but I'm sure he'll be in the mix soon enough.
We also live within walking distance to a post office, grocery store, library, coffee shop, McDonald's (though not the cool one...more on that later), the high school (with great sport events), and a Chinese Restaurant. We had no idea when we rented this house we were hitting the jackpot as far as location. It also is great that Dom just started riding his bike and his confidence and ability has grown by leaps and bounds since we moved in. I am not exaggerating when I say he has ridden his bike 2 hours every day.
We have visited the beach three times and as we left it yesterday, I realized it was getting easier and easier each time. Now that I know what to expect, I can prep a little better and it doesn't feel like such a chore to get the kids de-sanded after our venture.
We started attending a great church with a priest who is very welcoming of young children. In a lot of ways, the architecture reminds me of St. Lawrence. There seem to be a lot of families there and I am looking forward to enrolling the kids into the religious ed program so they can start meeting some of them.
The kids and I have been doing pretty well with Eric's absence. Homeschooling really helps give an organization to our day as well as a lot of activities to fall back on when the minutes start to go by slower. It is also very helpful that Megan visited last week and Mitzi is coming this week. And then, it will be Thanksgiving!! Though, you'd never know it based on the weather here. 82 today and yesterday. I see pictures of people bundled up and remember that it is November and not the summer.
Ok, that is enough for now. I will try and get a post up about our Halloween. Will is still celebrating it. He has worn his costume at least a part of each day since Wednesday!
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