Highlights from the Week of June 14, 2015

It was quite a week.  Not because of anything huge, but because of many little things that I want to hold on to in my memory.  I thought of this post last night, and I should have written it then, because I'm sure I've already forgotten things that made me smile and laugh.  But, I will try to recall a few here.

1.  Big Kahunas on Monday:  The kids are all doing so well with our weekly trips to the area water park.  They stay together and follow the rules immensely well.  On Monday, John showed that he is also getting the point of really enjoying himself.  I took off his life vest for a bit of free splashing and he loved it.  He went down a couple of slides and his face was completely submerged and came up with a huge smile.  I love how the older three delight in helping him down the slides and constantly are asking how they can help with John.

2.  On Wednesday, we spent the better part of the morning at the library.  The summer reading program has started and they have a story/activity hour for the older kids as well.  We went to story time for Molly and Will at 10:30, and then went to The Dollar Tree (I love that store!) where I made the mistake of letting Molly walk around with a basket.  She collected several pinkish hued hair accessories.  Then we ate lunch at the park where John and Molly played for a bit while Dom and Will returned to the library for their program.  Despite the lack of nap, John was a delight to be around and Molly loved getting a rare chance to play at the park.  We just don't make it there as often as I once did.

3.  On Thursday, the boys attended a math (!!!) program at the library.  They left it with measuring tape and a constellation chart with instructions to place a star sticker each day they do a math problem.  Naturally, my heart soared.  There is a website:  bedtimemath.org which posts a math problem each day.  They have three levels of difficulty (up to about a 3rd grade level, I'd say).  Ever since, I've caught them measuring various things around the house and reading our collection of Sir Cumference books.

4.  Big Kahunas on Friday:  Again, a good day for following directions and John showing more courage in the water (putting his face in the water and trying to belly float or flipping over while in his life vest and floating around with a content smile on his face).  Also, Dom got up his courage to do a raft slide.  The Tiki River.  Two years ago, he was a little too nervous to try it, but Will had been saying he wanted to.  We all walked over and Molly and John played in some fountains as I watched my two skinny sons hoist rafts over their shoulders and march up the flight of stairs to the top of the slide.  I worried a bit that I should have told them to hold on tight, but when they both came shooting out of the tunnel with huge smiles on their faces and shouts of "AWESOME!", I saw they figured it out.  They proceeded to do the slide two more times, the third time on a double raft.  I loved watching their teamwork successfully wielding the large raft.
  Also on Friday, I lived the dream a bit.  One of the areas at Kahunas has a lazy river and 3 or 4 slides around it.  I rode around the lazy river with John sleeping on my stomach as the older kids rode those slides several times.  I could catch a sight of them every 5 minutes or so as I came back around.  I did get a bit sun burned, but that was a small price to pay.  Plus, none of the kids were sunburned, soooo...#winning!

5.  Yesterday was a laid back day, the highlight being a family bike ride to Publix last night as the sun stopped scorching everything it shined on.  It was such a fun ride, we just might make this a weekly tradition to re-stock Buschelman staples like fruits, vegetables, champagne, cannoli,  and cheesecake (something that Will and I both enjoy...so, I now have to share)

6.  Today will be another laid back day. Maybe we'll play some games or take naps or both.  So far, the highlight has been this from Will as he played with our Pi Measuring tape:

"Wow!  That is huge!  The number π is tremendous!"