The Summer of Blog Neglect

Apparently I can't keep up with this blog during summer.  I'd say I'll do better, but… yeah, I probably won't.  I feel like I should say something like, "It's been 20 days since my last confession…"

But I won't do that, either.

I started seeing a therapist a week and a half ago.  I've only seen her once, for the initial intake, but I liked her.  I go back later this week to start actual therapy, and if the first visit is any indication, I'm going to need a big box o' Kleenex.  At least this time I'm going in with a week or so of decent moods under my belt and not weeks of emotional lability.  It's the little things.  I also have a plan for the future, more or less, and have started working toward it, doing things like putting together a resume and filling in the odd online job application.  Of course, I'm sure I'll wind up doing something through a temp agency because nobody wants to hire a cold-call nobody with an empty resume, but it's a start.  I'll keep working.

I got back from a brief trip today.  A few weeks ago one of my friends announced that her husband was moving his start-up company to some rented office space, which meant that she was going to have a finished garage space to use as a school/game room for her kids, and she needed furnishings for it.  Which meant that she wanted to make a run down to Ikea in Dallas.  Oz and I had been talking about running down there and getting some bookshelves from Ikea at some point (and really, if Doodlebug will ever manage to learn how to take care of property properly, we'd get him new bedroom furniture, too), but he didn't really care if he went, so he agreed to watch the kids, and suddenly I was headed to Dallas.  We also took along some rented muscle - a friend of mine's boyfriend, because my friend wanted another dresser to go with some other Ikea furniture she'd gotten on her recent trip down to the Big D.

Both of them had been to Ikea before.  I hadn't.  We got there when it opened at 10, and Oz texted around 12:30 to ask if we'd left yet.  Nope… we sure hadn't.  We had actually eaten lunch AND made it to the area where we were pulling boxes, which was an impressive feat that no doubt would never have been accomplished if my girlfriend hadn't made a wish list, including aisle and bin numbers, before we even headed out.  That store is an adventure and a half, for certain.

I didn't even wind up getting proper bookshelves… well, not the ones I'd planned to get, anyway.  I got this instead:

It seemed more appropriate to the space, my taste, and the varying sizes of the books and whatever else the kids might want to stash on the shelves.  I like breaking up the monotony a little.  I got home around 6 and put this together before the kids went to bed.  Oz helped a bit when I got frustrated… mostly I hate Allen wrenches and didn't know he had a bit for that in his screwdriver.  That would have been nice to know before I started, but c'est la vie.

Back to reality now and appointments the rest of the week.  I actually booked myself a spa visit for one day this week (using a gift certificate Oz got me for my birthday in April), so that should be an interesting experience in itself!

And Away We Went

I didn't disappear.  Well, not entirely.  Just from this continent.  Well, hemisphere.  Both hemispheres, I guess, if you want to get technical.

Oh, hell, we went to Australia.  There, I said it.

For the record, 14- and 15-hour plane flights are just as bad as you think.

But in the end, it's all worth it.

We flew into Sydney on Friday, March 7.

Oz had to remember (and/or relearn, depending on how you look at it) how to drive on the left, and I was introduced to new things like speed limit signs that A) look altogether different, and B) change depending on traffic patterns and time of day. (And new yield signs that said "Give Way," and stop signs with blacked-out stoplights on them, and the fact that you can't turn left at a stoplight unless there's a sign or a light that specifically gives you permission, and all sorts of other fun little things.)

We bought the most expensive tank(s) of gasoline we've ever purchased in our lives.

We saw lizards everywhere, from the tiny...

…to the huge.  (To be fair, this one was behind glass at the zoo, but still.  There really where lizards everywhere.  Doodlebug was in Herpetology Heaven.)

Some of the trees may, apparently, try to kill you...

Look closely behind that white flower in the middle
to see a red-bellied black snake.

… and if they don't, that snake might.

But we happily went sightseeing, anyway,

and really enjoyed wandering around places with names like Taronga Zoo, Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, The Rocks, the Queen Victoria Building, and the Blue Mountains (where we saw the Three Sisters, pictured later).

In addition to the plane flights, we rode on trams, trains, a skyway, cable cars, a bus, and a ferry.  We ate meat pies, scones (which is what Boo is holding here… pronounced skAWn, not scOHn), prawns, Australian sausages, biscuits (cookies) and plenty of 'chips' with 'tomato sauce' (fries with ketchup).  I did fix one dinner for our charming hostess (Oz's aunt) and her boyfriend, and I think they really enjoyed the jambalaya.

We snapped the ubiquitous photos that one must take when visiting Sydney.

And we even climbed the steps and touched the Opera House.  Oz and I found out later that there had been a concert of John Williams music on the weekend we were first there, and we almost wished we'd gotten tickets, but it would have meant dressing up… and really, that wasn't in the cards.

Getting dirty and digging in rock pools was on the agenda, however,...

… and since the waves were a little too rough, swimming in a true ocean-water pool was right up Boo's alley.

Oz got himself pinched by a crab,

and he found sea stars for Doodlebug to hold and shells for me to bring home.

We drove up to the Blue Mountains and saw the Three Sisters and heard the legend of their creation,

and we rode on the world's steepest passenger railway, a nice, slow ride that lasted all of two minutes but which thoroughly freaked out the girl.

Doodlebug got to sleep in something called a swag, which is like a one-man tent.  (Think of Waltzing Matilda.)

But after all our adventures (and a really long flight back), we were ready to be home.

So when we saw this one last sunset on the plane, on the very last flight between Dallas and Tulsa… we were all ready to fall into bed.  Which we did, and we slept for about 14 hours.

Thanks to Oz's family for hosting us and to the weather for not raining on us at all and to Sydney for being an absolutely glorious place to visit.  Maybe one day, we'll get to visit again.

But not too soon.  Because those flights really are just as bad as you think.

2014 - A Year of Change?

So I had plans for 2014.  In my head, I had things figured out.  Here's what I thought would happen:

1.  Doodlebug would stop swim and start tae kwon do.

2.  Boo would start sewing classes.

3.  At least one child, probably Doodlebug, would remain at home in the fall.

4.  We would visit Australia, most likely around this time of year in order to take advantage of warm beaches and swimming weather.

-----

The gods sensed my plans.  And they laughed.

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Here's what's happening now:

1.  This is still happening.  The facility we've found actually offers a daytime class for homeschoolers, but Doodlebug has stated that he would rather go to the 'regular' class in the evenings.  I'm okay with that.  If he chose, later in the year, to return to swim team, that was an option, but I wanted him to try something else for at least a temporary change.  I suspect that given #3, he won't return to swim, but we'll see.

2.  This is, sadly, up in the air.  I sent an email to the store asking if they were still planning them, but I haven't heard back, which is disappointing.  Boo is desperate to sew, and I don't know what to do if they don't hold the classes.  I'll have to figure something out.  Maybe pay a friend to help teach her.  I don't know.

3.  BOTH kids are probably going to go to public school for the next school year.

Boo had been considering going to public school just like Doodlebug had, and she came to me a few days ago and said that she would like to go back in August.  I wasn't surprised.  She's been happy at home, but not thoroughly so.  She's long lamented the fact that she doesn't have a large circle of friends, and I know she FaceTimes with one of her best friends as often as she thinks is decent and not obnoxious.  She's not good about calling others, though… I need to remind her that picking up the phone is just as simple as using other technology.

Doodlebug was another matter.  Oz expressed his opinions to me the other night when I asked, and he thinks that Doodlebug should at least give public school a shot.  I tend to agree.  Even if it doesn't work out, he thinks that Doodlebug at least needs to know what he's giving up/avoiding.  The last time he was in school, he was in kindergarten.  It was a nightmare, yes, but we've all come a long way since then, and I'm hopeful that with various groups and activities and therapy, he'll be able to manage socially.  If not, he does have the option to return home.

The thought of having no kids at home just weirds me out, but the Type A planner in me is glad that I have many months in which to adjust and in which to check where the kids are, academically speaking.   I suspect the only areas where I really need to focus will be in math, for Boo, since Math-U-See isn't exactly Common Core-aligned, and in social studies for both kids, since I've largely focused on history and haven't really touched on 'social studies' at all… unless you count the general U.S. history that Doodlebug learned a couple years back.  I'm not sure how much of that he will have retained, and Boo probably hasn't heard any of it.  Still, with several months left in the school year, it's easy to remedy.  I've ordered some books and will let the kids read through them, and we'll do some simple projects.  I'm sure they'll be caught up in time.

I'm also sure that they'll have to do some sort of testing at the school to find out exactly where they'll stand.  I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

4.  If the kids are in public school, going to Australia in November/early December probably isn't going to work.  Oz pointed that one out to me this morning.  So we're going earlier in the year.  Ye Olde Tax Refund will probably go toward the trip.  I guess since I won't be spending it on curriculum, it's not a huge deal, except for the fact that instead of having almost a year to put myself into a state of mind where I can handle a 24-hour plane ride (I'm a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad flight passenger) I only have a few months… and, oh yeah, Oz is the only one of us with a passport.  Right-O.  Gotta get crackin' on that, too.

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So yeah… 2014 is already changing, and it isn't even here yet.  I'm not sure how I feel about it all yet; ask me in another month, and maybe I'll have an answer.  In the meantime, I'm just going to pour myself a giant mug o' happy and be glad that my Christmas shopping is over.  I ain't gonna let myself get stressed out.  Time to take a few deep breaths and focus on the here and now.

Time to balance the qi.

Because That's How These Things Work

I got back yesterday from a 4.5-day road trip.  It was a one-woman show.  I climbed in the car on Saturday morning and took off to visit a blogging friend in Nebraska.  I have a picture of her and me standing together, but it's still on the camera, and I don't feel like messing with it right now, so you'll just have to imagine us standing next to one another in her living room while her husband snapped photos of us.  My charming hostess and I talked nonstop for hours (was it really hours?  It only seemed like such a short time), pausing only when she was making dinner (homemade lasagna!) or when her 10-month-old daughter needed something.  The daughter in question spent the evening fighting sleep, chewing on my shoe and phone, and trying to interject herself into the conversation any time she felt her input was needed.  In other words, she made herself indispensable.  It was such a fun evening!  Lots of laughter and companionship.

The next morning I completely forgot about Daylight Savings Time and wondered why on earth I'd awakened at 7 a.m. when I'm never up before 8.  Thankfully Wendy and her husband reminded me about the time change and assured me I wasn't going crazy. I was fed pancakes for breakfast and had my legs wrapped up by a demanding polydactyl cat who desperately wished to go outside.  It felt like home.  Instead of home, however, I climbed back into the car and headed clear across Iowa and into Illinois.

In Illinois, I visited another family.  This family used to live in the Tulsa area, but they moved for the dad's job, and so we don't see one another very often.  They have four kids, three of whom decided to show off their best behavior and throw tantrums right after I arrived.  Mom, of course, was horrified, and I just laughed.  I didn't have to worry about disciplining a single one of them!  Eventually the kids settled down, and after her husband got home, she and I were shooed out the door to go have dinner and drinks somewhere kid-free.  We picked a local Mexican restaurant, and we had daiquiris and enchiladas and stuffed ourselves silly and talked and cried and swapped stories and otherwise made ourselves feel much, much better.  She and I were completely wiped out by the time we got back to her house, so we headed off to bed early.

On Monday morning she managed to wake far earlier than I ever would have and sneaked out the door to find pumpkin spice milk so we could have pumpkin spice lattes for breakfast.  When combined with fresh cream from a nearby Amish dairy, that was a breakfast coffee I could get behind!  I didn't have to leave her house till after lunch that day, so she sat down and did some school with her kids (this was a very homeschool-family-focused trip, and I didn't even intend that to happen), and I helped when she had to make or answer phone calls.  She scolded me for teaching on my vacation, but her kids are largely younger than mine, and the work was different than what I do with my own, so I still felt it was a break.

Early that afternoon, I took my leave of her and drove to a state park to meet yet another family.  This was another homeschool family that I'd met online, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to meet them until after I left for my trip, but it worked out.  We hiked around a short trail, and the kids ran ahead and then played on the playground until it got too dark to see.  I had a good time; it's so nice to meet new people!

That evening I headed to a hotel.  It was my one major luxury that I allowed myself on this trip, but I enjoyed it.  I took a long, hot shower - I always feel like I'm emptying hot water tanks quickly and feel guilty when I'm visiting others - and watched television while working on a cross-stitching project all evening.  It was quiet, too.  I loved visiting my friends and seeing them, but I am an introvert at heart, and this evening of solitude was just what the doctor had ordered.

On Tuesday morning, I left Illinois and meandered down through Missouri.  I had time to kill, so I stopped at Meramec Caverns to take the tour there.  It was a neat place, and if I ever go back with the kids, I'll probably do the zipline as well, but with nobody to take pictures (and it was a cold day), I didn't feel the need.

Late that afternoon, I arrived at my final overnight stop.  This family has one very energetic 5-year-old boy, and he took to me immediately, though he didn't remember me from when he used to live in the Tulsa area as well.  He decided I "got his game," and he begged to sit next to me at dinner.  I got a giant bear hug before he went to bed, too.  Again, there was chatter and laughter and lots of catching up.  Yesterday morning we went to breakfast, and I came home.

Home is a good place.  Home is where the children greet you at the garage door when you drive in and give you giant hugs and insist on helping you unpack.  Home is where you get snuggles on the couch and people call you 'Mom' and you can take long, hot showers whenever you want and light candles and fireplaces and raid the fridge.  I took my trip to relax - and in many ways, I did - but coming home brought a new level of relaxation.  It felt good to walk in the door and have some ownership of the space.  I'm grateful to everyone who put me up for a night, and I loved my trip, but coming home had its own charm, for sure.

Of course, the boy promptly got sick and I spent the evening and night cleaning up yark and administering breathing treatments, and we've been to the doctor today already, but ah well… at least it's home.

Field Trips and Experiments

Friday was a field trip day at our house.  The kids gripe that we never have/do field trips, which amuses me because apparently any time we go to a museum or the zoo or the aquarium, that doesn't count as a field trip unless it's on a school day, during school hours, AND I introduce some sort of weird educational component to the experience.

*shrug*

Whatever.  Friday was field trip day.

We went to an engineering fair first.  Geared to kids grades 4-12, teams can enter a variety of competitions, some of which take preparation and some of which are on-site... and some of which are open to all visitors, not just registered groups.  There were also demonstrations set up, from a 3-D printer to Lego robots to a Van de Graaff generator.

M2 wanted to try the generator:

She giggled at the feeling of her hair floating above her head.  She didn't so much care for the boys behind her who kept touching her just to feel the shock.

There was also a table discussing the geosciences featuring all sorts of fossils.  M1 got into a discussion with the woman there.

We watched rubber-band-powered cars roll down tracks, checked out the foil boat competition (open to the public; they give you a 12x12" piece of foil and you shape it into a boat, then fill it with as many pennies as you can before it sinks), and M1 watched folks using a virtual welding machine.  Overall, they had a good time, and - TAKE NOTE, LOCAL PEOPLE - M1 wants me to spearhead a team next year.  If you think your kiddo(s) of the right age would be interested, let me know.  I think it would be a lot of fun!

After we left the engineering fair, we grabbed some lunch and headed to the homeschool group that we've found.  We seem to mesh really well with this group, and today they had something special for us:  We got to 'test' a planned exhibit for a children's museum that's slated to open in late May.

The woman from the museum explained the concept to the kids.  Basically, they want to have an area in the museum where kids can come and build things.  They'll change the building materials and plans regularly, but they were thinking of starting with musical instruments.  This woman had everything but the kitchen sink with her today, and the kids went to town.

Rubber bands, giant straws, random piece of metal, bottles, jars, jar lids, jugs, paper clips, aluminum pie pans, rubber tubing, Styrofoam cups, hot glue guns (yes, they do intend to have hot glue guns and other materials available for older kids and parents, set up where the younger ones won't have access), etc.  Seriously.  Everything but the kitchen sink.

M1 made a snare drum as one of his instruments.  He made all sorts of stuff.

The woman wandered around and talked to all the kids about what they were building.  She wanted to hear the sounds everything made and took pictures of quite a few of their creations.

M1 didn't sit still.  He made probably half a dozen different 'instruments,' some of which worked better than others.

His horn was one of the 'failures.'  Not that it stopped him from hauling it around for 15 minutes trying to modify it to work.

M2, on the other hand, sat down and worked on one instrument for the entire time.  It was some sort of shaker/rattle thing.  She was very frustrated and very proud of it at the same time.  I was amused that it had to be color-coordinated.  Hence the blue marker.

By the time we left the group event, the kids were worn out.  Both of them had headaches from the constant noise they'd been exposed to all day, and both of them were tired and ready to come home and crash.

Still, they enjoyed themselves, and it was a great day to get out and DO things.

Everything's Up to Date in...

C'mon, now, y'all know the song.  I presume.  Maybe it's only folks here in Okielahoma who can sing almost every song from the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic.

It's possible.

Anyway, the end of the line is "Kansas City."

Our family had needed a little getaway for a while, and Oz finally decided we'd take the kids there.  Besides anything else, the kids were desperate to go to the Great Wolf Lodge since they'd been to the one in Dallas; they wanted to see how different the two were. (Answer: The layout is very different, and if you are a fan of the MagiQuest, I suggest KC, but if you're a fan of the water park, go to Dallas.)  So we drove up on a Thursday morning and spent the afternoon and evening letting the kids swim and play MagiQuest to their heart's content.  The best part was that Oz got M1 to go down a water slide (a first!!!) by bribing him with dessert.

Hey, whatever it takes.

The next morning we had arranged for a late checkout, so we went swimming again, washed up, and headed out.  After a quick lunch, we drove over to Crown Center.  We parked, walked into the mall, and I discovered an entire store full of cat stuff.  I didn't go too crazy, promise, especially since the real reason we'd driven to the Center was to go to the aquarium.  But we had to window shop, especially when we saw the store where they had fresh fudge cooling on the counter.  That mall is an easy place to lose yourself... and a hundred dollars (did I mention they also had a kitchen gadget store?  I'm now the proud owner of 12 silicone cupcake liners, which are perfect for making egg muffins).

The aquarium was the perfect place to kill an afternoon.  It was very kid-friendly, and the kids spent about 20 minutes in one room alone, just watching the fish and rays swim 'round and 'round in their tank.  After that, the kids were toast, so we checked into the hotel and ordered pizza delivery.  I think that everyone but me was asleep by 9:30.  Night owl that I am, I read till 11:30 or so.

Our last day in town - Saturday - was when I finally had the chance to break out the camera.

That'd be a "Union Station" sign behind those trees there.

Here's an actual shot of Union Station... well, OK, an actual reflective shot off a glass-front building nearby.  It was rainy while we were in town, so I didn't want to stand in front of the building and get my purdy camera soaked.  So I shot this picture from the walkway between Union Station and Crown Center.

Inside Union Station, it's a photographer's dream. (By the way, be warned, a photographer I am not.)

The ceilings are high and gorgeous...

... and there's marble everywhere you look.  There were actually a couple of weddings taking place while we were there.

Inside Union Station, there are several places to visit.  There's a small model train museum, which has free entry with the purchase of entry anywhere else, there are restaurants, and most importantly to my kids... there's a science museum.

We had wanted to take them to the zoo, but... well... it was raining.  And it was supposed to storm.  And while I don't mind the rain, storms are another matter entirely.  So we stayed inside.

The museum opened at 9:30, and we got there shortly after; I think we left about 3:30 or 4, though we took a short break for lunch.  The museum was simply that captivating.  They had everything from math puzzles...

... to a house filled with illusions...

... and everything in between.  They even had a couple of 3-D printers set up and running while we were there, and if you look on M1's shirt, you'll see a small red patch.  That's a small flashing pin that he got to solder himself.  The guy who was running the soldering activity also had the 3-D printers going, and he and M1 chatted for quite a while.

Even though it was a rainy, gray weekend, the trip was everything we had needed.  It was an escape from routine, a place not too far away or too odd, and it was just a neat place to visit.

Oh, and did I mention the Crayola store?

Kansas City was great :)

Crystal Bridges

I finally got around to emptying the SD card in my camera tonight.  A few weeks ago - the weekend after we listed the house, to be exact - the four of us piled in the car and took a trip to Crystal Bridges, an almost-brand-new free-to-visit art gallery/museum in NW Arkansas.

It was well worth the drive, if I may say so.  We paid a few bucks to see their current traveling exhibition, which brought the total to $10 for all four of us ($5 for adults and kids under 18 are still free).  Our favorite part, though?  The grounds.  They were beautiful.  There was live music (really good music, too!) in a small amphitheater located in a woodsy area near the museum.  There were water features and beautiful garden areas.  It was all very picturesque... I hope I was able to do some of it justice.  Enjoy!