We had more than a few seriously annoying-out-of-our-control-type things happen this week, and we are all more than ready for people to go back to school and the crowds to die down. But, I think the weather is getting to me the most. It's been raining for DAYS, and not just an afternoon thunderstorm, those I can handle just fine. A good chunk of every day has been rainy, and nearly every day has been dreary, with no sun in sight, and it's just super depressing. When it isn't raining, its SUPER humid. I think part of the blues comes from taking our vacation later too. With the exception of last year, when we went to Ohio in August, we've spent nearly every year since we've moved to Florida, ditching the state for nearly the entire month of July, making summer (and the heat and the rainy season) much more bearable. For the last week, all my "memories" on facebook have been pictures upon pictures of vacation. In 2013, we did Ohio, Las Vegas, and the Pacific Northwest. In 2012, we were in Ohio and Mammoth Caves (remember, where we almost lost Porkchop?), and of course 2011 was the epic 29 day vacation. Before the blogging days, we had the massive two vacations summer in 2010 when we were in Ohio/Chicago for the wedding, and then back again for our usual July trip. Of course, I sound like a spoiled brat because I'm complaining about not going on vacation yet, but I know it's coming.
Anyway, Calib comes home tomorrow, and we're all very excited about that, minus Peyton who has to give back Calib's room, big bed, and computer. It hasn't been the best week ever, but we've made the best out of it. I never do a full fledged theme week when Calib's gone, because I don't want him missing out. But, usually I throw in some arts and crafts so we worked on some art projects for the fair this week. Most of these projects we did over a few days, so the pictures may seem a little out of order.
Hayden used acrylic paint to make a really cool peacock. The head is his hand print.
And then he used warm colors and cool colors for the feathers.
We cut them out and put them all together...
And it came out pretty cool.
Peyton meanwhile, has been working with oil paints.
He took a dollar store foam puzzle, and painted all the pieces with different designs.
Because of the foam, these took FOREVER to dry. I think we waited three days between the bottom coat and the top, and we're still waiting for the designs to dry to put it all together, but I think it'll look pretty cool when we do.
Hayden did some splatter paining..
...which we used with some charcoal and colored pencils...
...to turn into a cute dalmatian. We're going to put this on a water colored painting, but for the first time in my history with Amazon, a package that claims to have been delivered, wasn't. So, we're still waiting on the paper. (It was just one of the many minor, yet annoying inconveniences this week. Asa also had to go into the office when a Fios line was cut leaving us with no internet, TV, or phone for the day. Which, would have been less annoying had Calib not had my cell phone in Ohio. Ugh.)
Peyton made a stain glass painting. We mixed black paint with come glue, and he traced a coloring page.
Then we mixed glue and paint for some different colors.
And once the black outline was dry, he used that to color it in.
Hayden worked with melted crayons to create a pretty cool picture, but it took him FOREVER. You only get about two drips every time you put the crayon in the flame.
And, it's not the cleanest art project in the world.
But it came out really cool.
Peyton worked with rubber cement and watercolors. He used a stencil, filling it in with rubber cement.
Then you paint over it with water colors.
Then, once the paint is dry, you rub off the rubber cement.
He did it twice..
...and the results were kind of cool.
Hayden worked with some water colors.
And he's currently working on one more project. We're not done with this one yet, but he loved during the first part of it. So, you color cups.
Then, you put them on a cookie sheet with parchment paper in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 seconds, and they melt into these cool disks.
He's done about a dozen of these over the course of a few days. Then he mod-podged some construction paper onto a paper towel tube to make it look like a tree trunk. We'll get to finishing this project soon, and I'll post the results.
Sunday we went out to LameCon at the Rec Center. Anime and Video Games aren't my thing, but it is the boys things. They really wanted to check it out, and of course I went along for the ride. If it's not going to cost any money (it was free) for me to go to something I'm not particularly interested in, then I'm happy to go with them and support their interests.
Plus, I can totally appreciate the craftiness on display.
The boys had a good time, so it was a success. On the way out, we got a snack from the food stands, and then headed home.
When we got back our neighbors, Lonnie and Jan were out front doing some yard work, and asked if we wanted a baby avocado tree. They had previously given us a fig and pomegranate tree. Right now those are in huge pots, but when we move those suckers will finally get to go in the ground.
Then they brought us over a papaya tree, too. (That's them in the background letting Asa know how to cut the pomegranate to make it more of a tree and less of a bush). Anyway, we have some pretty fantastic neighbors.
Don't let that sunny afternoon fool you. It was short lived (we didn't even have to water those guys, it rained like an hour later). Really, we've just spent our week dodging rain.
We did hit the bowling alley, since the boys have like a bazillion free games.
And PDQ was running a special, and we all got coupons for a free three piece in August.
Hayden had a couple of classes this week too. We made it to the build n grow (despite a downpour of epic proportions.)
And he got off the waitlist for the Apple Camp at International Plaza.
He spent three days making a movie, and he got a camp tshirt, some headphones, and a thumb drive bracelet.
On the last day, the kids watched everyone's movies, and got certificates.
We made it to the summer reading event, though we've missed most of them because of scheduling. The boys are looking forward to the end of summer reading events, and getting back to the Saturday pre-teen/teen events instead.
We even missed the end party because of a scheduling conflict. Last night MOSI held a member's only night. We had been waitlisted for tickets, but we were over at our neighbors one day playing games (since a pool day was out thanks to the weather), and Natasha was on the phone with MOSI and got them to give us actual tickets. I totally failed though, and didn't have the boys wear closed-toed shoes. That meant no bike, and no ropes course (even in the rain) for them.
We did meet up with Madison and her parents too, so we got to spend some time with them, which is always fun.
We had been wanting to go to Summer Nights at Bush Gardens, but the weather hadn't been so cooperative. When I mentioned maybe going over there while we were at MOSI the boys jumped on it. The rain was down to mostly a few sprinkles, and Busch Gardens is right around the corner, so we spent a couple hours over there last night.
Ah, roller coasters at night. Thanks to my five summers at Cedar Point (which I loved 95% of), they give me a feeling of being 'home'. It's not CP, but it has some of the same effect. (And now I can't wait to spend a couple nights at the cottages!)
Hayden will be tall enough to ride anything at Cedar Point, too. (Not that he probably will, but he COULD.)
With the rainy weather, the pillow pools are still going strong.
Even Teddy (from MY childhood) made an appearance in one of them.
My favorite pillow pool picture has to be Hayden eating his doughnut, reading Sunday morning comics in his.
I have been spending my time getting August president's together. We've got five of them this month, and I have three stories written and done, and I'm hoping to do another today. But, the only president we can celebrate on the actual day is Barack Obama. The rest I'll have to move around for scheduling purposes. I also got this awesome new book on presidents. It comes with a cocktail recipe for each president! How fun is that for me and Asa?
Speaking of presidents, we already heard back from George W. Bush.
It's not as personalized or as cool as the letter from his dad, but the boys were still really excited about it.
And speaking of fun mail, look what came today!
Another year of Bucs season tickets. (We must be a glutton for punishment). We're going to mess with Calib and tell him they came with our names on them this year, and Peyton got seat J1. (Calib is very demanding over his seat, the rest of us interchange no problemo).
That's it from here. I'm REALLY hoping the rain stops soon. (It just poured while I wrote this blog), and I'm excited for it to be August. We've got football coming back (or at least training camp and pre-season), everyone headed back to school, my birthday weekend extravaganza and vacation. Plus, we've got 5 president's birthdays to celebrate. It's going to be a busy month!
Next Up: If nothing else, I'll be back on the 4th with Obama's birthday! We also have our home school evaluation on Monday, so wish us luck!
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