Apprenticed

Some afternoons feel like they last forever. We all feel a little tired of each other and grumpy. When our "artistic temperaments" start to flare, I roll out a good ten feet of banner paper and we get to work. The rule is they can do anything ON THE PAPER. Paint, pen, stamps, brushes, crayons, markers, fingers, feet - it's all okay.
I feel grateful that my kids can get so absorbed in the painting they forget to keep talking. Incessant talking is not something I feel I deal well with. We've had a string of long days lately. If it keeps up I think I might have some remarkably proficient apprentices in a very short time.

Last Wish

Last Friday was Reuben's last free day before his weekdays were given over to school. Since I'm hoping he'll be enrolled in school for the next 25+ years of his life, I took pity on him and told him we would spend the day doing whatever he wanted to do. He thought for a minute and then said "Lets go to Gettysburg."

So Miriam, Reuben, and I loaded up the car and drove up to Gettysburg. I was feeling a dangerous mix of indulgent and sentimental, so our bank account and Miriam are lucky he didn't come out with Disneyworld or See Oma and Grandpa in SC or visit Edward in the Arctic, because I probably would have done it. (Edward is Reuben's imaginary friend cat who is all white and lives in the Arctic where he hunts wolves and fights polar bears)

I was also a lot more willing to drive a long distance because I was armed with the Whinnie the Pooh audiobook I mentioned last post AND an excellent audiobook of The Hobbit. 

Here are some of the highlights of the trip.

Reuben demonstrated the use of the baby seat in the family bathroom to Miriam. Then they both took turns trying it out for a good quarter hour. I had told myself that there would be no hurrying on this trip. We were going to enjoy the moment. My resolve was sorely tested. But I must say, the extra time gave me time to reflect and recognize that the government has done an awesome job putting in REAL family bathrooms in their new facilities. They even had a chair so you could sit and nurse somewhere besides the toilet seat. 

Reuben "I've got Abraham Lincoln's Hat. Ha ha!"

We ate lunch at the New York memorial because it was shaded and quiet and we could enjoy it all to ourselves.

It also had this incredible view. 

Reuben and Miriam had fun picking out letters and trying to read the names. We found a Robert but no Reuben. We also found an Adolph, which was the name of one of my ancestor who served in the conflict.

After lunch we wandered around several other markers. Miriam did her best to climb the outer wall and fall off the upper balcony of the Pennsylvania monument while Reuben kept his back to the wall because it was "Too High!" After that I vetoed everything that involved a second story. We stopped by and paid our respect to the South Carolina monument which thankfully is one level.

For the finale, we made Reuben's requisite visit to Devil's Den.

Book Pluck: In Which There is a Beginning At Pooh Corner

Everybody in this house loves a good book. Every week we go to the library, 2 or 3 or maybe more times. Each person maintains their personal stack territorially perched beside their bed and more litter every room of the house.

The other day we were wandering through a cemetery and I saw this grave and thought, there it is, the grave each of should have.

I particularly love how the books are haphazardly shelved. Brilliant.

While we burn through a massive quantity, we have a few we hold on to, check out again and again, renew, and every so often break down and buy. For a while I've thought about spotlighting those lovely diamonds that emerge from the rough of the library bag haul to find their way into our hearts.

The first book we've all fallen madly in love with is the audiobook,  The Collected Stories of Whinnie The Pooh narrated by Stephen Fry, Judi Dench, Michael Williams, Geoffrey Palmer, and others.

With all the British talent, this obviously isn't Disney. Pooh is a charming but a slightly over-comfortable and proud english country gentleman with an over fondness for his own bad poetry. He's more Downtown Abbey or Jeeves and Wooster than Disney's cuddly dim-whit, which is why Stephen Fry realizes him so perfectly.  Piglet is neurotic and manipulative. Eyeore is Snape. Rabbit, who is always surrounded by countless "friends and relations" is perhaps a tad murderous, he at least goes in for kidnapping and marooning. Kanga is insightfully vengeful. And yet they are all incredibly endearing, perhaps because they're allowed to be so smart and honest in each adventure. The kids seem to relate well to the drama of each character's everyday sort of disappointments and successes. I've now listened to each story for hours and I still find myself laughing aloud at parts.

The kids have loved the stories so much they beg to have the CDs taken in the car while we run errands, then back out of the car so they can listen to them in the house, then put in their room so they can fall asleep listening to them again. We've listened to them so much the kids have started quoting parts.

Reuben has started opening each of his kitty stories with a chapter. Yesterday he started a story for me with "Chapter 2: In Which My Kitties Get Themselves Into a Dark Spot"

A few days before that Reuben Miriam and I were hiking. We started to cross a fallen log that was several feet off the ground. Miri became a little nervous and hesitated and Reuben called out, "Miri You Haven't Any Pluck!" a statement Rabbit uses when Piglet becomes nervous about being part of Rabbit's scheme to kidnap baby Roo and hold him hostage until Kanga agrees to leave the forest forever.
Miri, for the record is about 95% pluck, so Reuben's observation got him a wicked glare but she did cross the log, so I guess it worked.

The Real First Day

Today was the first official school day for Montgomery County. Reuben attended his summer orientation a few weeks ago and has been reveling in his reprieve. But that ended today and he was back to school.

Reuben's response went from anxiety...

 to angst....

 to full out agony...

 and suffering...

 but then we picked up a friend who is carpooling with us and Reuben changed his tune. He went to great efforts to calm the concerns of his friend. His friend was well composed and seemed happy, while Reuben nervously reassured him that it wasn't scary and he didn't need to cry. Is it wrong how much I love what peer pressure does to my children?

Reuben did manage to go into class without crying. In an effort to get him to tell me something, Anything! about his school day I took him out for a celebratory lunch. He chose the place so we ended up at the "chinese restaurant" for pineapple buns.

 Miriam appreciated the food and told me all about her day. Thank you Miriam. Reuben told me he played with a friend and saw a butterfly. That was the extent of his first day school report. I'm starting to think the kid should become an intelligence officer. He's seriously tight lipped.

80s dance video

This week we've been out and about trying to enjoy the last days of summer. Yesterday we went to the zoo. The kids had fun dancing in the fog machine by the giant panda exhibit. They danced in there til they were soaked. It looked like a bad eighties music video. Then we ate zookies and caught a glimpse of the fisher cat kittens and baby cheetahs. All in all, a great visit.

The Sweetness of Summer

On my bike ride a few days ago, I felt the first chill in the early morning. Is summer really leaving? The heat and bugs and lingering sunlight make it seem almost eternal. Now that I realize it is ending I feel almost sad. This was the season when the kids were young and happy and so blissfully free. Does this time really end?

More Mushrooms

Our yard keeps sprouting giant mushrooms. Reuben and Miriam fashion them into shields. Running around with stick swords and mushroom shields, they look like fairy folk.

In the beginning

Reuben being the insightfully manipulative individual that he is, begged me each morning to not make him go to school but "let's all go to the dinosaur museum together!"
When he saw me wavering he quickly added, "And the art museum! I want to see all the beautiful paintings with you." Clever.

So when his week of summer school ended we headed back to the museums.
At the natural history museum, I love walking through the dioramas of the ancient earth. Reuben has developed a fondness for the giant eurypterid model and insist we stop by and say hi each visit. He's also become taken with the mass extinction events. One interesting thing I learned, the Permian-Triassic extinction, the largest, may have been caused by an asteroid but since the earth's sea floor is renewed almost every 200 million it's possible that the impact site was long ago subducted. Since the earth's surface is 70% ocean it's more likely an asteroid would hit water than landmass. Although now I'm wondering if the Earth has always maintained the same land to ocean ratio. Anyone know? Asteroid or not, the big die off did leave evidence that one way or another way too much carbon dioxide got into the atmosphere and things unraveled in a very ugly way from there.

Back at the museums, we stumbled upon a free kids program at the National Gallery. A docent reads a fiction book that relates to the art in the gallery, discusses the art, then the kids do a related craft For Free. I'd like to pretend I'm the type of parent that knows about these things and signs up but I'm not. We really just walked in and were kindly invited to stay.

Montgomery Agriculture Fair

Today the kids and I visited the fair. We watched the 4-H intermediate goat show. If you don't know I've been wanting a goat for the last couple years after reading the book Goat Song by Brad Kessler. I know it's an extremely romantic depiction of animal husbandry but I'm still enchanted.

Afterwards we walked through the sheep, cow, poultry, rabbit, and pig barns.
We caught a raptor show which had some awesome stories about great horned owls, which are super aggressive, knocking hunters out of their own deer stands and stealing pet chihuahuas. And I thought I couldn't like owls anymore than I did already. Best animals ever.

From there we sat in on a draft horse show, visited the bee keepers, and chatted with the master gardeners. Reuben and Miriam both agreed watching the baby chicks hatch in the incubator was their favorite thing to see.

And while I was tempted to leave with a goat or at least a few of the fluffy chicks, we only spent $2.50 for a bottle of water. I love the fair!

Miriam was at the fair too but running around so fast that I never caught her in a picture.

Little Friends

Reuben and Miriam can't decide if it is more fun to feed the sparrows or chase them, so they do both in turns.

Pao de Quijo

We like to walk around the farmer's market Saturday mornings. There is a Brazilian bakery tent that sells pao de quijo (Brazilian cheese bread). Here's a picture of Miriam about 20 seconds after I handed her a fist sized roll.

Birthday Treat

I fully intended to deposit all of Miri's birthday money in her college savings account. Then on an errand at the bike shop, she found "my cat hat!!" and danced around with such glee, I couldn't resist.
She's been wearing it everywhere: in the house, walking around outside, riding in the car. If you can't tell it's a solid bike helmet (the brand is razskull) so maybe she's more protected. Ok I know, it was totally irrational.
Reuben is terribly jealous. We'll see if I go equally soft come November.