Some recent fun

Grandma gifted us with this huge vegetable (not sure what it is)

J getting braver- feeding the goat

The goat likes to munch on the carrot

Anticipating Fall at a cider mill

We do love our cousins (see how J and I is holding hands?)
There's always soccer playoff.

Yeh-Yeh's pond- water lilies

This is so fun
Getting scary!
Hold on tight, W!

Wow, you are in the air.

Uh-oh
Needing a break; daddy jump shook me off.

Humph!

There is more than one way to get across they monkey bars
W never misses a chance to be in the trees

What a difference a year makes

Today J started her competitive dance class. She was very excited and got all her stuff ready. She cleaned out her dance bags and put all her ware in and was ready to go an hour before we were ready to go. She even doubled checked.

Even just last year, I often had to remind her to change, to watch for the time, grab a snack and water. Today, she did all that and more by herself. What a difference a year makes! Maybe this is because she is starting another phase in her life, turning 8 recently and all. Whatever it is, it is a good thing. :)

Hula Hooping

J has been hooping for a long time, but until day, W couldn't really do it. He started today at about 5 seconds, progressing to 10 seconds until the longest one he kept it going for over 40 sec. until it started the downward spiral. So he made some nice progress and started to get the hang of it. I can't hoop at all, maybe it's time for some more practice.

Here he goes; it obviously demands a lot concentration from him.
Just look at him. :)

This one he learned from J as the arms gets a little tired extended so J told him to just put it on his head.

J shows us some of her hoop tricks.
W's favorite one is when J hoops super fast while my favorite is when she combines dance in her hula hooping.

Bend backward J's happiest when she is in motion.

This was really fun for the kids.

Summer Project: handmade crown for J

I wanted to make J a special crown for her pretend play. So I asked her to design it - that was the easy part. She came up with a design right away.

Not what I expected but typical of J - Happy and Sunny.

The actually making of it was a much bigger challenge (for me). First, I couldn't find a piece of nice wool blend big enough and have to settle for the cheap kind. But the hardest part was the embroidery. I don't know how to use a sewing machine and have never sewed more than a loose button. So it was a real challenge, all the different kinds of stitches are enough to make my head spin. Nonetheless, toward the end, I finally sort of, kind of figured it out.

For the flower, I made the effort as you can see...

The rest I used fabric paint. Not as nice as the embroidery, but much easier. I did alter her design a little because after I embroidered the flower, I realized I should have it more center but it was too late.
Here it is on J. Of course after I put it on her head I realized it was too tall but it was a secret surprise, waiting for her by her bedside to be found in the morning.

Here is the back.

Most importantly, she likes it and finally have a felt crown of her own and of her own design. Perhaps next summer I will make one out of the really nice quality wool-blend felt.

testing hypothesis

On Friday, for science, we made 2 airplanes out of straw, cardboard box, tape and clay (per Apologia Zoology book). One of the airplanes' wing is long and narrow while the other is short and wide. We try to guess which would fly further. Initially, J guessed the short and wide but after she saw the planes they both guessed the long and narrow.

We were suppose to try numerous times and calculate an average per the book for the 2 airplanes but we didn't (though this would be a good exercise for J). We threw enough times to know the long and narrow can fly farther all other circumstances equal.

We tried many different variations, both hands (taking into account they are both right handed), throwing purposely harder, throwing into the wind, against the wind, holding it differently etc.


Later, it was more fun and games with one of us being target or seeing who can throw it farther.

Getting ready to aim

Yeah!Got him.

I hope I can do this.

A rare side view shot.

I also want to put in here since it has been raining, the fire hydrant in the cul- de-sac behind us had to drain the water out as it is in a dead end. Initially, we all wondered why the man is letting the water pour out of the fire hydrant on a raining day. The kids had a great time playing with all the water gushing out the hydrant and jumped in rain puddles and experienced pushing against the wind. The workman was kind enough to let the hydrant drain little longer than usual as the kids was clearly enjoying themselves.

Last hurrah for the summer

We spent yesterday mostly outdoors. In the morning it was the children's garden and botanical garden. And after a brief needed mommy nap, we went to the water park. I'm so glad we went as the weather from here on out is cooling down. Even yesterday, our town was pouring rain while the city we were at only drizzled lightly as we were leaving. So thank God for that and for the rain in our town as our lawn needed the water.

The kids loved this slide! Initially they went on the 2 person tube, then they resorted to go one at a time. J was little scared in the beginning but she overcame her fears and had a blast. She says when she was at Kalahari, she would be scared too but when she went down, she like it. So she knew she was "just going to do it". Good Girl!

It was so fast!

Modeling and play

This started out as a play scene from an Aesop's fable we have read (see the crow and fox and the tree), but quickly turned into creating something entirely different along with a new story to go with it. After the single tree, J wanted to build them a shelter because there is pouring rain. So on it goes. After a while, W joined in to help elaborate the story and to help build the shelter.

J really wanted to put the white at the end of the fox's tail as she said it made it look more like a fox.

J opens the leaf shelter for us to take a peek of what she had so far at the time.

They were a little sad that most all the creation has to be taken apart.