Well, I was talking with friends during the holiday...and I said it out loud. "I have written myself out...for the moment." Not that I don't think about writing or have anything to say...I'm sure inspiration could hit again anytime. But all my ideas are kind of...meh. But, I did semi-promise an update on my big list of things to do to keep the kids from being bored this summer...so I can surely do that! (If you want to check out the list, you can find it here: http://thatsnotmeanymore.blogspot.com/2013/05/im-bored-is-not-allowed-aka-sabelhaus.html .) Plus it gives me an excuse not to trim some weeds that have literally grown into trees around here. (Last summer= death and dryness. This summer= tropical rain forest. Ahhhh...Indiana.)
So. What have we been up to? Here's what we've crossed off the list so far!
1. We've visited the library several times. Annabelle and I tend to run of reading material quickly...and we went to the water show they had which was ok, but we'd seen the same one in Sullivan last year and it wasn't a very water show day.
2. We've made it to the Terre Haute Children's Museum once so far and I'm sure we'll be back before the summer ends.
3. We had a great picnic day at Dobbs park and looked around the Native American Museum, the Nature Center and took a nice walk on the trails.
4. We've ended up swimming at the pond at Fowler Park a few times. Kind of reminds me of Price's pond where I grew up...little beach...some shady trees to throw your stuff under. We like it, although I try to go earlier in the day. It seems more crowded later on, and since it's free...some of the, ahem, patrons, can have some colorful language. But I'm cheap. And I hate chlorine.
7. We did some strawberry picking. Very fun and the kids loved it. Since we were just picking to have some to munch on at home, an hour was plenty to pick and we came away with over five pounds and no sibling quarrels. I'm not sure I would take younger kids, though, as Jay continually wanted to pick berries from rows not assigned to us.
10. We attempted to ride bikes/walk on the Heritage Trail one day with our Parents of Young Kids group. Two out of three kids had bike wrecks and Jay howled for a good 15 minutes about a skinned knee...so...since I haven't been plentiful in the energy department lately...that's been our only attempt! Can't win them all...
12. We did read Bunnicula out loud at bedtime last month. I forgot how funny that book is! Joey and Annabelle loved it. Jay still prefers picture books and made that fact well known. Loudly.
16. We took a trip to the Bouncin' Barn this week. I always feel like I'm on HIGH MOM ALERT at that place, but the kids always have a blast.
18. One of the first things the kids chose to do on the list was make recycling bins for the house. They even printed out pictures of what items go in what bin and put them on the outside of each bin. We have been doing a good job of sorting out our paper, plastics, glass and metal this summer. I, for one, have been surprised about just how much we used to throw out that could be used again. Lesson learned for mom more than kids, I think! We had hoped to take a tour of the recycling center at ISU but their only scheduled tours were during our vacation and on an infusion day for me...so no luck on that so far. But the kids have been extremely helpful in this. I'm proud! :)
20. We did, in fact, see alpacas and nuns at the White Violet Center at Saint Mary of the Woods College. We got a very cool behind the scenes tour from a nun who showed us where they store and work the alpaca fiber into yarn and then into objects we can use. Then we wandered around to see the alpacas in the field, the gardens, and saw some of the pretty views/history markers on campus, too. I got lots of questions about life in the 1800's around Terre Haute and Catholicism, so it was definitely a big learning day!
35. We did get to camp and have s'mores, too! We took a four day/three night vacation to Ohio and camped for a couple nights followed by a spontaneous and more restful night in a hotel with a kid-friendly pool and a water slide. We did some hiking in the park we stayed in, saw the US Air Force Museum in Dayton and the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus. Pretty nice time for not a lot of dinero! And of course, we ate well both on and off the campsite. I tried Five Guys burgers for the first time. Yum!
36. I added this to the list after the blog post, but we made ice cream in a bag! Very fun. And louder than I thought possible with three kids shaking bags of ice violently on the kitchen table.
So...even though it sounds like we've done a lot so far...there's still many things on the list to choose from. And I STILL have to fight the kids from complaining of boredom and fight in myself the urge just to let them play video games all day. I think we're at the point in the summer where we're a little sick of being in each others' faces all the time. But over all...good stuff. I am so thankful that I have a summer with them like this. Carpe diem, baby!
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