This past week (you know, the free week between vacations!) we have been sticking closer to home and working on our skills. Bill came over for the day and he and Tyson worked on their tree cutting skills. I'm not a hundred percent sure that I approved of their methods though. Tyson literally tied ropes and cables onto a huge tree and pulled it toward him so it wouldn't fall on our house. Luckily it fell slowly part of the way and then just hovered there while he got out of the way! I didn't take a picture of that part because I was sort of panicking! You know it's bad when your neighbor comes over and asks if your husband has life insurance! They did manage to get two of our dead trees cut and we hauled all the smaller branches into a pile for chipping in the future. We have one more tree that needs to come down but I'm thinking I may just hire someone to do that one. It will save me some serious stress!
The boys have also been working on their art skills. My friend, Sherene, has been teaching an art class each Tuesday this summer. They go for an hour and a half and have lots of fun and practice art. They are making something that they can put in the County Fair. It sounds cool and I'm excited to see the final project.
Lexi and Drake (and Garrett to some extent) have really gotten in to developing skills in Board Game Making. I think it may have been inspired by our family book club reading Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library. They have literally spent hours and hours on their games. My living room was a complete mess for 4-5 days but I just let it happen (and breathed deep!) knowing they were having fun and keeping themselves entertained. Lexi's is a Hunger Games based game in which you can actually die. Well, your little wooden person can die. She does however say "Sorry!" on her cards if you pull one that causes your demise!
Lexi has also been taking a class to practice her sewing skills. She does this class every summer and really looks forward to it. The 4-H extension people teach it and it is 15 hours of instruction for just the cost of the materials to make the project. This year she made a really pretty Paris themed baby quilt, complete with the Eiffel Tower, French perfume bottles, and Frenchman mustaches.
Zac attended a Science camp this week to practice his science skills. He went for three hours each morning (the entire week was only $5! It was an awesome deal!) They learned about lots of different kinds of energy (Solar, Wind, Water, Electrical) and did some recycling stuff. It was pretty much all hands on experiments the whole time. He really loved it and looked forward to going each day. In the picture he is holding the solar oven he made out of a pizza box. They actually made s'mores with them.
Zac also got to go practice his camping/scouting skills. He left yesterday afternoon and camped out with his scout troop at Cleveland reservoir and then they had a day camp today. He actually isn't back yet, but I am excited to see how it went. This was his very first overnight scout camp. I promise he was much more excited than the picture would indicate! He did cut himself twice just making his tinfoil dinner so I was a little hesitant to let him go (I was so tempted to take his pocket knife out of his pack!) Drake and Garrett will get to go to their Science camp in a couple of weeks too.
We have also been practicing many other skills as well, but I don't have any pictures. Drake and Garrett have been practicing lots with their Legos. Drake is starting to design all sorts of little devices where you need a key (also made out of Legos) to unlock the box, and they really work and are super impressive. Drake says he wants to be an engineer when he grows up and I know he would be awesome at it! Lexi has babysat twice this week for my friend Chantelle's two little kids (her first real babysitting job!) And she went bowling with a group of friends for 3 hours last night. Zac and Garrett have been practicing doing both front and back flips on the trampoline. They are starting to really get it! I have been practicing my running skills to get ready for the 5K mud run that I just signed up for. We've also been working on our swimming skills at the Helper Pool - when there's not lightning! And Tyson has been practicing killing demons in his Bloodborne PS4 game and crossing things off his summer "To Do" list (cutting down trees, fixing the bath tub, waxing cars.) It has been a very productive and enjoyable week!
No comments:
Post a Comment