First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for us.  Amanda worked with Ben a bit and Mommy worked with Josh.  Then Mommy had us all doing stretches in the kitchen, which turned out to be rather amusing.  I finished drawing schedules for Amanda and Nathan with my new colored pencils, but I still have to do ones for Josh and Ben.  I think we've gotten a pretty good start on the year.  I tried to interview my family to get some comments on the subject, but no one had anything to say except Nathan, who says, "So far I've had fun.  I look forward to the rest of the year."

~Megan~

Kayak Tipping and Runaway Kites

Mommy gave us a valuable and fascinating lesson on Thursday- how to right a tipped kayak.  We were at the beach, kayaking on the bay.  When Mommy and Daddy came back from their kayak trip, the rest of us thought it would be fun to go out to meet them and hitch a ride.  Apparently, while trying to throw Josh off the back of the boat, Daddy leaned too far over and tipped the kayak.  Fortunately, the water in the bay is only 2-3 feet deep and most of us were wearing our life vests.  

Mommy took advantage of the opportunity to show us something she had learned at camp as a child- how to turn our boat back over again.  It's a lot harder than I expected.  You have to get underneath it and push straight up, or else you only get more water in it and risk sinking it altogether.  Kayaks full of water are heavy.  It took us multiple tries before we got it upright with only an inch or two or water inside.  It was fun though.

On the beach side, we broke out the kites.  The boys each had a new kite, so when added to Amanda's and Daddy's, we could have had five kites in the air at once.  It turned out that one of them was broken, so we ended up with four.  As it was, they had to spread out quite a bit to keep from tangling their strings.  

Kites escaped from their fliers several times, leaving someone scrambling down the beach after them.  Hannah let go of Amanda's once, and Nathan's string broke.  It flew a ways down the beach before it landed, and then he and Amanda had to go retrieve it.  Nathan almost got hands tied up in the string when he tried to wind it up.  I wish I had a video!

~Megan~

Boy Scout Summer Camp

From August 1st-8th I (Nathan) went to Camp Yawgoog in Rhode Island.  We arrived there late on Sunday so I missed supper.  I moved my stuff into my tent.  Then the whole troop went on a tour of camp.  I was very nervous that first day.  Over the week I got two merit badges: Swimming and Pioneering.  Swimming involved us doing strokes, dives, floating, and a great many other things.  In Pioneering we do knots and lashing.  I also took a program called New Frontier.  It focuses on earning rank advancement.  I had some very interesting teachers.  The food was bettter than I thought it would be.  I got to know a lot of the kids in my troop and I had a great time.  I earned a lot of badges :).  I look forward to going back next year.

Nathan

My 18th Birthday

Sunday was my 18th birthday.  Despite having a nasty cold, I enjoyed my day.  Amanda, Nathan, Josh, and Mommy worked together to set up a treasure hunt for me with 18 clues.  Nathan designed a menu, took my order, and made me lunch.  For dinner, Mommy baked picnic chicken and Daddy fried up yummy sweet potato fries.  I chose fried ice cream for dessert, and unfortunately it took me two breaths to blow out all my candles. No wishes coming true this year.  :(

My first gift was a rocking clock; it has a rounded bottom and when you rock it, a light comes on so you can see the time.  Funky, huh?  More importantly, the numbers are big and clear enough that I can read them without my contacts.  No more excuses for sleeping late!

Aren't they gorgeous?

My other present was a 48 set of colored pencils in a nice tin.  I carefully arranged them all in rainbow order.  Daddy thought I was nuts when he caught me gazing at them, just soaking up their beauty.  My fingers have blisters from hand-sharpening 48 pencils.  It's a joy to have such a selection of colors.  I can't wait to use them more!

Hannah (with Mommy's help) made me some chocolate raisin clusters and wrapped them herself.  Amanda, Nathan, and Josh got me a cool t-shirt.

I think that's all the news from my birthday.  We have several other updates coming up soon though!

~Megan~

VBS Mayhem

Today was the third day of VBS (Vacation Bible School) and for me (Amanda) It was the most difficult.  I am a crew leader, meaning, I lead a group of kids from one place to another.  My crew is named Jump for Jesus, thus named by one of the girls in my crew.  I was supposed to have 6 kids in my crew.  But for the last 2 days I only had 4 kids, 2 didn't show.  Today they finally came.  One of them, a 2nd grade girl, is hyper.  She can't sit still and does not understand the concept of no.  Disciplining her is a balancing act.  She definitely presents an interesting challenge.

  The rest of my crew is fine.  I have 2 four year olds who are adorable, 2 older girls, and the poor lone boy in my class.  My crew is usually the last to leave crafts, as my entire crew are extremely creative perfectionists.  Who will not leave if something is incomplete.  Overall I am greatly enjoying myself and look forward to tomorrow.

Amanda

Help! Aliens have taken my mother!

Something is very wrong with my mother!  Last night, she was prowling the house, complaining that we had no ice cream, cookies, or other baked goodies. 
"Don't we have any junk food?" she inquired as she opened and closed cabinets.  "Hey, we have ice cream cones.  We can have those with marshmallows and peanut butter in them."
The rest of us stared at her in disbelief.  Did our mother just suggest that we eat marshmallows?  As she assured us that she was not kidding, we were left with one conclusion: she must be under the influence of aliens from outer space!  (Yup, we were watching Star Trek.)
She proceeded to melt chocolate and serve us all ice cream cones stuffed with almond butter, marshmallows, melted chocolate, and chocolate chips.  Our confusion only deepened when Josh asked if he could have a second cone. 
"Why not?" Mommy replied.  "Have whatever you want."
What is wrong with her!?! and what do we do about it?

~Megan~