Random Thoughts

There are two things that are about to become "lost art forms" or obselete all too soon; map reading and cursive handwriting.

Just think about it, how often do we read maps anymore?  We have super cool technology now that just tells us exactly where to go, albeit the "scenic" way (specifically when using my mom's GPS to get us anywhere).  If you aren't fortunate enough to have GPS, you can use mapquest or one of the many other website that give you painstakingly detailed directions and still seem to take you the long way.  As a geography teacher on "sabbatical", I just think about how we teach this, but do they ever use it?  I'd like to think that when my former students start taking trips, they'll remember my class and the fact that they can read a paper map when their beloved technology lands them in the wrong part of town.  I love technology.  I think it saves lots of time and puts all kinds of information at our fingertips, but it always seems to get me lost when I try to use it for directions... and I'm a pretty great navigator.

And cursive handwriting.  Do elementary teachers even teach this anymore or have the state legislators decided there are way more important things to concentrate on?  The only thing I hand-write anymore is my grocery list.  I do everything else on the computer (I bet my Type-A grocery list won't be long, organized in a spreadsheet according to aisle of the grocery store).  This has lead to extremely fast fingers and LOTS of words per minute.  I love it.  Again, it saves me so much time.  But it just makes me sad that it just isn't needed anymore, except on wedding invitations.

How miserly and old do I sound right now?  "Back in my day, we read maps and got where we needed to go without those things telling us where to turn while we are driving.  You don't even need to think with those things!  It's like watching football now-a-days with the line of scrimage and first down line highlighted for you. Lazy.  And no more cursive writing? Well, I used to write love letters to my sweet everyday, now all these young people do is text.  They don't even type out the whole word anymore."  OMG, I AM so old.

Splash Park

Bentonville just opened a splash park near the square downtown.  It's free, so we decided to try it out last week.  It's such a neat set up, lots of places to sit around the perimeter of the park with lots of water spouts in the middle that all spray in different angles, heights, etc.  In the winter time, this is an outdoor ice skating rink, we won't see that part of it for a few years.  When we arrived, Riley got her foot wet and said, "Okay, that's it."  She then sat down in my lap and watched what was going on around her.

After she warmed up a little bit, she was ready to join in the fun, a little bit.  She loved the water when the sprays were only waist high or so.  She got a little bit more brave...

Her favorite thing to do was to jump in the little bits of water that remained.

Jude just hung out with us.  He didn't try to crawl away with water threatened to spray him in the face or belly.

When she got really brave, she ran to the middle of the water jets.... and then they all came on at once, spraying her right in the face.  She hates water in her face.  We've been battling this for a long time on hair washing nights in the tub.

After she ran at full speed (and slipped and fell on her way to us), it was time to depart for a picnic lunch.  She wasn't too happy as we left, but as soon as she woke up from her nap that afternoon she said, "We go to Splash Park now?"  We haven't made it back, but we will!  Hopefully by the end of the summer, she won't be so scared of the water.

Riley-isms

After we went camping, I was bathing the kids and saw so many bruises on Riley's legs.  I asked her why she had all of those bruises and she said, "Because Bruiser licked me there."  Bruiser is one of our dogs.  Where does she get this stuff?

We were playing in the living room one day and she randomly said, "I have little hands, they are perfect for my size."

Teeth!

Two top teeth!  If you look really hard, you can see the first one that popped in.  The second soon followed.  I'm hoping this means a much happier baby boy around the house.

I was helping Riley brush her teeth last week and found 4 new teeth!  WHAT?!  How can that happen?  She didn't fuss or tell me that her mouth was hurting.  I caught her a few times with her fingers in her mouth, but I assumed she was doing that as a comfort technique since the thumb-sucking has all but stopped.  But no, she was teething!  Four new little (well, big for her mouth) molars.  What a big girl.  Look out carrots, you are on her list!

13 months

I forgot to take a picture of him on the couch this month.  I can't decide if I want to do it until he is two, or stop now... It might be decided for me if I keep procrastinating.  Anyway, Jude is up to so many cute things right now.

• He has started saying "mama".  Oh melt my heart.  Sure you can have so more candy before dinner!
• He has also started saying "Eeee" for Riley, and "Ax" for Alex.  He might be more of a talker than Riley....if that is possible.
• He can blow kisses now, another heart melter.
• When he is eating something he really likes, his eyes make this little rainbow shape, he smiles, and saying "mum mum mum" while eating.
• One of his favorite things is cuddling.  Another is playing with Riley, doing anything she does, including having tea parties.  :o)

His sweet spirit is more apparent everyday.  He loves giving hugs and kisses.  I think this might be a boy after my own heart, and he takes it with him wherever he goes.

Camping

Our first attempt at camping with kids.  We had reservations to camp at Beaver Lake, just on the river side of the dam.  But 3 days before the weekend, huge rains came in and flooded the campsite.  So plan B, we camped at Alex's house.  It turned out to be such a fun time.  Instead of floating or buying pool passes for the summer, we went in halvsies on Alex with this awesome raft.  It comfortably holds 6 people.  There are 5 seats around the whole in the middle, then a "sunning deck" could hold 3 people.  It was a huge hit for kids and adults too.  There will be several weekends (and weekdays I hope) spent here.

Alex has a cool fire pit area that we hung out at when we weren't on the lake.  Jude spent this time on a towel or someone's lap since he didn't want to crawl on the rocks. I can't blame him.  By the way, the paci is now being kept in the bed or carseat of the car.  No more paci when it's awake time.  He isn't too bothered by it.

Riley had a great time.  Here she is snuggling with her Daddy.  We set up our tents down by the lake, then after the kids went to sleep, we would go back up to the fire pit and relax for a while without bothering them.  It really worked out so well.  They both cried the first night, but were very happy to see their beds the second night. I was glad we weren't in a camping area around other people to hear them crying!

Riley in her own camping chair.  She used it way more than I thought she would.  Jude's baby backpack came in very handy.  Any time he was fussy and everyone's hands were busy and couldn't hold him, someone would put him in the backpack and carry him that way.  Win-win for everyone.

Here is the third day of camping.  We left just after dinner on Sunday night, all of us were ready for a hot shower and our comfy beds.  Jude is really excited about his pita bread right here.  I'm just glad he is happy!

So I think we did a great job of making lemonade out of lemons for the weekend.  Camping at Alex's ended up being so much better than camping an hour from home with lots of other campers.  We had great food, great company, no worries about being too noisy for other campers, or being annoyed with other campers, and a lake almost to ourselves (despite the random fishing boats here and there).

The lake was pretty yucky after such a hard rain the few days before.  But Alex lives on a "no wake" lake, so our raft never got knocked around by boats.  This setting is so perfect!  By August I plan on being very dark, with 2 kids that are good swimmers.  Okay, maybe not that second part, but at least 2 kids who aren't afraid of their life jackets or the water!