Biking Adventures

Biking Adventure #1

Alice and Robert were at Erin's house, Matthew had been invited to a friend's house, so it was just me and James on Wednesday afternoon. He wanted to stay home. And stay together. We worked on dismantling the orchard a little more, then he suddenly wanted to leave home and do something "adventurous." We went for a bike ride where he got to decide where to go. He thought he could get us lost and giggled at the idea. Unfortunately (fortunately?), we both know this area pretty well and couldn't get lost. James' knowledge of our area is surprisingly extensive and detailed. Well, maybe it's normal, but it caught me off guard. I'm always underestimating my kids. And while I try really, really hard not to compare my kids to each other...nnnnnngh...not all of my kids have been this confident with navigation, especially at age 6!

We pedaled to the preschool and then I showed James this cute little mini park that's hidden away nearby. It was just us, a giant metal porch swing, and lots of conversation. Questions. Theories. Stories created with "what if..." and so many hypotheses.

Biking Adventure #2

Friday was a good day. I was in a pretty good mood when dinner time came around and I put my menu plan aside for an adventure. I figured we could cash in the kids' free pizza coupons from the library summer reading program. And, as a bonus that made the whole outing worth it to me, this particular pizza place was within easy biking distance of our house! When we told our neighbor friends about our plans, they wanted to come, too! A biking caravan! And we did it: 3 adults, 6 kids. One looooooong circus train that turned quite a few heads. I never would have wanted to do this when my kids were younger. Never, ever, ever. When they were younger, it was easier to make my own plans and they just had to come along, but I was physically responsible for all of their needs. Now that they're older, I don't get as much control over making the plans (they are too big to wrestle into the car, less distractable, and far too expensive to bribe all the time), but we can do more involved outings like this because they are managing more of their own physical needs (helmets, pedaling, locking up their bikes, bathroom breaks, following directions).

And I must say, the restaurant experience wasn't so bad. James needed to take a walk with me outside while the pizzas were cooking (I didn't mind it one bit). Here are the kids before our walk:

Waiting for food at our local Monical's Pizza

Biking Adventure #3

Alice, Robert, and I finished a mini triathlon together on Saturday!

After the race, wearing our fancy spinner medals.

Just after our swim, Robert and I are walking our bikes out of the bike corral. Alice finished the swim some time before us and was already on the course. Many thanks to our friends who took these pictures and cheered us on. It was a lot more fun to race when you have a cheering section ;)

It was a 200-yard swim (8 laps in the pool) followed by a 6-mile bike ride and a 2-mile walk/run. None of the three of us did any training for it. When I initially signed up for this race at the beginning of the summer, I had grand plans for regular physical activity with my kids. Um. Yeah. Didn't happen. The morning of the event, I just said, "Hey guys, we're doing this to have fun. Once it stops being fun, we can stop, and we'll all stop together. We don't even have to finish the race. Let's just see how far we can get." And we had fun the whole time! Woo hooooooo!

Summer Fun Continues

Just 3 weeks of summer left...wheeeeeeeeee!!

We did more fishing with friends on Tuesday and this time Robert got to come:

He's super excited about this bluegill. This is the dock at Colbert Park in Savoy.

We had 4 kids who wanted to fish and only two poles, so it was a bit of a sharing fiasco for Matthew who suddenly couldn't wait more than 2 seconds for anything that morning. In the meantime, Robert and his friend fished and James somehow "found" a piece of line all rigged up with hook, weight, and bobber (later, I learned he accidentally stole it from the instructor of our fishing clinic...the instructor saw him find it and was okay with him using it). James put bait on the hook and was fishing with just the line--NO POLE--and catching fish after fish after fish. Robert's friend couldn't catch anything. And Robert wasn't catching much, either. Something about James' technique and/or patience really worked for him that morning.

Thursday, we drove all over town collecting the last of our movie props and costumes for our family movie:

The Magnificent Tree of Lapindor!

And took a trip to the Language Acquisition Lab for Matthew to participate in a study:

He's posing with my awesome sunglasses. My first pair of sunglasses ever. Why didn't I try these things earlier?! I may never drive without them again.

And this week, we took out all but one of the fruit trees in our 8-year-old orchard out back.

Robert whacking at the peach tree. When Mathew saw the ax he was shocked, "Is that a REAL ax? To chop things? A little ax? Let me see! Whooooooooa..."

A project Robert and James could actually cooperate on!

What an accomplishment! It took days for us to take down 6 trees. The boys did 90% of the work. No power tools. I'm not looking forward to removing the stumps *groan* but it's been a great adventure.

I finally decided that I'd rather use the orchard space for more garden beds. Between the tricky weather, tree disease, insect pests, and squirrels, we weren't getting ANYTHING for my efforts. Half the trees never even bloomed. Eight years of dashed hopes is kind of my limit :(

So, my current plan is to put in three more garden beds and four or five more blueberry bushes. I've learned a lot about organic food production during my time at the farm. I want to grow some things because they taste good, some other things because they're beautiful, and a few things because they are SO stinking fun to harvest.

I'll take some measurements and draw up my plan for the shape of next year's garden. Can't wait to show you!

For Erin

I said, "Hey guys, this picture is for Erin," and they struck a pose. Matthew, especially, cracks me up here.

At the top of the H.I. Tower at Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve in Mahomet, IL.

Speaking of Matthew, a stranger was listening to Matthew play with a friend this week and she asked, "Now, where is he from?"

Yup, he's got his own sort of accent-majigger. And sense of style. And sense of humor. And buttons that get pushed. And helpless moments. And sweet, curl up in your lap moves.

Backyard Camping

James, James, James.

His summer bucket list included a camping trip (no surprise). Bobby and I don't camp (also no surprise). But something possessed me to agree to ONE family camp out this summer...one night...in our backyard...I promised to stay in the tent all night...I would get the cot. Weeks passed and James didn't mention it again. I thought maybe he would let it slide. Nope. His timing was PERFECT, though, when he brought it up again. We had just slogged through a nasty hot and humid week and suddenly here was a cool, dry, sunny day just begging for outdoor activities. I had no excuses. And I was in a really good mood after working in the garden all day. Let's do it!

We invited some friends to a grill out: hamburgers, hot dogs, and Beyond Burgers. We roasted marshmallows, too, made s'mores. The kids picked every single slightly blue blueberry off of our bushes. It was a good day to do it...the berries were sweet and delicious and perfectly blueberry-flavored.

After our friends went home, we put up the tent, threw out some camp chairs, and lit a wood fire in the charcoal grill :) Mathew and James were especially excited about the "real fire!" Matthew said, "I can't believe it's a really real fire that I can see!" They instantly remembered the camp out Bobby took them on last summer where Matthew mysteriously acquired 2nd degree burns on his back without anyone noticing when or how. He doesn't even have scars now. And he doesn't remember any of it.

I asked for a blanket to keep the mosquitoes from biting me.

Alice got the idea to tell stories one line at a time, each person taking a turn. That was hilarious. And gross. Pretty typical for this crowd.

I look so tired already.

At 8:30, the kids and I went into the tent and lay quietly to watch the bats hunt, listen to the toads and crickets sing, and get blinded periodically by a firefly's flash. Bobby got to sleep inside because he attempted the "sleep outside with the kids" thing earlier this summer and earned a free pass.

Everyone slept except me (no surprise). I was cold, even with 5 blankets, and there were long stretches of the night that I did not remember passing, but I did not awake feeling rested. Ahhhh, camping.

There's a piece of all four kids in this picture. Robert's elbow is sticking up behind Alice's shoulder.

Hot Air Balloon Festival!

Waiting in our third (and final) line to ride on a tethered hot air balloon.

I took James and Matthew on a mom-time adventure last night to the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Danville, IL. It was a late night, and a lot of waiting, but a lot of fun. We got to ride in a hot air balloon!! We played a few carnival games, bounced on inflatables, climbed on giant tractors, indulged in a couple quintessential fair treats, and stayed up waaaaay too late. Everyone slept in until 8am this morning! 6am is more typical for us.

Elephant ear and a lemon shake-up.

The balloons lining up for the "night glow".

The hot air balloon ride surprised me. I've wanted to ride in a hot air balloon for as long as I can remember. I did not anticipate how hot nor how loud the flame would be. I couldn't gave guessed how gracefully the whole thing moved up and down. What an experience!

We plan to go next year as a whole family :) On the Friday, not the Saturday ;)

Planned Obsolescence

Robert is *almost* capable of cooking crepes on his own. What a glorious day is dawning!

Bobby said this was a prime example of the "planned obsolescence" of parenthood. We've done our job well when the kids don't NEED us to do everything for them...even if they still WANT us to ;)

Time and Space = Better Balance

Breakthrough!!

I should not schedule activities back-to-back, even if I can physically manage the close timing. I experimented this week with my scheduling and discovered that an hour between appointments is just about right. It's not enough time to get heavily involved in something new (like a personal project), but it's enough time to make significant headway on housekeeping tasks and other management issues that pop up...all those unschedule-able things that must be addressed anyway.

I've been trying this since my epiphany on June 28th.

We did go on vacation for a week right afterwards, of course, but the mindset remained. Since incorporating more "white space" into my calendar between events...

I haven't felt overwhelmed.

I haven't felt like a mom failure.

I have a little time to blog.

I enjoy my kids a little more.

The house is *slightly* more organized and clean (this has never been my strength anyway).

It's a good start! A better balance.

ACES Family Academy

Alice, Robert, and I had a unique opportunity this week to attend the ACES Family Academy at the U of I. It's a 2-day camp that the alumni association puts on for ACES (College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences) alumni and their kids/grandkids/nieces/nephews. We got to sleep in the dorms and attend a variety of classes and tours within the department. I was completely surprised by how much fun the three of us had! The classes were great, biking around campus was fun, the dorm food was excellent, and spending focused time on just two of my kids...bliss!

I learned something more about Robert. Very helpful. I still can't always predict what will trigger a 9-year-old tantrum, nor how long it will last, but I'm starting to see patterns. And develop a consistent response. And keep a level head. Progress!

On to the pictures!

Can you guess whose breakfast is whose?

Cool sculpture on our biking adventure the first morning. Alice led the way and tried to get us lost. We went all sorts of places, even the cemetery, and couldn't get lost.

Biking to the camp, to and from classes, and just for fun...one of my favorite parts of this camp experience with these guys.

Dissecting owl pellets. Mmmmm.

Robert checking out the moon from the U of I Observatory.

We were lucky that the clouds moved out of the way almost as soon as our group got there. Later, we went downstairs for a presentation on stars and constellations we might see this time of year. Alice and Robert got a lot of attention for their knowledge of Greek mythology (thanks, Percy Jackson).

This class taught us about how drones are helping farmers monitor their fields more efficiently. The instructor is demonstrating with his biggest drone. We got to make paper airplanes and attach a drone stick thingy to it, making it theoretically possible to control with a smart phone, but only one of the 12 planes made in the class actually stayed in the air for any amount of time. The kids were super frustrated. The next day, though, Robert named this as one of his favorite classes.

Creating a giant board game together in the family resiliency lab.

All geared up in the Food Science Pilot Plant to extrude some rice! That's a fancy way of saying "making rice Cheetos snacks". Robert seasoned his batch with brown sugar. Alice went for popcorn seasoning and brown sugar. I stuck with garlic and salt. Crunchtastic!

The kids totally want to go again next year. I would love to go back. They had a little "graduation ceremony" at the end and one family had been attending every summer since it started 5 years ago. That got Alice all excited to get that kind of attention, too ;)

Just tooling around and learning new things was fun. But the kids and I also got to talk about college and some whys and hows around it. Alice kept saying, "I feel so grown up with a dorm key and a food card in my pocket!" It's the little things I love the best ;)

Bunnysitting

James is really into animals and insects right now. I can't hardly be outside with him for 30 seconds before he's identified a cardinal or found a slug or captured a firefly. On vacation, he had an animal or insect in his hands half the time...fish, toads, snails, fireflies, moths, worms...anything he could catch!

He's been asking about a pet. We got chickens. He LOVES the chickens. And he wants more. The rabbits in our backyard intrigue him. He's asked about pet bunnies. I remembered bunny sitting for a friend some years ago and decided to contact them about it again this summer. As luck would have it, they would be leaving town for three weeks and they needed a bunny sitter! Huzzah!

We brought the bunnies over yesterday. James is over the moon!

James and Pip

The other kids don't mind it much, either ;)

Robert and Thunder

Four kids and two bunnies in an immersive, dual-species encounter

I'm treating the bunnies like they belong to James. He is 100% responsible for their care (with reminders as needed), including cleanup. Everyone is eager to help and play right now. What will happen by the end of three weeks? Will James' enthusiasm remain strong? Will he decide it's too much work for a 6.5-year-old? We shall see.

I do know, however, that in James' mind, this is not the end. Just this morning he asked with a grin, "Mom, do you think I'm doing a great job taking care of the bunnies?"

"Yes, James, I think you've been super responsible and mindful of their needs so far."

His grin widens, "Soooo, do you think I can get a dog after this?"

"Uhhhhhh."

Future Heights

Alice seems to be growing taller a lot faster these days. I said so this morning and she pulled out the measuring tape to have a look. Yup. Five foot four inches. Being a total geek, I looked up the official CDC Growth Charts and plotted her stats: 75th percentile. Which, if she stays on that trajectory, will mean her adult height will be somewhere about 5'6". This got me curious about our boys...where might they end up? We measured them all...

Alice...64" at age 12.25...75th %ile...~5'6" adult height
Robert...56" at age 9.25...85th %ile...~6'0" adult height
James...51" at age 6.5...>95th %ile...~6'3" adult height
Matthew...43" at age 4.5...75th %ile...~5'11" adult height

And because I'm really, truly, deep down inside a complete geek, here's where their parents line up:

Bobby...5'8" adult height...20th %ile
Susan...5'7" adult height...85th %ile

I cannot imagine a family picture where all the boys are taller than me. It has only ever been stair step heights up to this point. So orderly! So perfect! Gah!

I feel like Alice has done a lot of growing in other ways recently, too. Her needs are changing. Her desires are changing. Her outlook is changing. I will always be her mother, and she will always be my daughter, but in some ways on this trip to New York, we were also friends. That was a new feeling.

Finger Lakes and Palmyra, New York

We just returned from a week-long excursion out east. Even though we spent well over 24 hours in the car in only 6 days, the kids traveled remarkably well. Unbelievably well. So well, in fact, that I even returned refreshed and ready to get back into summer life. Growing up is a beautiful thing!

So is time with the Garner fam in Ohio...

Hammocks in the backyard, wiggle cars in the basement, and Saturday morning cartoons. Bliss!

Daniel dishing out snowcones.

Parting photo on the stairs (not pictured: me, Rachel, Matthew, Daniel, and the other 3 Garners still at Scout Camp)

...and a lake house in upstate New York with its own private pond...

James and Matthew frolicking barefoot.

The view from a canoe in the middle of the pond.

 

We loved the canoes! If anyone was in a boat, Matthew was too. That kid has overcome his fear of water travel.

Miniature toads were all throughout the lawn like crickets in our Illinois backyard.

Strong girl Alice getting the hang of canoe driving. Matthew in the boat. Again.

 

S'mores with enormous marshmallows!

Paddling on the pond some more. Oh look! Matthew's on the boat. Again. Every time.

Robert relaxing on the couch inside.

...well-stocked with eager little bluegills that will bite at anything...

This was Robert's last catch. It's not so little. Easily the biggest catch of the week. He was really, really, really happy about it. Ask him to tell you the story.

As much as Matthew was on the boat, James was fishing. By the end of our few days there, James was baiting his own hooks and releasing his own catches.

Even Alice got in on the fishing action!

I won't say I'm addicted, but fishing was certainly fun. The best part was the kids' enthusiasm for it.

One of James' many, many catches of the week.

We hiked Watkins Glen in the rain (also beautiful!):

Soggy hikers ready to start!

It was worth it...waterfalls, rock cliffs, suspension bridges, millipedes, toads, playground, and a water fountain that's WAY too powerful for its own good.

Enormous soft serve ice cream place after lunch! Mathew couldn't finish it.

We spent the first part of the Fourth of July visiting a few historical sites that are meaningful to us as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

We walked through the grove of trees where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ first appeared to Joseph Smith.

Taking a break in the shade.

Boiling in the bright sun near the Hill Cumorah, where the golden plates (eventually translated into the Book of Mormon) were hidden over a thousand years. Mind boggling.

Later, we took a boat tour of Seneca Lake:

She's not grouchy or bored, just tired. Very tired. Matthew got sunscreen in his eyes and pretty much cried himself to sleep on Bobby's lap.

The things that made it a vacation for me: kids quietly taking care of their own entertainment and food needs in the car (thanks to Snackmeister Alice and Entertainmentmeister Robert...I'm definitely having them do that again next time), being allowed to sleep in every single morning (Thanks, Bobby! You're the best!), not being responsible for the food (many, many, many thanks to my friend), and seeing the kids play and explore and try new things together. This was one of my favorite family vacations to date!