Open Houses

We are toying with the idea of moving to a nearby neighborhood and have let the kids go to a few open houses with us.  Seeing the houses through their eyes has been really funny.  Ben “eliminated” one because the pool had a few leaves in it.  Elizabeth fell in love with a couple because of the toys they had.  They each announced which bedroom was theirs.  Luckily most everything we saw had a boy and a girl room so there wasn’t any fighting.  They knew we had asked them not to touch the people’s things, but E asked about every other room if she could touch something.  She had a logical reason for each item and why it needed to be touched.  Ben snooped on the people and guessed ages of kids by the size of clothing in their closets.  They think it is our new pastime and actually enjoy looking at houses.  And usually we enjoy taking them along for the kid commentary.

Grandma and Grandpa Week

The kids were lucky enough to be invited to spend the week in Kansas with Grandma and Grandpa in late July.  They got to go to Deanna Rose farm in KC.  Elizabeth rode a pony and they both panned for rocks and minerals.  They also enjoyed a children’s museum and park in Topeka.  Mostly they both just wanted to play in the basement and swim in the pool.  Ben’s goal was to swim twice a day.  They settled for once a day, so they could have other fun as well.  The kids each had their own bedroom upstairs and enjoyed ruling the roost for the week.  Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed their time as well, but likely needed a vacation to recover afterwards.  Ben was glad to see us upon their return, but asked why it couldn’t be two weeks.  Elizabeth was glad to see us, but moped for a few days because she missed her Grandma and Grandpa so much.  Mom and Dad also enjoyed a kid-free week filled with various cuisines, a movie and coming and going as they pleased.  What a blessing for all!

Camps (Invention and Music)

We let Ben choose a couple of camps this summer in addition to attending Kids Klub.  He decided that he would try Camp Invention and Music Camp at our church.  Camp Invention was first.  It was a success and he really enjoyed the problem solving and creating aspects.  He did come home and tell us that he thought it would be more building with real tools.  They mostly repurposed parts of old appliances and upcycled things.  That was cool, but where was the saw and hammer?  So we will be doing more building workshops at Lowe’s and Home Depot in the near future.  Music Camp was themed around Noah this year.  The kids spent five days learning bible stories, playing games, doing crafts and most importantly learning songs for the performance at the end of the week.  Ben was tired and uninterested by the end of the week and chose to watch himself on the projection screen at church above the stage.  He would wave as the camera came near him and lean so he would be in various shots.  Oh boy…….. He knew a couple of songs and motions, but told us that he really just “didn’t enjoy singing”.  Guess we will adjust next summer.  LOL