There are some weeks in particular when I am so relieved I’m not a reporter or one who blogs on current events. The weight of that responsibility would be so heavy this week. I feel strongly that my current calling is to share stories in hopes of spreading a glimmer of light here and there. So, without further adieu, a few recent stories…
Last week in our quest to continue getting outside this summer, the Spouse thought it would be fun to take the girls to a local nature park and rent canoes for the afternoon. I agreed to the outing but wrongly assumed the rental place might offer us some basic instruction on how to put the canoe in the water, get everyone in the canoe, and/or how to paddle. Instead, they handed us lifejackets and paddles and said, “Have fun!”
Of course, we don’t all fit in one canoe, so we rented two and took turns riding with our most challenging adventurer. {Hint: she’s the one looking giddy about the opportunity to wield her very own paddle}.
Right off the bat, she nearly took the 3rd Grader’s head off swinging that paddle from one side of the canoe to the other. You can imagine how well that went over. It’s hard to say if it was an honest accident or an overt attempt to remove the passenger in front of her from the watercraft.
Regardless, at our first opportunity, we switched things up and moved her over to my canoe. It’s really unfortunate that I don’t have a picture of us transferring people from one canoe to another. It was no simple task, and there was much high-pitched discussion going on about who should move where. But, in the end, things seemed to go a bit smoother with the second combination of paddlers.
The nice thing about taking our crew out onto the water is that they can’t get away from us. Everyone is pretty much immobilized from the waist up by their lifejackets and too fearful of the deep, murky water to do much wiggling around. Of course, there were a few instances where the Preschooler {who takes sun protection rather seriously} spotted fish in the water and nearly capsized our canoe in her excitement. Fortunately, the fish sightings were few and far between.
I’m not much of a water person, but there is something so simultaneously exhilarating and peaceful about being out there on the lake and seeing the hugeness of nature all around you. Even the Preschooler said several times while we were coasting around on the water, “I like boating.” I’m not sure our outing really qualified as “boating,” but I liked it, too.
This week our outdoor adventures have been limited to the neighborhood pool. And some weeks, that’s quite enough. While I’m serious about being outside as much as possible this summer, I’m working on keeping a running list of things we can do inside in the afternoons when everyone is too hot and tired to be outdoors. And, I’m trying to keep things as simple as possible. This is where we crumble. Especially between 4 and 6 PM every day. So, when I saw some flash card sets in the dollar section at Target, I grabbed a set for each of the girls. I got one set about the fifty states for the 3rd Grader, one about musical instruments for the 1st Grader, and a set of phonics cards for the Preschooler. I didn’t expect the phonics cards to be the most challenging, but when we whipped these out yesterday and she got to the letter “I,” this one had her stumped:
Even the older girls were at a total loss to identify the mysterious object pictured here.
What does this say about my home keeping skills? My grandmother would be appalled. But, I have three words for you: Downy Wrinkle Release. It’s a game changer. I’m not sure if it’s a good or a bad sign of the times that a more recognizable object for the letter “I” on today’s phonics cards would probably be an iPad or an iPhone.
Our other newly discovered indoor activity is coloring on graph paper. Who knew empty little boxes could be so entertaining?
There are tons of ideas for graph paper art online or on Pinterest, but on the best of days, a plain sheet of it and a box of markers is inspiration enough for everyone to create their own designs. Mind you, this provides about twenty minutes of entertainment around here. But, twenty minutes is still twenty minutes.
Speaking of entertainment… mine for the week has been provided by an issue with our dryer that began almost a month ago. It’s a long story, but the short version is this:
1) Unbeknownst to us, our dryer duct was clogged.
2) Therefore, the heating element in the {young} dryer overheated and stopped working.
3) Because of the way it’s routed, we had to have dryer duct professionally vacuumed out.
4) We purchased a new dryer.
5) We noticed the new dryer still wasn’t properly venting and discovered a major hole in the center of the dryer duct.
6) Company came to cut a large hole in our garage ceiling to redirect dryer vent.
7) Workers found TONS of lint, a large bird’s nest, and evidence of “varmint(s)” living in the space between the two floors of the house and therefore cautioned us against repairing the sheetrock until said varmint is removed. They describe the varmint as heavy-footed and “larger than a rat.” Awesome.
8) I called Varmint Busters {this is a real company} for a quote on varmint removal and nearly fainted when they explained the price and process…
Which brings us to today, when the Spouse has decided he will attempt to trap the varmint himself this weekend.
For the record, let me just say here that I don’t think this is a good idea. I’m all for outdoor adventures this summer, but we are far, far from wildlife and/or varmint trapping specialists. I’ll keep you posted… In the meantime, clean out those dryer vents!
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