Friday bullets - September 25, 2020 - The beach house edition

 Some of us are now up here in Michigan at our aunt and uncle's beach house. So far the weather has been wonderful even though it is end of September.
  • Packing and leaving were relatively calm... for us. We only left an hour and half later than our estimated departure time. This is pretty good for us!
  • Apollo the kitten, having had an eventful day at this first vet appointment, has also joined us on this trip. G. packed up his food, crate, litter box, new medicine (for ear mites and things), blankets, and what not. He is rather doted upon and loves to lay on his back in G.'s arms. I don't think it matters much to him if he has extended play time being hovered over by G. followed by naps in his crate here or at home.
  • If you are wondering what the appropriate number of books for a three day beach vacation is, if my packing is anything to go by, the number is nine. Yes, I brought nine books with me, many I am currently in the middle of. I also brought knitting and coloring books. You just never know what you are going to feel like doing.
  • This picture pretty much sums up how my perfect weekend will go.


  • For other activities in case of rain, we also brought a bag full of games to supplement the ones here, as well as painting supplies. K. threw in a movie just in case as well.
  • I beat D. at Scrabble. Since this isn't even close to being a given anymore, I was pretty pleased. D. was not.
  • On top of getting packed and the house picked up (I hate coming home to a messy house), we also got in a chemistry lesson and an art lesson. Here are the eagles some people drew.
H.

L.

Y.

K.
  • I felt a little as though I was on an episode of Chopped this morning. We didn't bring up much food because we were instructed to finish what was already up here. So, that's what we have done. Tonight we had a tagine (really just a fancy name for stew) of chicken with artichoke, tomatoes, and peas, using up quite a few odds and ends in one fell swoop. Serving it over rice took care of another item. I love the fact that Aldi is in so many places we go. A quick trip took care of everything else we needed.
  • I love seeing comments from brand new homeschooling families saying that they are loving it and are feeling more able to change how they do things to meet the needs of their children. 
  • There are a lot of magazines and books here at the beach house. (I know, yet I still packed nine books.) Anyway, I read a great article by Melissa Faye Greene in the July/August 2020 edition of The Atlantic. Ms. Greene was writing about attachment, brain science, and what the outcome was for a couple of the children who were in the Romanian orphanages in the 1990's. The article, like all of Ms. Green's writing, was well done and highlighted the difficulties these children face due to the changes in their brains wrought by lack of early attachment. If you've never read it, I highly recommend her book, No Biking in the House without a Helmet: 9 kids, 3 continents, 2 parents, 1 family.
  • With our youngests now being 11, vacationing is a little different. They can get up and go hiking together around the house without having to wait for us. It is the perfect place for them to all experience quite a bit of freedom while still being pretty safe.
  • And finally, I just need to say that it is a pretty horrid world we live in when courts care more about damage to a person's walls than they do about the death of a black person.

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