Day 267: The Final Out

 Fall Ball (and potentially, youth baseball) made it's grande finale. 

The scrimmage tonight was the fall boys' baseball team versus the fall girl's softball team. The rules, ball and field dimensions were all softball rules, which really threw the (arrogant, cocky) boys through a loop. 

At the last inning, the boys were ahead by one run, but ended up giving up the lead, and the girls took the victory. 

Personally, I thought it was a lot of fun. The boys have played baseball for years with Calen, and many of the girls play hockey with Camden. I was delighted for both teams. 

What a blast. 

2023 Kodiak Fall baseball and softball. Calen back row left-ish, in his signature backwards cap and fake pit vipers

Day 266: That Ruddy Owl

 It's day two of our Harry Potter movie marathon, and it's also Friday which means art class of the Harry Potter sort. 

Both the boys love (and I mean, love) Hedwig the owl, and luckily, since she's so popular, a quick Youtube search found a "learn to draw" of Hedwig. And that makes for an easy art class for me!

They turned out so good!

Tonight's movie: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. 

Day 265: Yer A Wizard, Harry

 Super short post today, as not much really happened. 

But, last night, after a full year of reading all seven books, we officially finished reading the entire Harry Potter series together. 

I do not count the Cursed Child, because as I was told, it's complete garbage, doesn't work with the original storyline at all, doesn't give all of our favorite characters any justice, and was just a complete disaster. 

Yeah, no thanks. Why ruin it when I'm completely satisfied with how the original series ended?

Therefore, starting tonight, we begin our week long movie marathon of the Harry Potter series. 

Tonight? Year One: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. 

End note: We've all done the "official" house sorting on the website. Both boys are Gryffindors (which surprises me, I expected Calen a Hufflepuff). I'm a true Hufflepuff, and Brad is a Ravenclaw. 

Day 264: The Science Of Canning

 Obviously, science has sort of overshadowed everything in our school curriculum right now. Not that we aren't doing all sorts of other stuff, but this is definitely the most time consuming, and noteworthy. 

This week's lab was learning how to can applesauce. Why? To learn about bacteria, oxygen and the science of preserving food. 

Finally, some biology that really accounts to everyday life. I don't know about you, but in my 38 years of life I haven't needed to know by memory the anatomy of a plant cell. But why and now we need to can food properly to preserve it? Now THATS important. 

We started by making applesauce, and thankfully apples were on sale this week (otherwise it would have been the most expensive freaking jar of applesauce in existence). 

The boys (particularly Calen, who had apple chopping duty) was annoyed to the tee about how tedius peeling and then chopping fives apples and then cooking them, all for one jar of applesauce. 

Yes, but if it was 1823, and winter was coming, it would be worth that work to have fruits and vegetables in January. 

With Calen having done the prep part, Camden did the actual canning. 

I have little to no experience with canning, so hopefully in a month when we open this applesauce, it'll be edible. For our control of this experiment, we have an open tupperware of the same applesauce, which will likely be very scary coming up here. 

I guess we'll see soon, won't we?

Day 263: My Own Personal Van Goghs

 As part of Calen's high school curriculum, he needs to take half a credit of art class. We elected to take a general "exploration in art" class, so that we didn't have to be restricted to a specific medium of art.

I'm a huge fan of fall arts and crafts, so I tried to find a fun non-Halloweenie type fall art project for bigger kids. I found a neat fall tree painting on Pinterest that teaches perspective. 

Well, clearly I'm not sophisticated enough to know good art when I see it, because it turns out this art is a famous piece, called "Avenue of the Poplars", by Vincent Van Gogh. 

Well, the more you know. 

I put the photo up on our Echo Show and taught the boys a bit about perspective, how the road looks like it's getting farther away, and how to use watercolors and paint the background first. 

Look, this was more of a fake it till you make it teaching moment, but it worked. 

I think the boys actually did quite a great job of it. 

Calen's Van Gogh

Camden's Van Gogh

Day 262: Texts From Teenagers

 It's really weird when your kids have phones. 

No, neither kid has an actual cell phone to their name. But they have "the Red Phone", a shared cell phone (with a red case, hence the name), that is used for them to call me when I'm working, or when Calen rides his bike to base to do the newspaper route, stuff like that. 

Today I had to work (cleaning a house for a couple of hours on base), so I left the boys with the Red Phone and their workbooks on anatomy. 

So as I'm working on this house, I received this text from Calen:

Teenage boys are easy to please. 

(edit to add: They laughed about this for days and days). 

Day 261: No Speak Syllables

 It's Sunday! And you know what that means. It's family game night!

Calen made us dinner tonight, a type of casserole that is a sort of take on chicken pot pie. 

And let me tell you, it was delicious. 

We had two games to do tonight. First, we needed to catch up on about two weeks worth of our daily calendar. Phew! 

And once we were done playing catch up, we played a short game of Poetry for Neanderthals, a kind of stupid word game of verbal charades where you have to have your teammate guess the word you are describing, using only one syllable words. And if you don't, you get BEAT by an inflatable club. 

The boys think it's a great game. Brad and I roll our eyes, but sacrifices must be made, you know. 

Day 260: And Now For Something Totally Different

 Fall ball is in full swing, and today was a scrimmage between the two teams. But first, we had something totally different to do!

Camden has been showing a developing interest in photography. During our hikes over the summer, he'd comment "Mom, that would be a great photo." And when I'd take said photo, he'd say "Make sure you get this in the background". He definitely has an eye for it, and seeing as it's an interest that isn't hockey or video games, I decided to glom onto it. 

A local business was offering a FREE 4 week clinic (on Saturday mornings) that teaches the basics of photography to kids. I signed Camden up immediately. This is right up his alley! What a stroke of serendipity that this should pop up now, when his interest in photography was just blooming. And, I even have my nice camera sitting in a drawer collecting dust (as my iphone is as good or better than my camera in terms of photo quality) for him to use. 

So, on the way to Calen's baseball game this morning, I dropped Cam off for his first photography class. 

Cam taking a picture of me taking a picture of him. 

Luckily the class began right before Calen was due to be at the baseball field (just down the road), so I got to watch the first half of the game before running back to the studio to pick up Camden.

I haven't pulled the photos off the camera yet, but I'm sure they're going to be great. 

Day 259: The Official Driver

 Something completely insane and unbelievable just happened. 

Calen just got his Driver's learners permit. 

What?! Just....what??

In the great state of Alaska, you only need to be fourteen to get your learner's permit. 

Fourteen. 

Calen, at Fourteen and a half, is completely appalled that he does not have his permit yet, as we eligible to get it six months ago. The audacity. But, he needed to study for the written test, and I left it up to him to get prepped and ready before finally making the appointment for this afternoon. 

He only missed one on the test. We now have a driver. 

You. Guys. 

We had to run to do the paper route immediately following, and so once we got on base onto the residential roads, I let him take the wheel. 

I am NOT meant to be a parent teaching a child to drive. I'm too high strung, nervous, and a control freak. So we made it a mile before I decided to take over. Brad can teach him. Without me in the car. 

Another milestone to check off. I can't believe it. 

Day 258: Through The Microscope

 It's another day of Biology, and today we got to pull out our new prized posession: a microscope!

I managed to find one on a neighborhood swip swap for $50, that came with the biology curriculum and everything, and today we got to whip it out and learn how to use it. 

So far, so good with this biology thing. 

Also we made apple cider donuts because it's our favorite fall recipe for anything, obviously. 

Day 257: Field Trips - For Science!

 Today we dipped our toes into the terror of high school biology. 

Yikes, you guys. 

And unfortunately for Camden, who isn't in high school, he gets to take the biology class too. 

Honestly, it's intimidating but not impossible. It's also a lot of "fake it till you make it", which is exactly how I like to operate. 

The first task in the biology book is to get out in nature and do a "field study" of a certain area. 

Perfect. This I can do. Let's go on a field trip! For science!

We don't have to go far around here to find nature. We took a walk about 100 yards (or less) to the little creek behind our house that has a nice tunnel of trees. Then the boys used some paracord to mark four points to map out our field study area, and then sat and enjoyed nature and mapped out the area, recording any signs of organisms in their mapped area. 

Well, that was easy. 

Day 256: Sweater Weather

 Well we definitely aren't in the nice, warm, summery weather of Idaho anymore. 

I had to pull out my hoodie, jacket, and knit cap for Fall Baseball practice tonight. 

I'm not offended. It feels like fall!

Also, Calen received his Fall Ball uniform (tshirt and hat), but refuses to wear his new hat because this current hat (his grey/blue/white #11 hat) is his favorite and I haven't seen him not wear it for the last four months. 

Pick your battles. 

Day 255: The First Day of (High) School

 You guys. It's here. 

When I started this blog, over eleven years ago, Calen was just about to start 3 year old preschool (shameless link of said blog post here). Preschool! Three day a week, two hours a day little baby school where they learned how to sit at desks at be nice to each other and maybe even colors and letters. 

Look at him. LOOK at him!!

Today? Today Calen starts High school. 

High school, you guys. 

How did we get here? 

The same chalkboard. It's so small!!

And not only that, to add to my misery, Camden starts middle school. 

What is happening?! Am I in the twilight zone?

Totally put the wrong year on here. It's 2023, actually. Sorry not sorry. 

School looks a lot different now than when they both started their school careers. Instead of brick and mortar public schools, we are continuing our homeschooling adventure (by choice, I ask them every year what they'd like to do). Teaching high school definitely scares the absolute bajeebus out of me, but whatever, I can do anything (or so they tell me) so I bought a high school biology book and here we go, baby. 

We are also focusing on World War II this year, as the boys have been begging me for two solid years to do so. So, we are hitting the brutal topics of the Holocaust, the Diary of Anne Frank, and a psychology study of how the Nazi party actually had willing followers. 

Wow, that's a long way from learning colors and numbers. 

But here we are. 

It's going to be a great year!

Day 254: The First (Real) Day of Fall

 It's our first day home, and since it's mid September, that means it's actually our first "official" day of fall in this house. 

Look, fall is like a national holiday in this house. A two month long holiday. It's almost as big as Christmas (but not really). 

So naturally, we had to make pumpkin bread, and spread some apple butter all over it. 

The. Best. 

Day 253: The Long Sky Road Home

 It's a travel day. After three long weeks, it's finally time to say goodbye to actual summer and go home to Alaska. 

It's a long day of travel. 

But can we take a moment to appreciate the fact that Calen is Fourteen and a half and is still driving cars across the sky in the window. 

Gosh I love him. 

Day 252: The Most Important Souvenir

 Today was a day in the car. For hours. Driving from Coeur D'Alene, Idaho to my inlaws house in Everett, Washington takes about six hours at the fastest. So, we packed a backseat full of snacks and took off for a day in the car. 

But first, a very important stop to Safeway for the most important souvenir on Calen's heart. 

The Idaho potato 

I mean honestly, how can you not go to Idaho and bring home a potato. 

Day 251: Adventures In The Adventure Park

 The grande finale of our Idaho adventure happened today, what all the kids in the house were looking forward to alllll week. 

The big indoor adventure and water park!

This place is rad. There was so much to do! Bowling, go karts, bumper boats, laser tag and mazes, and possibly the coolest thing I've ever seen, the three story ropes course! 

These four LOVED this course!

Look at how cool this is!

Cam way up as high as it goes

After a couple of hours in the adventure park, we transitioned over to the indoor water park! 

It's a water park. With raptors! Camden thought this was the best thing on Earth. 

The water park had three or four slides, a wave pool, and even a splash park with one of those giant dumping bucket things. Calen and Brooks went on the slides probably a billion times. Cam and Rory loved to wait for the bucket to dump on their heads as some sort of rite of passage. 

Best. Place. Ever. 

Cam and Rory getting smashed by the water bucket!

Day 250: A Day in Coeur D'Alene

 We took a break from the lake today and spent the day in downtown Coeur D'Alene!

We walked around the main shopping district and went into lots of little stores. The hits of course were the candy store and the toy store with the best name ever: Figpickles. 

The cutest little ice cream cone ever

This evening we went to a very high ranked fancy restaurant at the top of the Coeur D'Alene Resort to celebrate my inlaws' 50th wedding anniversary!

Have you ever been to a restaurant so fancy that the menu is an iPad? I haven't. 

This is one of the best meals I've had in recent years. My filet minon came and the waiter set it on fire to cook it. I mean that's service. 

This was a hit for the boys at the table. 

This was a great way to celebrate our amazing parents/grandparents! 

Day 249: Boat Life

Pictures are worth a thousand words. I don't have words today, just happy memories and a hundred photos.

It was a great day on the boat. 

Jumping off the top

Cam and Rory having a dance sesh on the tube

Lunch has never been more relaxing 

 After a day on the boat, Papa had Calen make us a nice big fire in the firepit and we roasted hot dogs over the fire for dinner. 

Meanwhile, Cam and his cousins caught a snake! 

I'm really not sure what the flyswatter was for

Cam announced: "He's not biting me anymore! He trusts me! He's just love nibbling."

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the snake trying to bite his face off to escape.