Our Post Vacation Week

After plowing through a week's worth of laundry for a family of 8 in 2 days, I was feeling pretty accomplished.  But between coming back from vacation, and Bri & Eli starting up Safety Town, I'm still a bit off my groove.  This "week" is actually about a week and a half.  

If Safety Town sounds familiar, it's because Katie went last year.  It's a program the police department puts on for kindergartners.  They use lots of teen volunteers to help run it.  The teens get community service hours and free food, and the police officers get helpers with boundless energy.  It's a win win situation.  Brianna volunteered last year, and Brianna and Eli are both volunteering this year.  

Finally recycled a pile of finished workbooks I'd been saving, in case the kids' new school wanted some sort of "proof" that they've been educated.  Homeschool mamas are nodding.  Public school mamas are thinking I'm a pack rat.

Summer gives us the opportunity to slow down and play.  Magnatiles remain a family favorite.

When we were at Bryce Canyon, I saw a display of some of the Audubon birds.  It made me miss the kids.  We have 3 of them.

Feeling grateful.  Our dryer gets super linty, really fast.  I mentioned to Paul that it was getting bad again, and he dropped what he was doing and took the vacuum to it, even unscrewing parts to get deeper into the nooks and crannies.  He's an "acts of service" kind of guy.  Unfortunately, I'm so not acts of service, but I can appreciate how helpful it is.

Teaching Jack how to do some auto maintenance.

When the kids were in Nevada, Jack checked a Redwall book out from their library.  He wasn't done with it when it was time to leave, so Buddy said she'd order it for him.  It arrived, and he was so so thrilled.

Why yes, I am wearing a crazy cat lady skirt.

It seemed like an appropriate choice for orientation at...

...our local SPCA.  After the general orientation, volunteers can choose a variety of ways to help out.  I want to "socialize" kitties, so I'm going for cat training next.

Zach, Heather, and Brayden came for Sunday dinner and we played 50 States Sequence.  I'm embarrassed to admit, I think I bought it when we were going to study US History, and we never even opened it.  Zach and Heather had recently played Sequence, so they got it out and taught us how.  It was fun!

Since Brayden is out of school for the summer, he got to spend the night and hang out with Jack, Hannah, and Katie.

We made an unexpected trip to Shriners.  Katie got dirt in the button assembly of her prosthetic leg while camping, and it broke.  So Hannah's wheelchair finally got some use for a couple of days.

I introduced her to waiting room selfies.  Fortunately, Shriners was able to squeeze us in and replace the button assembly and she walked out a happy camper.

The next day, Jack and I practiced our waiting room selfies, too, since he had an appointment at the dentist.

Someone, who asked not to be named, received a massive 5# Hershey bar from Someone that they really enjoy spending time with.  Adorable.

Do I look like someone you'd want to buy health and nutrition curriculum from??  Brianna and I camped out at a local homeschool book sale, trying to offload some of the treasures we've picked up in the last 19 years of homeschooling.  We left the house early, and we had to stop at the store to pick up small bills to make change with, so we each got a drink and then splurged on a package of donut holes to share.  I managed to stop after 3.

Look at all that loot!  We brought a lot of it home, unfortunately, but I donated some of what didn't sell (someone is taking the donations to another sale), and we did make $91 and clear some shelf space in the school room.  I really need to take pictures and try to sell some of the leftovers online, but ugh, you know?

Brianna wandered around to the other tables and ended up with a little light reading for the summer.  Yes, my child is excited about The Iliad and The Odyssey.  You can put the homeschooler in a classroom, but you can't squelch their passions.  She also picked up a coffee table book about kittens from the free table.  I would take her with me to pet kitties at the SPCA, but she's not 18 yet.

The state fair has started.  Bri went with Boy and his parents.  There's a part of me that would like to go, but there's a bigger part of me that thinks, expensive, hot, crowded... I'm glad we went to the county fair in May.

Coming up this week, another week of Safety Town, and my cat class at SPCA.  Jack is asking if we can go bowling again, so we'll probably try to squeeze that in, too.  I really need to get everybody to the pool.  I told myself we'd go more than once this year, but we haven't been yet.


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