Car Camping!

Summer has begun! Not really, but the pool has opened, so that's our first sign. The boys and I had a lot planned for this Memorial Day weekend, and it started at the pool.

By pool, we mean, of course, foosball.

But really, we did swim some, though the boys refused to take their swim tests. We'll see how that goes, but it seems the struggle springs eternal. I had reserved a camping spot at a nearby State Park, so from the pool, we drove all of 30 minutes to Watkins Park and set up our spot!

Woohoo, we've got the tent up!

There are lots of cool things to do at the park, and we did about half of them. So we're set for a return trip sometime in the near future to visit the farm, the Nature Center, and the Horse Racing playground!

This time, there was:

Miniature golf.

Surprisingly, we didn't keep score.

They didn't really want to hear about rules and proper form.

 There's a vintage miniature train to ride.

Super impressed by the miniature train.

There's an old carousel to ride, too!

Cassius had the cutest, somewhat repressed, "I am so pleased with my ostrich" smile on.

Following the theme of the Wizard of Oz playground nearby, the boys made friends with a girl named Dorothy.

And then it was back to the site for some relaxin'. We got some fast food and brought it back to the campsite for dinner, and then afterwards, we made smores. The night was pretty good. We all fell asleep at about 8, which was amazing.

In the morning, we packed up, went home and unpacked, and then, of course: back to the pool!

Super Hero in the House

The trailer for the new Spiderman movie is pretty great, and it has an intense voice-over to really put it over the top.

Cooking with Cassius

In an effort to get Cassius to be open minded about trying real food and not just relying on hot dogs for sustenance, I signed the boys up for Raddish, a kids' cooking service. Each month, Cassius receives a package with literature about food in it. It includes three recipes, several cards for discussion topics and questions around the dinner table, and a kitchen tool. (In the first package, he and Maceo received aprons.) This month, the three recipes were granola bars, flatbread pizza, and strawberry shortcake. I thought this was more promising than last month's Thai menu, and Cassius seemed way into it. So, the first night, we made the pizza and the short bread for the dessert.

Above, Cassius is kneading the pizza dough very carefully.

Here is the more enjoyable rolling pin section of the cooking process.

The pizza before it went in. Cassius has recently been converted
to being a ham-liker, too.

Cassius uses his new pastry mixer to make the dough for the shortbread.

Maceo is "doing the dishes", but really just playing in the water.

The pizza! Maceo said, "Not quite as good as Pizza Paradiso's",
but Cassius said it was better!

Look! He's eating something! Something he made!

Here're the shortbreads.

Monday, night, Cassius ate some strawberry shortcake!

Surprisingly very little was eaten, though. And he said he liked it.

Relatively Civil Servants

Today, after Maceo's soccer game (He scored 2 goals!), I gave the boys the choices of going to some of the EU embassies that were open today welcoming people and sharing touchstones of their cultures; going on a hike in Rock Creek Park; or going to the National Postal Museum to celebrate trains and the mail.


Any guesses of what they chose?


I was hoping for the hike, which they didn't pick. And I was glad they didn't chose the embassies, as were they, because on the way to the Postal Museum, we drove along Massachusetts Ave past a number of the embassies, and they had lines that were down the sidewalk. A few lines were blocks long. We discussed what could possibly be IN the embassies that would make it worth waiting in such a line. I suspected beers, and the boys suggested food. Maybe we were both right.

At the Postal Museum, there were lots of fun things train-related to do. The boys made silkscreen prints,

designed mail boxes,

About 98% of the markers were dried out and didn't work...

and practiced scanning packages to send out on their way.

Maceo waited patiently for about 10 minutes until the
other kid finished with one of the working scanners.

The other most popular things? Several large layouts for model trains, a tractor trailer cab to sit in and pretend to drive, and the best exhibit? Six mail baskets. Children were encouraged to sort small packages and then lob them into the bins as if they were basketball hoops. Cassius stayed there for about 15 minutes of postal service sport.

After that, we went to Shake Shack for Maceo's favorite meal--hamburgers! Cassius ate half a chicken nugget. But he also said they were really good and he'd save them for school lunch. So, I don't know. 

Dinner and Birthday cake

Friday traditions means that the boys and I head over to Mom and Maurice's house for dinner. Now, Fridays are also movie nights, so it gets a bit complicated. We began with a short French film, mais oui.

Maceo even appears to be wearing the tricolors! 

 Then we had polenta (which Maceo liked so much that he had two more helpings and demanded leftovers to take to school for lunch!). I'll let you ruminate on whether or not Cassius liked it.

Birthday cake followed and we all liked it. Cassius had two pieces of that.

We finished the night with a little more movie watching before heading home.

Happy birthday, Maurice! 

Orthodontia

Maceo had already been to the orthodontist's one time. Now we were back six months later.

Casually waiting to have pictures taken.

Standing up for the easy pics.

Arghlebaggleawldknckdmml!

Now we are supposed to come back 6 months later, but oh, man, orthodontics is in our future! Poor guy!

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Maceo's class was finishing their unit on story telling and theater, so they put on a bunch of plays. In past years, Maceo's timidity relegated him to such memorable roles as "Brick House" in The Three Little Pigs. So, when I sat in the audience for skit after skit, and there was no Maceo, I got a little worried. 

He reassured me sotto voce though that his was next, so I got my camera ready. 

There's no need to watch the whole video, but it is good to know that Maceo is able to put his fear aside and do his part in a play in front of a room of folks!

Yay, Teachers!

It's Teacher Appreciation Week, and so the boys wrote cards for their English and Chinese teachers. I gave them no prompts other than asking them to write one for each set of teachers, and I only helped Cassius spell one or two words. Let's see how that turned out!

They were rather into the task!

Breakfast could wait while they appreciated teachers.

These are Maceo's for his two teachers.

He decided to write his name in Chinese
on the backs of the cards!

It's the sincerity and the detail in Cassius's that kills me.

They're pretty sweet and nice boys. Most of the time. Remind me of this the next time they are committing wild shenanigans during their bath time.

Kinetic Sculptures on the Move!

(Note: there's a video at the end of this post with some of the floats that I couldn't see in the email I received about this post...)

The boys and I had a packed Saturday! Maceo had a soccer game at 8, so we struggled to get out of the house on time (not quite!) and getting to the game (We made it just in time!).  Maceo's team played another team to a 0-0 tie, and I cannot describe the exquisite tension of the match. Perhaps you can imagine it. From that game, we drove to Baltimore for the annual Kinetic Sculpture Race that the Visionary Arts Museum sponsors.

We got to the park north of the city early, and checked out the site.

Seems like a good spot, perhaps? Where are the racers?

BRING THE SCULPTURE!

We had about one hour to kill, so we went to have lunch before the racers arrived. Maceo had his favorite--a burger. Cassius had.....well, basically nothing. But we had a good time and they were fun lunch company! 

Hmmm, burgers? Sure!
Hmmmm, food? No thanks!

Hey, look at that! puzzles and word finds!

Small monster enjoys his pineapple juice.

Smaller monster enjoys his pineapple juice.

After our meal, we wandered back and found many more people at the park. We decided to go to the shore where we could be assured of seeing the sculptures in the water and waited. And waited. And waited. And saw one sculpture.

Unnnh! I. Can't. See!

So, we wandered around and found the best possible place to be! And here are the best floats we saw!

Shark Platypus was Maceo's favorite.

When we left, we turned around and there were Grandma Sue and Grandpa! We were all astounded and the boys gave them both big hugs.