A Week, Briefly (October 24, 2022)

Brother gave rides on his homemade car . . . he admits there's some work to do on straightening out the wheels.

 This week included lots of broken things . . . the dryer, the vacuum, and my phone being the ones that nearly did me in.

Sir Walter Scott has faithfully kept our dryer alive for ever so much longer than you'd think possible given how hard it works, but he finally admitted defeat this time.  We're running wet loads of laundry to the laundromat to be dried (the "nice" one won't let us dry unless we also wash on-site, so he takes our wet clothes to the "sketchy" one) while we wait for the dryer we ordered to be ready for pick up.

The vacuum eats belts.  We vacuum at least 3 times a day here, and we buy cheap vacuums, so we buy new ones once or twice a year.  This is the same model we had last time, but it must have some sort of extra flaw because the belts pop off at the drop of a hat, and we have to unscrew all of the screws, reinstall the belt, and screw all of the screws back on almost every time we vacuum.  Then, there's the eating thing--we're on belt #3 in as many months.

My phone was new.  It was a good phone that I'd almost gotten all set up just the way I like it.  And I dropped it in the sting ray tank at Sea Life Aquarium.  And it died.

All three of these breakings happened on the same day.  

I've learned to be fairly philosophical about breakings and other first-world problems.

This was kind of a lot for one day.

I was a little bit close to a breakdown.

But life goes on, and we made some good memories during this beautiful autumn week.

Monday

I sewed.

A lot.

I know I read during meals, and we had Morning Meeting and went on a walk, but otherwise, I sewed Halloween costumes.

Some I made from scratch.

Some I made from modified clothing.

The kids watched My Octopus Teacher in the afternoon.

But I sewed.

A lot.

Tuesday

We went to the Sea Life Aquarium.

It was so expensive, but it was a lot cheaper than a trip to the actual beach, and it was killing me that we were studying oceans, and I have so many memories of tide pools and beaches and the ocean in real life, and my kids have so few.

I asked Sir Walter Scott if it was foolish to take the kids on so expensive an adventure and explained what was in my heart.

He agreed we should go.

So we did.

All of my pictures died with my phone in the stingray tank.

But Nature Angel and Little Princess took pictures, and I shall dump them here gratefully even though there are no touch tank pictures because I took all of those.

The kids loved stamping their papers as they walked through the aquarium.  At the end they got stickers, a bracelet, and a poster each for completing this self-guided educational tour.

But, oh!  The touch tank!  There were three aquarium employees overseeing the touching, so I was kind of able to relax and enjoy the kids experiencing the sea stars, sea urchins, cleaner shrimp, spider collector crabs, and slipper lobsters.  The employees were so kind, and my kids were so excited and curious.  Mister Man asked about a million questions.  The babies splashed and laughed.  Nervous kids overcame their fears and felt absolutely triumphant for being brave.  

All the way through the aquarium, the kids made connections to what we'd read about or watched throughout the month.  

Even though I got pretty stressed about how much money I spent only to lose my phone and have the dryer die on the same day, so I worried that I should have saved the money to put toward the dryer, and if we hadn't gone I wouldn't have needed a new phone . . . 

But I've had the kids write about their experiences, and I've asked them to talk about it a couple of times since then, and . . .

It was worth it.

Wednesday

I sewed.

We had a "regular" day.

I never get tired of seeing the littles join us for yoga.

In the evening I caught Lola working very hard to read a Hank the Cowdog book to herself.

I've been worrying that I'd been neglecting her reading instruction, but it looks like she needed the space to develop the motivation to read on her own.

Thursday

I sewed.

We had about 8 missing library books, so I refused to take the kids to the library to bring home more books.  Sir Walter Scott returned what we had (about 80 books), and I told the kids that when the missing books were found, we could resume weekly library privileges.

Dance practice was an extra hour long.  We tried having the babies perform the song I've taught them and that they know perfectly and perform perfectly at home. . . it was a complete fail.

I hope we'll win points for miniature cuteness even if they don't dance for an audience when the time comes.

In the evening, we attended our church trunk or treat.  And the kids' costumes were great!

Beowulf as Mace Windu

Lola as Princess Luna (My Little Pony)

Ladybug as Adi Gallia, Jedi Master

Little Princess as Cinder (Lunar Chronicles)

Mister Man as Brock, Pokemon trainer

Brother as Darth Maul

Nature Angel as Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles)

Belle as a fairy

I failed to mention earlier that I had Ladybug help make her costume by using the sewing machine to sew the long, straight, back seam in her cloak.

She would have liked to do more, but I didn't think she was ready for setting sleeves or making pleats or topstitching, and I didn't want the experience to become a bad memory.  Better to leave her hungry for more and confident she can do it.

Friday was our one and only chance to go to "the kitten farm" that is our favorite October outing and that we've missed for several years for various reasons.

With three of us taking pictures, we captured the flavor of the day rather abundantly.  There are a lot of photos here, and they are only a fraction of the photos we took!

We'd have stayed all day if I hadn't known that leaving before exhausted tantrums start is better than waiting for them.

Seriously, the day was golden in reality and experience.  Best memory of the autumn!

We bought 7 pumpkins to take home--each of them different, so we can cut and examine and compare and cook and eat and celebrate on Monday all in the name of science.