Slices of Life

We headed out for a day at Mystic Aquarium and listened to a bit more of Treasure Island on the car ride there. I'll be honest and admit that I don't really like this book.  It's boring (to me) and I'm constantly getting confused because I'm not always listening as well as I should.  The boys, however, seem to enjoy it, Ian especially.  He quickly summarizes the story for me when I turn it off to ask a quick question so I know he's following along.  I dread listening to the whole thing but I can't bear to tell them they can't listen to it! We did take breaks from the story and use our Brain Quest packets for some fun trivia time and we sang along with some songs on the radio. We arrived just before lunch and we were all amazed at how packed it was.  All the parking lots were full and there was a huge line to get in the gate!     Luckily, we're members and members have their own gate so we didn't have to wait in line.  I sat back and...

We had plans to visit Purgatory Chasm, have some lunch, and wait for West End Creamery to open.  These two places are only about 5 minutes away from each other and my boys LOVE the chasm.  I have been wanting to visit West End Creamery for a while since I have heard such wonderful things about them and their delicious ice cream. We arrived at the Chasm around noon and had some lunch.  On the way to the picnic area near the playground the boys climbed a few rocks and slid down one really large one.  They happily played and ate and we never even made it into the chasm. sliding down the big hill They met some kids on the playground and had so much fun playing they didn't want to stop.  Not having any real agenda for our day, other than getting back to our fun family outings, I let them play. They had so much fun spinning in circles It was hot and sunny and all the boys were getting pretty sweaty.  One by one all the kids we met left and so we decided to h...

We decided to take advantage of our last week of free bowling coupons and hit the bowling alley today.  But first Ian was asking if he could bake something. He has been asking for a few days now, but always seems to wait until I'm ready to cook dinner to decide he'd like to make something.  I told him last night that mornings and right after lunch are the two best times to tackle something like that. He decided to make banana bread today.  I turned that task over to him and left him to do 90% of it on his own this time.      While Ian was busy baking the younger two boys were dragging out board game after board game. Playing Dinosaur Train Evan asked me to please read the rest of Mr. Docker is off his Rocker while they ate their cereal.  I sat down to read and kept an eye on Ian in case he needed help with his bread.  As soon as the boys finished eating, they went right back to playing. Ian finally got his bread into the oven and went to...