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| Karis and her best buddy with Cloudy (bunny) and Trapper (kitten) |
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| Family time at a park--with bball gloves, of course! |
It's below 80 degrees in my home! We're so excited. The cool front finally came through that we've been awaiting for over a month now... and none too soon. We'd all just about had it with these crazy desert temperatures, wondering if the summer would ever end! Not that it necessarily has...we still get back up into the 90s again next week; but for now, it's cool (even rainy!), and my kids have asked to go outside at least 3 times already today. I think we're going to take advantage of every minute of reprieve from the heat that we can get. Maybe even an escape to the mountains on Friday (Kevin's day off from baseball) if I can get the kids through enough schoolwork??? :)
Supposedly the official recorded temperatures here in our city have not been over 104 degrees. I've now had two sources confirm why this inaccurate recording has taken place. There is a law in the city that if the temperature is above 104, then no one has to go into work for the day! So in spite of the fact that my gauge has recorded (multiple times!) it getting much warmer than 104, the official record stands and there hasn't been a day off from work granted throughout the entire summer! Gotta love the censorship...
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| puzzle time in our playroom |
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| Last day of weekly summer bball camps. Notice the t-shirt theme? |
Kevin has been making efforts to make more friends as of late, and one of the ways he's been doing this has been by randomly meeting people (men) in public locations (like parks--not that there are many where we live, but there are a few). He comes home with some great stories and we're gaining lots of cultural insight through these conversations and new friendships he's making. One of my favorites from this week was his experience at a park that ended with him crammed on a park bench with two other men. He was telling me about having this long conversation in this totally awkward setting--only it was only awkward to him. To the other two guys, it was totally normal to be snuggled up with two complete strangers on a bench in a park. Kevin and I were trying to imagine the same scenario ever happening in the US (in a non-shady way), especially considering that there were quite a few other unoccupied benches close by. Rather than sitting down at a bench to talk to a stranger who gives you a warm welcome, you would most likely get a dirty look or the suggestion to "Go find your own bench!" There are some cultural differences that we really appreciate!
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| Boys w/ weapons in the mountains |
Noah revealed his TCK-ness this week in a comment he made. (TCK stands for third-culture kid, which is a kid who grows up outside their home country [the USA]; they don't really fit into the culture of their home country or their host country [where they are currently living], since their parents are foreigners themselves; so they kind of have a third culture that is all their own--unlike their home country, their host country, or even that of their parents. Karis was given some doll accessories from a friend. One of the items was a campout set that included a bowl of popcorn. When Noah saw it, he asked, "Is she holding a bowl of rice?" We all cracked up. You can tell what his "normal" is--in spite of the fact that I did find popcorn kernels here and we've been eating them a LOT!
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| and Karis with sheep (also in the mountains!) |
Our school routine is off to a good start. We've just finished week 3 of the semester! I know--I'm mean for starting so early. But we have so many breaks that we need to take throughout the semester, mainly for travel, that we just couldn't get it all in otherwise. The kids haven't balked too much, and as challenging as it is to homeschool four at such different levels (6th grade, 4th grade, 3rd grade, and 1st grade), I must admit that I love teaching and I love time with my kids. We have such great conversations throughout the day. And one of my favorite things is to see them interacting together (not all the time; we are certainly normal in regards to having the usual family squabbling that goes with having siblings). But when I see Eli teaching Karis how to play the guitar or Hudson helping Noah read his sight words, it's really heart-warming!
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| Noah w/ the praying mantis he found |
And we're totally counting down--in fact, Noah has finally figured out that there are 7 days in a week--all because Nana (my mom) is coming in 5 days! The kids are thrilled. Our first, and probably only, visitor to come and see our world (not a lot of folks jumping at the chance to come to our patch of the desert for obvious reasons!). The kids have been keeping lists of what we'll do when she comes (there's not a whole lot around here!). But mainly they are just thrilled to have a touch of family. My poor mom is not going to have a moment or an inch to herself the 12 days she's here--especially since her "room" will be the sleeper sofa in our living room, which doesn't allow a lot of privacy! But we're not complaining. We've gotten permission from the authorities for her to not only come, but also to stay at our apartment, which is no small feat. The only people allowed to stay with us are literally my parents or Kevin's--no other guests are allowed to stay overnight. So we're going to soak up having her here in all the close quarters that we'll be inhabiting together!
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| Golf course/bike course |
Off to finish up dinner. We have continued our family tradition of Taco Thursdays (previously Taco Tuesdays, but still keeping the alliteration factor as much as we can). I'll be hobbling into the kitchen to finish my work. Kevin and I have found an abandoned golf course that is perfect for riding our racing bikes. It has lots of hills, which is perfect preparation for the sprint triathlon we're competing in on the east coast in only 3 weeks. Yikes!
