September: Back to School!

We have almost an entire month of school behind us!

Man, that went fast.

The boys are going to a homeschool enrichment program every day, all day, on Wednesdays. This was a big decision for us for a few reasons. 1. It's expensive. 2. Gabe is a total homebody (huh, wonder where he got that). 3. It's a bit of a drive. It's been a bit rocky to start, but now I think we are settled and I'm really pleased with the whole thing. Luke is taking Lego Robotics, History Alive, Art, Music, and Beginning Percussion. Gabe is taking Lego Robotics, Engineering, Art, and Music. Ben drops them off in the morning and I pick them up in the afternoon. Since Luke has an extra class, Gabe and I do our grocery shopping at a nearby Trader Joe's and Aldi's. Perfect.

As for their other school, the boys have been doing really, really well. No fighting, no resisting, no half-hearted attempts. Because we are a perfect family? Ha. Hardly. It's because I now allow them to play Minecraft after they are done. What can I say? It works.

One last note about homeschooling: I wanted to be more intentional about getting out and about this year so we finally made it to one of the local homeschool park days. It. was. perfect. The other moms were so nice and both boys played for hours with the other kids. So grateful and blessed and now Tuesdays have a special place in my heart.

We also decided to switch Scout troops since Luke was bullied during camp this summer. Our original troop was awesome, until they merged with another troop. Luke totally clashed with one of the new boys and it was a mess. He made a new friend at church who told us about his troop (bonus points for being 20 minutes (!) closer). They've already been to a den meeting and we attended the family camp this weekend and had a good time. Excited to get to know these families more!

We attended the Gateway Cup on a whim and had a good time!

It was a beautiful day and it was kind of amazing to see all these cyclists zooming along, neck 'n neck, lap after lap. Truly impressive.

We finally got around to checking out a new trail near our house and I'm so glad we did. Ben's brother went with us and the 5 of us had so much fun and made some great memories.

[caption id="attachment_1677" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Tree bridge![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1678" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Go home, tree, you're drunk![/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1680" align="aligncenter" width="200"] He runs everywhere he goes.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1679" align="aligncenter" width="200"] King of the world.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1682" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Monkey Luke[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1681" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Monkey Gabe[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1683" align="aligncenter" width="200"] My Precious.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1684" align="aligncenter" width="300"] My Guys[/caption]

 

While Cake Hunting we found ourselves touring the Lewis and Clark Museum. I was so caught up in helping the boys search for animal clues that I forgot to take pictures of the inside of the museum. Oops.

[caption id="attachment_1686" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Fun Little Museum![/caption]

Kids are sent on a scavenger hunt with the promise of a prize if they find everything. I prepped the boys beforehand that the "prize" would likely be something like a bookmark. Just because, you know, kids like to think big. I ran to the bathroom and when I came back, I was thrilled to discover that their prize was a pressed penny each! So cool, especially since they collect pressed pennies! Awesome.

There were a couple boats on display on the lower level.

[caption id="attachment_1687" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Old Boat[/caption]

 

And a neat canoe outside.

[caption id="attachment_1688" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Hand-hewn canoe[/caption]

 

Our Scout camp out was fun. We didn't know many people, but that didn't stop Luke from jumping right in. It was also a great excuse to put up our new 8-man tent.

Personally, I really enjoyed the play area. There were throngs of boys running around while parents set up tents and started fires. Ben and I watched from a distance and made a bunch of Lord of the Flies jokes. It was a boy's dream come true.

 

[caption id="attachment_1689" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Council Ring[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1690" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Cool Fort[/caption]

 



[caption id="attachment_1691" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pirate Ship[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1693" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Webelos[/caption]

 

The one disappointment was when Ben went to Boston for business. I'm glad he had a good time, but I was really jealous. We just have no way to get away together for things like that and the boys are just not quite old enough to enjoy all the history a place like Boston has to offer. We'd originally planned to all go together and then extend the trip by taking a bus into NYC. It just didn't work out this time.  So. Majorly. Bummed.