History Buff

As y'all know, O is a self-proclaimed "history buff." Normally, this is a GREAT thing, and we learn a lot from him. But on occasion it can suck the wonder out of things. Like today in historic Corolla, upon discovering that the old lighthouse keeper's house is now a private residence, when the following conversation took place:

S: Hey, O, can you imagine how cool it would be to live in the lighthouse keeper's house?

O: No way would I do that!

S: Why not?

O: I would NOT want to pee in those historical toilet bowls!!

S: Well, I think they probably put in toilets when they refinished the house....

I (heart) vacation!

Aaaahhh.... can you hear the collective sigh of those who have just arrived at the beach?? The long drive is behind us and we are chillin' in Corolla. Tomorrow we head to Kill Devil Hills to the Wright Brothers Memorial, then on to the Albemarle Sound to meet up with the rest of the fam. But for now, we're content with the cycle of beach-pool-lazy river... rinse, repeat.

Camp Invention ROCKS!!

The teachers ROCK at Camp Invention. Mrs. Machalec, Mrs. Shriver, and Mrs. Bonner are so awesome. I hope Mrs. Machalec is my fourth grade teacher because Planet ZAK is my favorite station. And I want Mrs. Shriver for fifth grade. Today with Mrs. Bonner I built my robot out of my take-apart item. Tomorrow I might add to it.
--O

The picture on the left is O with his counselors on Crazy Hat Day. Yes, those are devil horns on top of his "Seal of the President" hat.... he swears he was not trying to make a political statement. And on the right is O with Mrs. Bonner, one of the rockin' teachers! This has been such a fabulous week for him!
--S

Toe Story

P had his follow-up x-rays yesterday morning for the broken toe. He thought it a very good sign that the surgeon spent about 8.2 seconds with him after viewing the x-rays.... he must really not be a surgical candidate!! They gave him a slick new othopedic shoe to wear that will make walking easier, which he'll probably have to wear for another two weeks or so. Once the swelling goes down, he can wear a real shoe again. I figure this is going to ease our packing load for vacation, though, with only bringing one of each pair of his size 12's :) No competitive sports for two months... hopefully it'll be indoor soccer season by then, so no cleats to fear!

Happy Pop-Up Campers!

O & I drove out to Wellington after Camp Invention today to visit the Hursts' at their campsite at Findley State Park. The boys had a ball exploring the "vacation home" and the rest of the camp area, eating ice cream & s'mores (with a little dinner in between), and swimming in the scenic but gnarly lake. As an added bonus, O collected the three final secret codes he needed for the Explore the Outdoors Ohio program--hooray! There were too many great pictures to post here, so here are two favorites and a link to my Smugmug gallery....

http://spando.smugmug.com/gallery/5257186_Fghik/1/319825982_7csWt

Happy Campers!

This week O is attending Camp Invention. This is a fabulous program through the Inventor's Hall of Fame in Akron, being hosted at his elementary school. It was really hard to narrow it down, but here are his top three favorite things about camp from yesterday:

1. Planet ZAK with Mrs. Machalec, a super-fun fourth grade teacher at his school. Campers had to to create a shelter from acid rain when they crash-landed on the imaginary Planet ZAK. Mrs. Machalec told them to "trash the classroom" in order to accomplish this task, thus securing her place at #1.


2. Spills & Chills with Mrs. Shriver, another favorite teacher at his school. They got to work in teams to invent ways to make skateboards safer. So cool!


3. Take-Apart Items with one of our favorite people in the whole entire world, Mrs. Bonner. She is a first grade teacher at O's school, plus a friend from church, and is loads-o-fun. Each camper had to bring a non-working electrical item that they get to disassemble (real tools!) and use the parts to create something new (it won't work, but they won't care!)
   

And this was just the tip of the iceberg-o-fun had at Camp Invention yesterday! Here's a picture of O & friends getting ready for more fun this morning...

Orange Crush

Ok, people, you are about to experience the convergence of all of my internet skill. Here's a link to pics from last night's Orange Crush game on our smugmug site.

http://spando.smugmug.com/gallery/5214879_g6Dww/1/316582227_TRdLU

Technology! Amazing!
--S

Swimming Lessons

This summer we joined a local pool, where we have already spent some very fun afternoons. O is currently doing swimming lessons to prepare for our NC trip in a few weeks. Despite the fact it was only 65 degrees yesterday and threatening to storm, he still had a ball in the pool. Perhaps it has something to do with his fondness for the teenage girls who teach the lessons....

Here are some pics of him diving to retrieve things off the bottom, and before & after shots of jumping off the diving board.

I love a parade!

We heart parades, so when Baba & Gumpa called Saturday morning to invite us to join them downtown for Parade the Oval, we didn't hesitate! This was an AWESOME parade, and from the first walkers, we knew we were in for a treat. Unlike our hometown parades, there wasn't a firetruck or local politician in sight!! Instead there were stiltwalkers, steel drum bands, giant frogs, tribal dancers, bellydancers (more belly than dance, but ya gotta applaud the confidence!), a giant Potato Head family, Monet and his garden of waterlilies (young ballerinas), a life-sized Yahtzee game, and so much more. My pictures hardly do it justice.

After the parade, we walked over to Wade Oval and enjoyed some live music with our BBQ from Hot Sauce Williams. Yummy! Then we hit all the tents of free activities put on by the museums, service groups, and organizations from the area. This was O's favorite part, and there's a picture of him sporting his get-up that he created by hitting all the kiosks. And the true measure of a day-o-fun is when the kid who never naps zonks out in the backseat before you're even to the highway. What a day--we are definitely putting this one on our calendar for next summer, too!

The bonus week

P had planned to go to New Orleans this week on a mission trip with our church. In a blazing moment of clarity last Thursday night, however, he realized that he should really be spending that week off from work with his family. I had been praying that he return from New Orleans with a little perspective, but hey, if you can get that standing in the kitchen, that works, too!

And so in addition to the usual smattering of baseball practices & games, swimming lessons, friends over to play, errands and such, we had tons-o-fun with daddy this week. O & I are keeping a Summer Fun Journal, and a notables from this week include.... two trips to the baseball card store, seeing Kung Fu Panda, setting up our tent in the basement, riding the Tow Path with the Hurst boys, and a trip to the Akron Zoo (see below).

Summer of SPandO

Ok, so I am aware that I am historically not good at the on-going, un-ending project. And like I need one more thing on my "things to do" list. But, blogging seems like it could really be a great way to communicate, plus a lot of fun, and good writing practice for O. And so we take the plunge! But, for now, all we will promise is "Summer of SPandO" here in SPandO Land. We'll see how it goes....
-S