Buzzing

Tinkering with flight

Calvin stalks the mailbox every month when his Tinker Crate delivery is due. This month's activity was a comparison of flight patterns with different wing shapes and other variations. Put another way, it was a toy plane making kit with rubber band launcher. Put yet another way, it was hours of fun.

You don't have to go far

Relaxation for me has always come easiest north of a certain latitude. Cross the Zilwaukee Bridge and just feel the the sky get bluer, the grass get greener, the air become sweeter. Anything south of Gaylord has always seemed just a few steps too close the stresses and pulls of our suburban life.

But it turns out that you don't have make the long journey north to enjoy getting away from it all, and when our summer camping friends couldn't take as much time off this year, we found our little slice of heaven a few hours closer to home.

Go west, young family, and find the green trees and warm lakes of Waterloo Recreation center. Swimming and campfires and a little bit of wildlife were all we needed to make the weekend a great success, even with the scattered rain showers that passed through. We got ou s'mores, and our annual steak and corn campfire dinner. We got our time together, and no matter where we are, that makes the camping a great success.

Week 28, in pictures

July 9: Vintage style
by mom

by Calvin

July 10: At the end of the day
by mom

by Calvin

July 11: Zeitgeber
by mom

by Calvin

July 12: Sky blue
by mom

by Calvin

July 13: Delicate
by mom

by Calvin

July 14: The horizon
by mom

by Calvin

July 15: Off prompt
by mom

by Calvin

Climbing

Birthday party at the local climbing facility today. That's fun for all ages—for the kids, who are climbing with all the energy of childhood and none of the fears of adulthood, and for the adults, who are watching from the sidelines, knowing their children will be tired that evening. Calvin has always been a cautious child, so I expected him to stay relatively low to the ground, and he did, but he was tireless, keeping at long after the others had retired to the bouncy room. And in the free climb area he totally killed it, eventually conquering his anxieties and the wall itself to make it to the very top.

Now he wants a climbing membership.