Saturday football to the nth degree

I got to carry my son, half asleep, up to his bed last night. I haven't enjoyed the feel of his cheek molded to my shoulder in a long time, and likely won't get to much longer. His feet dangled past my knees as I lumbered up the stairs to undress him and deposit him in bed.

We were all exhausted after a day that started with a county parks program on insects and ended with the exciting conclusion to Michigan's first night game ever in the Big House. 

We have found that even if games start later in the day the tailgaters don't. They just party longer. We parked at eleven and ate lunch then dinner with friends and family, ducking under tents for short bouts of rain, walking to the park for afternoon entertainment, and mingling as the sun rose and then descended. It was edging toward the horizon as Jon, Calvin, and I headed for home to catch the game on TV.

Calvin's day ended at half time, which because of the night game was still hours after his usual bedtime, but he was hoping for a glimpse of the Airborne Paratroopers we'd met while tailgating. He got to take his picture with them and they were very nice about answering questions, and gave him a football, so we'd hoped their drop into the stadium at half time would be shown on TV. Alas, it wasn't.

Discovery

A gray tree frog, only not so gray. He'd been hanging out in the lillies by our front path, and he changed his suit accordingly. I had not known they did that, but this very well could be the same little guy we've seen repeatedly on our back deck.

Elsewhere in life, we spent the afternoon with the homeschooling group again. I've always needed certain points of navigation in life and having Fridays for gathering is lovely. The group has been meeting in area parks and Calvin has really enjoyed the activity as well as the chance to interact with other kids. For me, aside from meeting some great moms, the social time is an affirmation and also a resource.

Everyone travels through life on their own path and, even when we all end up in the same room, not only did we get there differently, we bring with us a colorful variety of experiences. I sit and chat and soak up all the suggestions and helpful hints I can, and sometimes I even feel like I have something I can share. To hear that other moms go through similar rough spots and frustrations is reassuring, and to be able to get and offer advice can be sanity saving.

"I'm evolving"

To file under the category of Kids Say The Darndest Things...

After going to the Field Museum in Chicago Calvin has had a pretty strong interest in evolution and prehistoric times. We've been slowly putting Antarctica to bed and following the path of these newest interests, so when we were looking for a family video to watch recently we took advantage of streaming from Netflix and watched Ape to Man, a History Channel special.

I'm no longer surprised when our five year old sits rapt in front of that kind of show, but I was a bit surprised when the following day, after I asked him what he'd been playing amongst (albeit not with) some other homeschooling kids at the Friday gathering, he answered, almost with exasperation, "Playing Ape to Man. I'm evolving," as if this was the most natural thing in the world and, geeze, I just should have known.

Officially missed

Today was the day. Some time this morning the neighborhood children boarded a bus and went off to school. Some time much later in the day I realized, remembered, that we had missed it. With the suddenly cooler weather the house has been closed up to the oustide world, and we missed the bus completely. And then we went on with the rest of the day just as we would any other.

Legos

Reading about penguins

Reading about giraffes

Drawing krill

More Legos

Exercise and books

Lunch and music

Piano

More Legos again

Drawing maps

Writing about Antarctica

Practicing addition

Art and puzzles

More and more Legos

Bike to the park

Dinner, and reading before bed

Just another day

Labor Day in the park