ciroccoj | Summer draws to a close...

At some point I'm going to upload the pictures of Mary and Paula's visit. It was eventful. In twenty-two days, we did a whirlwind tour of Ottawa's Museum of Civilization, Upper Canada Village, Kingston's Ugly Street (upper Princess St) and its Pretty Street (lower Princess), Chez Piggy, Murney Tower, Niagara Falls, Niagara Falls From Below, Niagara Falls from Inside, Zu Viel Wasser, Niagara's non-Wasser-related fun street, the Butterfly Conservatory, Ottawa's Fletcher Wildlife Garden, Museum of Science and Technology, and the Byward Market... I know I've missed something in there, but you get the point. Stuff! To! Do!

And in between were board games and family gossip and lots and lots of vegetarian food and kids playing together and having a heck of a good time :) :)
Now we're settling in to the new school year. Slowly. Went to the NOT Going Back To School Picnic - huge success as always, even though we didn't have eggs for our chocolate chip cookies to share at the dessert potluck table so we had to make chocolate chip shortbread - got the kids into a bunch of autumn events, re-met a bunch of friends. And giggled, as I do every year, at the large "Beach Closed - No Lifeguard Present" glaring over the crowds of parents & kids in the water. It kind of encapsulates why many of us are home schoolers in the first place ;)
Started taekwon-do and we'll be going back to three times a week as of next week. Which I must say is a bit of a relief. We're too old to go only once a week; we get all ouchy in the interim and never really get used to the punishing workout. And we forget stuff. Embarrassingly so.

Oh! And! Daniel got to lead warmup! Wish I'd been able to take a picture of his ear-to-ear smile of pride as he was called up to the front. He had to be reminded of stuff (tell the class what to do next, keep each stretch at least eight seconds, etc) many, many times, but started to get it by the end.

There's a black stripe kid I've mentioned before, who kept goofing off and avoiding work, and whom the black belts seemed to have pretty much given up on. Well, he was there too, and somebody must have reached a decision as to what to do about him because he got the full weight of blackbeltdom dumped upon him the first time he asked a smart-aleck question ("Ten push-ups, ask another question like that again and I'll take your belt away for the rest of the class"), and the first time he wasn't paying attention ("Twenty push-ups and if I have to talk to you again for anything else I'll take your belt away for the week") and a stern talking to afterwards ("These are not idle threats; shape up or lose your belt"). Wow. Harsh. I would feel sorry for the kid, except I don't.

We figure he will either smarten up or drop out within the month. It'll be interesting to see which way he goes.
ninja_kat had her baby, Ms. ninja_kat Jr, on Wednesday. OMG, intense cuteness alert. I went to spell Mr. ninja_kat for a couple of hours on Friday and a bit on Saturday, and got to hold the baby! It's amazing how quickly you forget just how tiny and perfect newborns are. Almost makes me wish I had one too.

I said almost. Sane sleeping patterns and bowel control soundly trump Awesome Adorable for me when it comes to persons I wish to have living in my house.
Speaking of bowel control, did I mention Daniel got his first deodorant? And Justin has developed a very slight case of acne. The times and the boys, they are a changing, and I am woefully unready. I like them the way they are! This is a great age!

Then again, I think I've been saying that about just about every age since they passed the four-year mark, so who knows, maybe I'll love the teenage years and the moving-out years and the early adulthood years just as much.