Week 18....Maybe? I'm not sure anymore.

It seems like when I have time to sit down and blog, either

    a- my mental energy is all drained and I can't put a coherent sentence together

    b-someone else is on the computer and my fingers are simply too fat to try to blog on my phone

    c-someone is sitting directly behind me asking, "What is there to do?" Which sends me through the             roof, making me forget what I sat down at the computer to do in the first place.  

Any way you hack it - not a recipe for quality, consistent blogging.  

Life is creeping back to what we consider normal now, but still would boggle our minds if we were to look at the situation before mid-March.  

Olders are in theatre camp for 2 weeks - mornings only - but it's a nice change of pace for everyone.  I think there are only 9 kids in the whole production.  Everyone is distancing and there is no singing.  It's more than we could have hoped for, even a couple months ago.  We're grateful.  

To give the Youngers a break, we've been working on Junior Ranger badges while the Olders are at Camp.  So far they've completed The National Park in American Samoa, El Malpais, Redwood and Obed Scenic River.  We have Dinosaur National Monument, Brown v Board of Education Historic Site, Central High School National Historic Park, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, War in the Pacific National Park and Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial.  

Those should keep us busy for next week.  

The kids have had to call a couple parks to interview Park Rangers as part of the badge process and the Rangers have been wonderful.  

Caroline and I got to go out to lunch today, which was nice.  For the past couple months I've had a super hankering to go shopping.  I HATE to shop, which means this pandemic thing must be taking a toll on my mental health...

I can't remember the last time just she and I got to go out on our own.  

We had gads of clothes to try on, only to get to the dressing room and find out that they were closed due to COVID.  Ugh.  The WHOLE POINT of shopping for clothes is to try them on.  

So we ended up making some educated guesses as to what would look good and came home with some things that look great AND we needed.  

Caroline is growing like a weed - I'm sure we'll have to make another trip out when the weather gets cold and she tries on her pants, only to find them all 3" too short.  

The boys are watching "Hamilton" yet again.  Which, of course, I'm thrilled about.  We have to watch it as many times as humanly possible before it goes off Disney Plus in 12 days.  Watching it has truly been a highlight of our summer.  

We had a Major Instance of "This is Where Homeschool Does NOT Suck" this past week.  

Benjamin has been studying space and space exploration in science class.  So I had him following the exploits of the Mars Rover Opportunity.  I had him reading the Rover's tweets - totally  unaware of the fact that the Rover died in early 2019.  

Never.  Have.  I.  Ever.  Seen a little boy so distressed.  

Huge sobs.  

Gator tears.  
He cried on my lap with his head buried in my chest until my shirt was soaked with tears.  

Hot Mess doesn't even begin to describe it.  

I posted on Facebook, thinking folks would get a kick out of it.  

I was contacted by my cousin who works for NASA who SET UP A ZOOM CALL WITH ONE OF THE PROJECT MANAGERS OF THE MARS2020 PROJECT for the kids!!!!!

It.  Was.  Amazing.  

The kids lived and breathed Mars before the call so they would have some good questions to ask.  

It was the opportunity of lifetime for them.  

We are SO very grateful.  

Caroline snapped a picture of Benjamin after he found out about Oppy.

We are SO grateful to NASA and the folks at JPL who gave these kids their most precious resource, their time.  

Softball has started. 

But we can totally socially distance AND lose games AND barbecue at the same time.  

So we're good there. 

After a deluge before our last game, we spent game time puddle stomping.  

Because what else are summers for?

We went to Monocacy National Battlefield on  the anniversary of the Battle.  The Visitor Center wasn't open, but the Ranger was kind enough to stand with us outside for 30 minutes and give us the lay of the land.  We were able to do our On This Day in History Broadcast on location...which is always a special treat.  

And Tseitle.  Tiny Tseitle.  Little Tseitle Boo.  

Not so little anymore...but still a purr-purr kitty.  

She is also a WATER KITTY.  

She sits and waits for the faucet to drip.  

It's adorable.  

After dropping the Older kids off at Edge the other night, I got to go for a walk around Walkersville Park.  I hadn't ventured there since before we left for Oklahoma.  

It has been almost a year to the day since we returned.  

Crazy what has happened in the 3 years since we left.  

Watching the sun start to set over the Blue Ridge, I was overwhelmed.  

It hit me that God has put us exactly where He wants us.    

I am grateful.