Summer Trade offs

My kids and I made a very purposeful decision before summer to NOT do any summer camps. With them traveling 4 weeks out of the summer, it seemed difficult to try to fit in any camps they wanted to do around that. The main camps they wanted to do were at Georgia Tech (robotics camp) which fell when they were out of town. Other camps were pretty much similarly situated. There were a few they could have squeezed in (my son could have gone to Skymont with his troop), but after looking at their schedule and the other things they wanted to do, camp seemed like making their schedules TOO busy. We realize that for many families, it's how they do summer. Especially with parents working, they kids need something to do as well. Fortunately for my family, I don't have to work.

So instead, we spend one day a week on something 'big' (like going to Kennesaw), one day doing something small (like bowling or going to the library) and the rest is up in the air to do what we want. Usually, they spend 1 day playing video games and one day swimming. This all means that I have my kids home (to myself) majority of the day every day. It also means that they start getting on each other's nerves after a while. Of course, that's when I usually try to do the field trip. It gets them out and interested in something else, so that when they get home the next day, they're more willing to be together.

It's all a trade off. I get more time with my kids, but I have to redirect them every so often to keep them from strangling each other. They may get bored more quickly, but all they have to do is suggest an activity and we have the time to go do it. The end result is that it's all good.

Hawks

We've had a pair of hawks in the neighborhood for years. I got lucky the other day and got to watch them for a bit. They landed on my neighbor's fence. I got to about 20 ft and stopped. I know at least one was watching me. They appeared to be a juvenile and an adult. Very vocal pair. One caught something (squirrel I presume) and had a snack in the neighbor's yard. My camera wasn't good enough to get a close-up, but I did get this one.

Southern Civil War & Locomotive Museum

My kids went on their first 'school' field trip last Wednesday. GCA had a Meet & Greet out at the Southern Civil War & Locomotive Museum. It's a very interesting place, we'll have to go back again at some point. My son's comment was 'a mixture of two of my favorite things.. weapons (guns) and trains.' My daughter did the scavenger hunt (not too hard). I think she likes trying to find the facts. It's located near downtown Kennesaw.

It's gonna be quiet..

My parents get back from their mondo Disney cruise (on the Disney Magic, going to Russia and more). They'll be stopping in here tonight and taking off again in the morning. When they go, my kids are headed out with them. It means my house is going to be quiet. Not that I won't have things to do.. a friend of mine and I are going on a ladies' night only thing (probably to Commerce, details still being worked on) Saturday. I'll be at the Aquarium M-W doing their summer camp thing. Then hubby and I will drive down to meet up with kids & parents for the 4th of July holiday. But still, it's going to be quiet around here..

Summer Movies

My kids and I haven't made it to the theater yet, though it's still on the agenda. We have, though, used a lot of redbox movies. For $1 you can rent a movie overnight, which works well for the on-the-fly movie night. My only disappointment is not as much selection as, say, netflix. There's no longer a blockbuster in my area and I'm not interested in a monthly subscription right now anyway. So, with that, here's a list of some of the movies we have seen.

2012 - so bad it was almost funny
Alvin and the Chipmunks pt. 2 - my daughter watched it and loved it.
Blind Side - I watched this, loved it!
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - kids thought it was cute, no overwhelming response, though.
Ice Age 3 - a cute follow-up to the others
Leap Year - I thought this was a cute movie, not a repeater, though.
Legion - it was ok for an end of the world movie, not a favorite.
Planet 51 - loved it!
Santa Buddies - another of my daughter's picks, she liked it.
Sherlock Holmes - very well done, with just the right amount of insanity for Holmes
Spy Next Door - spoofy Jackie Chan, it was cute
Tooth Fairy - my kids found it hilarious

Here's a few I'll eventually rent.
The Hangover
Megafault
Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure (for my daughter)
GI Joe
Mail Order Bride

Museum of Patriotism

After visiting the Aquarium on Father's Day, we headed across the street to the National Museum of Patriotism. I won tickets from "Field Trips with Sue" and hadn't had the chance to get out there to check it out before now. They had a scavenger hunt that my kids did while we were there. It was a good thing because it made my kids slow down and actually LOOK at what was there. Something they would have seen, but not really paid a lot of attention to. Definitely worth the effort as far as I was concerned. The museum also has a portion of the citizenship test available for you to give a try. My son scored 92%. My daughter and my husband each scored 100% (my daughter watched her brother take it first). I flunked at 65%. Sad, but true.

Freedom bike from the Sydney Olympics

Names from 9-11. This portion of the exhibit actually has pieces of the plane and the towers.

Award podium from the 1996 Olympics

The museum itself isn't very big, but it is very interesting. With information about immigration, the Olympics, the military and lots more on display. If you're downtown definitely worth the stop-in visit.

Georgia Aquarium

For Father's Day I took my family out to the Aquarium. It was amazingly not crowded. We got a look at the new stuff they hadn't seen and took a behind the scenes tour they'd never taken. They had a lot of fun. My son has decided that swimming with the whale sharks with his dad would be a good Christmas gift.

The new addition to the Aquarium

Moon Jellies

The penguins are back in their new exhibit. It has a crawl tunnel under the exhibit with a couple of pop-ups into the exhibit.

Piranha

Sea Turtle

Southern Sting Ray in the GA Explorer touch pool

Wobegong baby sharks

My daughter at the GA Explorer touch pool

Behind the Scenes - top of Ocean Voyager. You can see this on the Quick Dip tour that we took as well as on the SeaKeepers (longer/better) tour.

Lilburn Farmer's Market

After trying to go the the Farmer's Market in Snellville a week ago, I decided to try the one in Lilburn this past Friday. I got there early to make sure that the goodies were still there. There were several vendors with home made goods like fudge, seasonings, pasta, cookies, cakes, salsa and more. There were also some produce stands with cucumbers, beans, fruit, corn, beans and more. They also had a lemonade stand to help a little boy named Al who was burned badly a few weeks ago.

Here's some of my haul.

Peaches

Green plums

Salsa

Jam

Blueberries

I realize that for most people a Farmer's Market really isn't that big a deal, but when you live in an urban or a suburban area, you don't always get the home grown goodies. Home grown goodies are good and fun. Anyway, it's a good way to find your local providers and a good way to support your community.

Father's Day

Bethesda Aquatic Center (Gwinnett)

It's been so hot lately that I haven't wanted to go to the pool at all. As cool as the water would feel, the air wasn't very conducive to the desire to go. So, I compromised with my kids and we went and checked out Bethesda aquatic center instead. All pools and play areas are INSIDE. It's smaller than the pool we normally go to (Mountain Park), but it had it's own benefits. Just like Mtn. Park it has the aquatic play area. Most of it is about 3 ft deep, with a lazy river and a single water slide. It has an instructional pool as well that opens later in the day due to classes. I took a couple of pictures with my phone so that you could get a better idea of what it looks like.

You can't see it so well in this shot, but there's a "shower" coming from the ceiling down to the pool.

The slide is a tube that goes outside for a few loops then comes back in where it empties into a small pool. The lazy river is just in front of the slide.

The little guys play area.

Free Bowling

My kids love to bowl, though not quite every day. With the heat the way it has been, we haven't wanted to get out and do much of anything. Brunswick gave the kids a bowling pass. Kids can bowl one game free each day this summer. You can download a pass if your child didn't get one at school, from their site.

I happened to have a coupon for me as well, so we bowled two games and kept us occupied for a couple of hours OUT of the house.

Random Picture Day

Summer Fun

I'm sure this is true with most families. The signs of summer MUST include the pool. I was quite amazed, actually, when we went to the pool and it wasn't totally packed. I'm not sure if it was the day of the week (wednesday) or the fact that if you're not a Gwinnett County resident they've doubled the fees. Whatever the reason, it made for a nice day. We packed lunch and snacks for the day (thus avoiding the $1 snack machines) and hung out for 3 hours. After that I started to bake and decided it was time for home.

Snellville Farmer's Market

I visited my friend Darla Dixon (an artist) out at the Snellville Farmer's Market Saturday. She and a friend were painting for charity. They were supporting the local cooperative ministry.

The market itself was rather small. We got there too late for a lot of the goodies, so I'll have to check it out another time. My recommendation is to get there early (9a) so that there'll be more goodies to get. There were fresh made breads, cookies, coffee, home grown vegetables, fresh eggs, etc. It's running every Saturday morning from 8a-12p.

To my youngest

It's hard to believe it's been 9 years.

New at the Zoo

As members at the zoo (at a certain level) we were invited to preview the new sun bear exhibit, the sumatran tiger and clouded leopard exhibits. I only got a few pictures this time, the sun bear was particularly uncooperative with photos. We'll return after the initial uproar is faded some.