Playing Catch-up - Birthday and NY Trip

I almost forgot that we were in NY in mid-April. Which, of course, means that M got to see his grandparents 3 times this year (so far). One time was when they drove to NC for M's 6th birthday, making it just in time for his birthday party. Then there was this April trip, a return visit for Grandpa's birthday. And the most recent trip we just got back from.

I have hardly any pictures from M's 6th birthday party. Which is pretty sad 'cause it was the first big party for him and he was very excited. See, M's birthday is in early February, the time when many kids come down with sniffles, coughs and all sorts of viruses. In the past, we had years when all M's friends were sick and we had to cancel, when Grandma was sick and we had to cancel, and when M himself was sick and we had to cancel.

But thanks to a very mild winter this year there was not a sniffle among M's little friends. And so the party was on. For various reasons (ok, just one overwhelming reason), we had to do the party at home. If you've been to our house, you know it's a small one. There's not one room with lots of running-around space. There's no dining room and the dining table in the kitchen is barely large enough for 4 adults.

That's why we had to limit the number of friends M was allowed to invite to his party. Still, we ended up with a list of 15 kids, mostly boys, and all 7 years old and younger. M wanted a Star Wars themed party. Well, ok, so I got this idea of setting up a padawan training camp for the kids complete with light sabers made out of pool noodles. Sounds perfect, right? Well, have you ever tried buying pool noodles in late January?!

That's why we ended up using heavy cardboard tubes which was not idea from the safety standpoint. Nope, nobody got hurt and kids had great fun. But it took all my vigilance and effort to keep things from getting too crazy. As a result, no pictures, except this one before the party started (M wanted to dress up as Boba Fett. Also notice Darth Vader poster on the wall)

I think next year I'm just going to host a party at a park, rain (or snow) or shine. And ask everyone to bring Nerf guns.  

Since the weather was so nice and the grandparents were in town for a few days, we did all the usual fun. We took Grandma on scenic walks and treasure hunts. And we tried to invite Grandpa along, but he said he'd rather nap.

Then just a couple of months later it was our turn to drive to NY to Grandpa's birthday. And again, we did the usual stuff. M and Grandma gardened, baked and played with Guinness, a super-smart and super-sweet chocolate lab Grandpa was pet sitting.

 And Grandpa got to talk to Chris (here seen holding a couple of birch logs for future craft projects).

 And Chris got to eat mother-in-law's food. Always plentiful, practically always delicious.

 And M got to spend a lot of time digging through his favorite space in the Grandparents' tiny house, the attic. There are all sorts of fascinating things there in addition to the regular assortment of seasonal clothing, my brother's camping gear, and dusty books that Grandma plans on reading "right after she retires". It's also a place where I keep some toys, games and books for the times when we're in NY and have nothing to do. There's also an old kids drum set there. M wanted it downstairs, but no way!!! We compromised by clearing some floor space in the attic and letting M go wild there with a song he titled "Loded Diper" (if you read "The Diary of the Whimpy Kid", you know).

 Fortunately (for our eardrums), M would get tired of the "Loded Diper" song and come down to either cook with Grandma or play the treasure hunting game, again with Grandma. The original game was too easy, even boring, so Grandma made some of her own rules. But she also came up with tons of little "treasure" rewards. So when it was time to leave, M had several small boxes of tchotchkes he collected.

 Fun times!

Playing Catch-up - Beach Outing

I'm still playing catch-up after disappearing from this space for like forever. And I'm just now downloading pictures from my camera. So it looks like we got to go to the beach a couple of times so far, both times in April. Which is funny 'cause then we tried going the entire month of May, but it was always too cold or rainy or the weather service forecast called for thunderstorms on the coast.

Anyway, first M and I went together with two other Russian moms and their kids. So we had a little field trip - 3 adults and 4 boys. We were outnumbered! But the kids had fun. And, thanks to a friend, I discovered a beautiful beach not far from Raleigh. It's as close as Carolina Beach, but is way more interesting, especially if you are not into relaxing with a book or your kid is not into building sandcastles for hours on end.

Our first trip to Kure Beach was amazing. The water was still too cold for swimming or even jumping in the waves. But it was ok with us because we found some amazing and pretty rare shells. And then we found sea urchins and starfish, some dead, but others very much alive and bobbing about in the shallow warm water.

Now, that was super exciting and I decided that we should go back as soon as possible for more awesome finds. The second time we went, it was purely a family outing - Chris, myself and M. The day was a whole lot windier and colder, so we didn't see any starfish or sea urchins this time. There weren't even that many shells. But we did find lots and lots of crap claws, all different shapes and sizes. Most were very stinky, so we left them be.

Finally, we found one that used to belong to a blue crab. It was so beautiful that we decided to put up with the smell. We figured, we could bring it home and put it in the sunniest spot on the driveway or next to an ant hill or something. Well, to make the long story short, it didn't work out that way and even after a couple of weeks the claw remained too stinky to be allowed inside the house. And outside, if the wind was blowing at just the right angle, the smell would make you do a double-sniff followed by an inspection of the soles of your shoes and thoughts of seafood poisoning. We ended up throwing it away.

But it's not like we didn't find any other treasures that day. Sure, there were no live sea urchins, but we did find one and a half sand dollar (ok, one whole one and one half of the other one). And there were lots of pieces of a very beautiful bright yellow seaweed. Oh, and lots and lots of little pieces of brain corals, perfectly sun bleached.

We let M use our camera to photograph his own finds. It's a great practice for him for the moments when we need him to take a photo of the two of us. If he pays attention, he usually does a very good job. Of course, we still end up asking strangers to take the photos of the three of us. But just wait 'til we get a pet monkey and train it in the art of photography!

Well, that's about all for our beach outings to date. Wew!

First Ever Camping Trip

This happened a while ago, on Easter weekend to be exact. We went camping, hooray! Now, you might not think it's such a big deal. But last time I went camping family-style I was in elementary school. And I'm not sure Chris has ever been camping before.

Fortunately, we have terrific friends who are seasoned campers 'cause they go camping a lot and also 'cause they have a camper. They also have a ton of gear, doubles and triples of many things which was helpful. And my brother was able to join us. He's just about the most adventurous and outdoorsy person I know. Which is great for real backwoods stuff, but is not particularly useful at a nice family-style campsite. But what's really useful is that my bro is an awesome camp cook.

One thing you gotta know about camping with Russians is that there will be lots and lots of food. The entire day will revolve around cooking and eating food. Since food is so important to the success of the outing, it won't be any ordinary stuff like sandwiches. No freaking way! Instead, there will be some sort of soup (why do my American friends think soup is so complicated? it's just about the easiest thing to cook!), lots of veggies - fresh (scallions, radishes, cukes) and cooked (roasted corn, baked potatoes) and, of course, shishkebabs.

Anyway, the three of us - Chris, myself and M - were total noobs at this whole camping thing. But I think we fared well. M loved it. The first night we tried getting him to sleep in the camper with his friends. At first he was all for the idea. But as soon as the lights were out, he asked to sleep in the tent.

The second, last night, was particularly awesome. I let M stay up late. I wrapped him in a warm blanket and he sat by the fire, listened to his bedtime story, ate s'mores, watched the stars. Then he just sat and watched the fire and listened to the adults talking and fell asleep. It was just about perfect, I thought.

Here's the picture of the delicious shishkebabs my brother made. I fixed a salad to go with them. And we had grilled corn and baked potatoes too. Now, let me say a couple of things about baked potatoes. If you cannot enjoy a real baked potato, yes, the kind with ash on its skin 'cause it wasn't wrapped in foil, then too bad for you! You are totally missing out on things.

Here's the (now, in retrospect) funny thing about this camping trip. We forgot M's warm clothes. Yep, we sure took warm jackets for ourselves. But somehow we forgot M's sweaters and warm pants and, well, even a rain jacket. That's some parenting, I tell ya. Still, the kid did great and was happy and warm throughout the 3-day trip.

Since returning from our first ever camping trip, we traded our giant 6-person tent for a more modestly sized 4-person one. Our friends upgraded their popup camper to a better model. And we vowed to go camping again soon, as soon as we get a camping stove.

Oy Vey, It's Already the End of May!

... and it looks like I've been absent from this here space for a number of months. But not to worry, nothing extraordinary has happened here and we're all doing just fine. Simply put, I was way overwhelmed and reached a total burn-out point. Couldn't stand looking at the computer screen unless I absolutely had to (for work).

But I'm back for now. So let's see, what's going on around here...

First of all, the biggest news right now is that Moebius Noodles, the book my friend/co-author/math wizard/fellow homeschooler and  I've been working on for the past couple of years is out and it's awesome (or so I hear). So GET A COPY for yourself, your friends, your kids' teachers and so on. We've heard the book makes a great baby shower gift. PDF is pay-what-you-want (just remember, we worked real hard on this book and it's awesome) and you can order a hard copy too.

I'll post more updates about the book as things happen. So far, Maria and I appeared in a guest article on the Scientific American blog.

Ok, so that's that. On to the latest house/yard project. We're slowly, but surely turning our backyard into an amusement park. A few weeks ago we bought a used 15' trampoline on Craigslist. It seemed like a good deal - the huge trampoline was in a very good shape, including the safety net. But it turned out to be a GREAT deal, unbelievable awesome deal 'cause, check it out, the people who were selling it gave us a swing set, complete with swings, fort, sandbox, fireman's pole, and a slide. And to top it all off, they gave us a zipline. Yep, they just gave it all to us!

So Chris was very busy the last week or so. First, he had to take the playset apart and get it to our yard. Then he was busy setting up the trampoline. Then he put up the swings. Today was the zipline day. And next week the rest of the playground will be done (hopefully).

Now, I was going to take pictures of Chris setting up the trampoline. I figured, it'd take an hour or two of work tops. But turns out, putting together a used trampoline is very different from all those youtube videos of putting together a new trampoline. So it took us like 3 days, including rust-proofing, cleaning the springs, and lots of hammering. Besides, turns out, trampoline assembly means spending most of the time in very uncomfortable positions, usually bent over. And straining to connect the stupid parts. Not very photogenic.

So the only picture of me that I allowed here is where I'm doing light work - ducttaping parts together (that's also not in any of the videos).

Ok, fine, I'll including this one. Although it's obviously a staged shot (to Chris's great annoyance I never lift with my legs). But M took this picture, so I'm including it.

Yesterday we had friends over for a little trampoline-jumping playdate. It was awesome! We just need loads of Bug Off spray, mostly for parents 'cause kids don't seem to be bothered. Another option for adults is to stay in the house. You see, the trampoline is so giant that it can be seen from pretty much any window of the house. But the best view is from the sliding door which, coincidence I think it isn't, is by our kitchen table.

BTW, if you are wondering about a zipline adventure tour for yourself... Sorry, the zipline we have is not designed to hold adults. I mean, it will hold (it held me), but you get like no speed on it. Plus we set it pretty low to the ground - good for little kids, but a pain for anyone above 5' tall.

The Books We Read This Week

Ok, so the week is not over yet, but I better post these books now so I don't forget to do it later. Since our old car was not driving all that well plus so many of our friends spent their winter break either travelling or being sick or both, we spent more time than normal at home in the past few days. So we read a lot.

I picked up the book of Bazhov's tales last time I was in New York mostly because I wanted it for myself. The language seemed quite difficult for a young child to understand. There are a lot of words that fell out of use long time ago. Kids in Russia might be exposed to some of these words through fairy tales and old cartoons. But my son is not one for fairy tales (he'll ask to read and re-read the Complete History of Star Wars instead) and the only Russian cartoons he is still interested in are Smeshariki, Fixiki and Pin Code. So I was very surprised when M liked the stories, kept asking for more, remembered the names of the characters and even talked about what if he was in those stories. I'm going to try to show him some of the old Soviet cartoons based on these stories.

This is another one of my favorite childhood books. I tried reading it with M months ago, but he wasn't too interested. The language is not difficult and the stories are funny and engaging. I think he was too much into his rockets and space exploration phase though. So by the time we picked up this book again, we've already read about Paddington Bear and Emil from Lonneberga, much longer and more involved stories. As M is getting older, he's becoming a lot more thrilled with mischievous characters yet he still wants them to be cute and cuddly. I think that's why this time around Kuzka stories are such a big hit.

Angelo is the first book that I insisted on not translating into Russian. M didn't like the idea of me reading a book in English. But he became too absorbed in the story after just the first couple of pages. To keep things consistent with our one parent one language approach, I plan on only reading in English during our English lessons. Our evening story time will remain in Russian for the foreseeable future. As for the book, M found the story more sad than happy. I saw him blinking away a tear or two as the story moved along. We talked a bit more about this story (in Russian) which gave me an opportunity to introduce a few new Russian words, such as штукатурка, штукатурщик, херувим, строительные леса, etc.

M liked this book, the Perfect Square, enough to pick up a square of origami paper and scissors and do his own little collage. I hoped for more, but what can I say - M just doesn't like cutting, tearing or gluing paper.

This week we also read two more math books. The first one was 1+1 = 5 and Other Unlikely Additions. I tried it some time ago, but without much success. This time, however, M was thrilled. He insisted we read the book a couple of times and then he retold me the entire story. We even tried coming up with our own unlikely additions. What I liked most was that both number recognition and addition were present, but not central. M used both without even really noticing it since he was so absorbed figuring out the attributes in each picture that really made each addition work.

The last book I want to share is Roman Numerals from I to MM. No, I'm not teaching M Roman numerals. But I wanted him to see how using different numerals affects how we write and read numbers. He liked the idea that numbers could be written as letters. He LOVED the fact that his letter, M, was used for the largest single-symbol value (M = 1000). It didn't hurt that the pictures of cute piggies were so darn... cute. He immediately recognized them from Hogwash and Pigaroons books. I like this book and will try going a bit more in-depth with it in a few months.