Saturday: Was a great day! We (me, my mom and the elflings) went to the Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park for Living History Day. My mom made a skirt for C.J. and a serape for C.O., so they were all dressed up (C.O. wore an old sombrero from Chevy's too). The year was 1840 in Mexican-ruled California. There were crafts, a passport station, displays, and a bunch of people running around in costume. We got our passports, on which we had to write our names with a quill pen dipped in India ink. C.O. and I made a basket, which was a really fun project (think I'll have to try it again):
We debated making candles, but the lady said it was an hour-long process, and the kids didn't seem thrilled with that idea, so instead we checked out all display tables, with everything from imported opium and cologne to cowhides and rawhide whips. We wandered all over the Adobe, and then had our picnic lunch with the costumed woman who cooked period food for the volunteers/docents - she told us a lot about the difficulties and challenges of cooking in heavy cast-iron pans over open fires, and maintaining the right temperature in wood-fired ovens. Even the kids were interested in what she was saying! After lunch, we went to make adobe bricks and ran into some homeschooling friends, DadR and his two sons (about the same ages as my two, I believe) - all were thrilled to see each other! Within 5 minutes, all four kids were in the adobe mud pit, "excavating" rocks. This lasted an hour, at least. In that time, other kids came and went, making tidy adobe bricks, no mud on their clothes, except for one intrepid baby that climbed in when his mom turned her back (my mom & I got a good giggle from that)... oh well. Kids are washable, as our clothes! I ended the day by getting on the email list for other events there, since they've all been fun so far, and very inexpensive (kids 16 and under are free).
Sunday: Woke up to two lovely, cuddly kids. I made us blueberry pancakes, using a great mix I got from the health-food store and fresh blueberries. We watched cartoons - Max & Ruby, Maggie & the Ferocious Beast - and had breakfast in bed. That was the best part of the entire day. After that, the kids started fighting, endlessly. I threw out my back trying to move C.O.'s bed a couple of inches (he's got one of those heavy captain's beds with the drawers underneath). It was just a frustrating, very long day. At least my sister made a lovely, gourmet dinner for my mom and I, although the kids were arguing the entire way through, and had to be sent away from the table.
Monday: Did not go to work today as I couldn't even get out of bed without my back spasming. My mom generously brought some pain medication over, and took the elflings off my hands so I could rest. The pain medication made me very dopey, and of course that's when work called. Turns out the one (the very annoying one) I left the message with didn't pass it on, so the senior secretary was calling to find out what was going on. She also wanted to let me know that payroll had figured my monthly pay based on a work year of 218 days, not the 180 my department calls for, so either I have work through June, or extra pay coming! There's a relief. I applied at Whole Foods and a local "chain" called Oliver's Market as well, since I think those stores "fit" me better than Safeway. My back is feeling much better - I took anti-inflammatory pills and applied an ice pack, and now I can move!
We also had Aikido, today with an obstacle course. The sensei laid out a rope in a wavy pattern to represent a river, and the students had to handle different obstacles, like a raising & lowering "bridge", a wiggling cord for rapids, and so forth. C.O. enjoyed it so much! He loved handling the rainstick too, to represent ocean sounds. We did two pages of math (lessons 114A and 115A) and a page from his language arts book when we got home.
Side note: Remember not to buy gas tomorrow (Gas Out 2007)! It seems a small thing to do, that may, hopefully, have some impact on horrendous gas prices - the cheapest I can find around here is $3.33 a gallon, while oil companies are making record profits.
I am so sorry you had such a trying Mother's Day. :( No one should get hurt on their special day! Good news on the job front though.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that I forgot about Living History Day! I totally meant to go to that but I didn't write it on the calendar... so I forgot. We would've gone on Friday since we were planning on going with the field trip group on Saturday, so we would've had to skip it due to illness anyway - but I can't believe I forgot about it. It looks like you guys had a really good time. Pass on those event emails to me.