Friday, August 3, 2018

Summer Break: Weeks Eight and Nine

Have I mentioned that this summer has been a really good one so far? The boys are much more mature this summer and have done an excellent job of entertaining themselves. I often felt like the cruise director during previous summers -- planning museum outings and library trips and pool visits. This summer, we've still done all those things, but we've had many more lazy days at home as well. It's been really good. The boys are enjoying their down time while still letting me get my school work done.

Speaking of school work, I had to do a big final project with my partner on makerspaces. The boys were my guinea pigs for my makerspace idea! They had to come up with a way to move a car along a path without using their hands. 

Planning their path


Trying out ideas



Their solution was to use the magnet under the cardboard to move the car along the path.  


Last week, the kids were both in an ID Tech camp. They LOVED it! Will did a Python coding/Minecraft mods class. This is the certificate ceremony that they do at the end of each week. 


It's hard to see, but he created a birthday cake in honor of my birthday!


Henry took a game design class and made a Mario-like game. 



Awards ceremony 


We also celebrated my birthday with dinner out at our favorite Indian restaurant, Maharajah Bhog. 


After dinner, we stopped back home to grab Ruby because Brazos Bookstore was having a "bring your dog to the bookstore" night. You can't tell from these photos, but there were dogs everywhere! It was so much fun for all of us and I love that it fell on my birthday!



We were too stuffed for dessert, so we celebrated the next night with a dessert pizza. Ruby always wants to join in the fun!




The kids weren't in camp this week, and we had the laziest week, spent mostly at home. One morning, Henry didn't even get out of his jammies until well past lunchtime. Now that's summer for you!


We did get out to Barnes and Noble to get Will an algebra book. He's taking algebra this year and wanted to do some practice.  


We had lunch out after helping at my mentor's library on Tuesday


and played with friends at our house on Wednesday. On Thursday, the kids and I went downtown for a mini art tour. It was a mild morning (for August) as a "cold" front had come through town.

We read an article in the paper about Lego sculptures at Allen Center, and that was just too cool to pass up.

These are Park People by artist Nathan Sawaya.





There are six sculptures and they are really awesome!



Next up, we walked two blocks to The Heritage Society, where a new Mexican-American mural is being painted. We even had an opportunity to chat with the artists about their work!


Also in Sam Houston Park is Open House by Havel Ruck Projects. This temporary art project uses an abandoned house that was moved to the park and is covered inside with historic photos. The circular holes throughout are supposed to invoke a sense of looking at the present through the lens of the past. 




As we walked through the park, I couldn't resist putting on my tour guide hat and giving the boys a brief history of the houses as we passed by. I didn't work there very long, but The Heritage Society will always have a special place in my heart! 




We ended our art tour outside the downtown library in front of this sculpture by Claes Oldenburg  called Geometric Mouse X.


Two more weeks of summer break for Will and three more for Henry!

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