Day 11: Something Blue

I took the kids bowling this afternoon.  Midway Lanes participates in the Kids Bowl Free program.  Basically, kids bowl free.  Simple as that. Each kiddo gets 2 free games of bowling every day of the summer.  Shoe rental is $2.  Not a bad deal!  The boys wanted to be manly and skip the gutter blockers.  Megan agreed to this as well.  That last 2 frames.  Any guess which child caved and requested the blockers after scoring only 2 pins in 2 frames???
They also have lunch specials for the kids who are bowling.  I think a return visit will be in order.

Day 10: Favorite Childhood memory

Yesterday's challenge assignment was "Favorite Childhood Memory".  Most of my favorite childhood memories occured 200+ miles from where I currently live, so this was a bit of a challenge.  Many favorite memories were at Lake Melissa or the farm.  I thought I could get a picture of Missy this weekend (my friend from Lake Melissa), but ironically, she was at Lake Melissa and not in Makoti.  So, I took a picture instead of Megan playing on the piano.  This is the same piano that I learned how to play piano on, and that my Mom learned how to play piano on.  I get all mushy when I think that a 3rd generation is learning to play on the same piano.  The boys just finished their 2nd year, and will not continue.  Megan will start in a few years.



Dorothy Gust was my piano teacher.  I would walk to her house after school on Mondays.  I would usually stop at the Casselton Library and The Federated Store on my way to check out books and buy candy.  Mrs. Gust (who was also the school secretary and pulled out my first tooth) always had some snacks in her living room, usually generic Hydrox cookies.   Her students would wait in the living room with Clem and watch TV with him while we waited for our lesson.  Clem and Dorothy were also our families' "storm home".  I do remember one night when we had to stay at their home because of a blizzard.  Dorothy cooked a ham for supper.  I think she was as excited as we were. 
Here ends the history lesson for the evening.

Minot

We spent the weekend in Minot helping Don's parents unpack their new house.  They have a really cool house in the south part of town.  It is primarily one level, but there is a loft with a bedroom.  The kids have claimed that as their play area.  We took a little break last night to find a playground.  We went to McKinnley School, which is near the house they have been renting since late last summer.

The kids all had fun playing, until Megan had to go to the bathroom....we had to cut things short then.

Day 8: A Bad Habit

I bypassed Day 7, as the challenge assignment was fruit, and I just didn't get the chance to do that yesterday.  Day 8's challenge is a bad habit.

However, I do not think it is fair to call my coffee issues a bad habit.  According to many reliable sources on the internet, coffee can:
1. Lower my risk of depression
2.  Lower my risk for Alzheimer's Disease
3.  Protect me from Type 2 Diabetes
4.  Decrease my risk of Parkinson's

And, a May 2012 study by the New England Journal of Medicine found that, during the course of their study, coffee drinkers "who drank at least two or three cups a day were about 10 percent or 15 percent less likely to die for any reason during the 13 years of the study.

In celebration of my bad habit, I bought a carousel for my Keurig today.

Borden Harbor Park

This morning we visited Borden Harbor park in southeast Mandan. Traditionally, the boys play some type of rocket/space themed game when we are here. There are little triangle shaped platforms that are set on springs that they think are rockets. There is lots of grassy area for playing tag, and a basketball court. Jonathan was prepared today and packed his basketball. Prior to visiting the park, we stopped by the Mandan library to turn in our first week of reading logs and get some more books.

 The boys had a blast swinging on the swings and getting some great vestibular input

 Eric and Jonathan chased each other all over the playground, burning off all kinds of energy.

They couldn't get enough of the slides!

The boys spend most of our time at the playground reading a book Eric checked out on folklore creatures, which highlighted their strengths and weaknesses.  First, Eric read on the swings, then at the base of the slides, then on the triangle shaped bouncy platforms (my battery died at that point.)  He and Jonathan had lenghy discussions on which characters would win in battles against other characters (ie....a centuar vs scorpian man).  Finally, they did put the book away and re-enacted the battles they had just read about.

The Pool

 I hear the "Jaws" theme whenever I look at this picture

 Eric was just a little cold

We have been enjoying our pool every day since we set it up.  The weather has been (mostly) warm and sunny.  The water temp is just above 70 degrees now, but we did go swimming while it was in the mid 60s.  Brrrrrrrr......Our solar cover did arrive today, so that will help warm things up!

Day 6: From a low angle

I cheated...I did yesterday's assignment today...this is at the same park.  I was only able to take a few shots since my camera battery was dead.  Whoops.