Monday, September 30, 2013

September Summary

School has started and we've settled in after some discomfort with new teachers, new routine. We also have a new piano teacher as well, not by choice. Ug. But we are past all that, the tears from the first weeks of school are over.

So we've tried to do a few fun things in addition to school.

Horseback riding lessons. We have found some cheap and not so far away riding lessons for Q7.

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C9 has also come to lessons, but not for the horses. For the possibility of going to Michael's (the craft store), for my tablet (the games), and for the dog (seen here in a stall ... he's big and slobbery).

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Pontoon ride on the Anacostia. The Anacostia isn't the cleanest river in the world. Or Maryland. Or Hyattsville. But it does have a lot of history. We took a pontoon boat ride from Bladensburg waterfront down past Keniworth Aquatic Gardens and to the National Arboretum where we turned around. I really wasn't sure the girls would enjoy this, but they did. Even the guy behind us enjoyed it!

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This was the view from our seat:
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Corn maze! I love these things, but the kids were not as keen on this activity. Q just wanted to get out, I think she didn't like being "lost." C had a pout for some reason. Lucy did enjoy it. After the maze we took a hay ride, had some ice cream, and dug for gems in one of those cheezy gem-dig things (and that actually took probably 45-60 minutes of their time, they loved that most of all!)

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Bugs. We walk home from school almost every day, and sometimes we see some good things. Like these two dying bugs.

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One more thing. C9 eats an apple burrito every day for lunch these days. It is a flour tortilla, peanut butter, cream cheese, apples, and raisins. Yum, right? Except for when we run out of raisins. So one day I put those teeny-tiny currents (I have a giant bag from making current scones ... they use fewer than you'd think!) in. C9 got upset, because she doesn't like currents  (who are these kids?). So I told her they weren't currents, they were baby raisins. Oh, OK, that works.  A few days later, Q7 was upset about getting currents in something instead of raisins, and C9 patiently explained that they were baby raisins, not currents. Oh, that's OK then, and Q7 went along with it. Awesome.