Wednesday Outing Stories

I picked Venice up at Parker, and as is usual, at least in the couple of times now I've picked her up, she and Elijah play this game of tag as they're released by their teacher - Elijah is slightly taller than Venice, and lanky and athletic looking - but, in their chasing of one another, Venice is the more accomplished runner - She can catch him in their game of tag, but outruns him when he's "it" - he doesn't seem to mind, but it is clear who is the better athlete and runner....This takes about 10 mins, and then I tell her it's time to go - AWWWWW...!

On the way over to Crest to pick Casey up, Venice is in the back seat chattering away about stuff - she mentions that it is now October, and I'd said we could go to Chuck-e-Cheese in October, so we should do that today - then she laments the fact that we've been going out with all 4 of the kids, and she wishes we'd go back to a 2-kid outing like before - well, she corrects herself and says not like before when Xander and Teiya didn't get to go out, too, but at least to outings with just 2 of them, Venice and Casey - she didn't want Xander and Teiya to miss out on any Jiichan outings....Then, she remembered that it wasn't Chuck-e-Cheese that I'd said we couldn't go to til Oct, but the pottery place...! - Oh, yeah, we should go to the pottery place today....I told her that we were going to a park today because the weather was still nice, and the indoor outings were for when the weather got too cold or rainy - but, she said, "You said we could go in Oct, so why not...?" Next week it will be Nov...! - I said that what I meant was that Oct was the earliest we could go to the pottery place (because of the costs) - oh...

I explained to Venice before we got to Crest that Granny and I had changed some of the particulars about our Weds outings - that we would no longer go to ColdStone or Ben&Jerry's because neither really clean their ice cream scoops between servings, and with so many of the offerings containing peanuts and others, it was just too dangerous and so we weren't going to go to them from now on....When we got to Crest, Venice alerted Casey to this change - Initially, Casey didn't say anything...

On our way to Amazon Park the two are talking, and Casey gets out his lunchbox and begins finishing his lunch - Venice asks him if he'd share some of his lunch - Casey agrees, and gives her what apparently is a graham cracker - she asks, Is this a graham cracker, and Casey says, yes, and she takes a bite, and says, yes it is....Some more talk about stuff, and Venice asks if Casey would share some more of his lunch, but this time he says, no....Casey asks, why don't you get your lunch and finish it...? - Venice says that she doesn't ever have a good lunch, so no, she thinks not....I asked her what her favorite thing in a lunch is, and she says that she never eats anything for lunch - I tell her that maybe when it comes to a treat for today, maybe she could eat that same thing, nothing - without blinking an eye, she says that she may have exaggerated a little bit there...

At Amazon Park Venice and Casey tore off and pretty much did their own thing, while Granny and I got our old-people's chairs and sat on the lawn watching Xander and Teiya - they, too, pretty much did their own thing, and only occasionally came to us for something, like to leave a jacket because it was getting warm, or getting a drink of water....For the most part, Venice and Casey played together, and Xander and Teiya played together - Often on our outings Teiya would tag along with V & C, and the 3 would play whatever, and Xander would sort of do his own thing and wile away the time on his own - not so much, today, as they stayed separated in their pairings for most of the time - then, toward the end, Teiya hooked onto the older kids, and Xander for a short time did his own thing, and then came by us to tell us he was ready to go home, now - by this time, it had gotten cold to the bone-chilling degree that we were fine with leaving, and gave the kids a 10 min warning...

In the car on the way home, Casey asked if adults could sue...! - Curious, that - I said they could, and what was he thinking - he said that we adults should sue Ben&Jerry's to force them to wash their ice cream scoops more thoroughly, so we could go back to them for our treats...! - Venice wanted to know what suing was, and Casey tried to explain it to her - he said it means you can take someone to court to make them do something....I said that there were all kinds of suits - that as Casey said, the courts, if you won, could make someone do something you wanted - the courts could fine someone for having done something wrong....Venice thought it was a good idea to sue Ben&Jerry's AND Cold Stone...

More as I remember stuff...

Jiichan...

Xander is a Boy

In case we were wondering... Xander is a boy. He ran into the bathroom, where I was picking up after the kid's baths, and he said, "Mom, I have a big fart for you." He grunted and then said, "It's not coming." and he ran out. I went to tell Chris how funny this was and Xander then ran into Chris' office yelling, "Mom, I have a big fart for you!" He turned around and bent over, pointing his bum in our direction and ripped a big one. Then he ran out of the room.

Eye Bulbs

Xander still calls an eye, "eye bulb".

Venice's New School

Venice has settled into her new school nicely. It's been about two weeks and she's made some great friends already. She's gone on two field trips, participated on a school council, and learned some Spanish. Her attitude towards school is filled with positive energy. We are all happy about the change.

Xander's Solution

Xander has a hard time getting into pajamas these days. It's a struggle each night. He can physically do it fine, but he dawdles, cries, pouts, etc. and it can take up to 30 minutes to get it done.

So, he has figured out his own solution to the problem. For the past two days he's put his clothes over his pajamas. He said, "Now when it's night time, I can just take off my clothes and I'm already for bed!"

Other than running "hot" all day, it seems like a good idea!

Xander Spells and Tapes

Xander made a picture and said it was a picture of Africa. Then he asked how to spell it. I asked him to give it a try and he sounded it out and spelled it correctly! Smart boy!

He also used the computer to print out a banner that says, "I love you", taped it together himself and posted it up in the kitchen. Cute kid!

Xander's Caring

We were in the corn maze. Had been there a long time....we had been split into groups but now we were all walking the same trail...
big kids in front, then Paul and small kids...then Jiichan and me at the back....

But everytime the group turned and the head of the line got out of sight....Xander came trotting back to wave Jiichan and me on. He would run to us and beckon and say come on come on....

He did this for quite a long time...very sweet as he kept track of us and helped us not get lost....

Granny

Reading Maps

Venice became very interested in the map on our way to Coldstone...I couldn't get it to her in time for her to use. But on the way home, she and Casey spent the entire time trying to trace our trip.
We were on Pearl to 18th when they began to look. They found the correct page in the book at my instruction, So imagine me trying to tell them where Chambers is...I did remember it was in the middle of the map more or less....so they looked and looked and finally found Chambers....By now we were on 18th. So I told them to go over a few streets and they would find City View....Well they couldn't figure out what direction. I told them to go to Casey's left hand...still didn't help....so I said put your finger on Chambers and go to the next street...see what the saw....they said 7, 5,...so I said move in the other direction and that they would find 18....so they went 3, 2....I said go to the 5, then go in that direction and suddenly found 18....So I said go along 18 one street and tell me the name...Venice said which way....I said it didn't matter because I could tell what to do after they told me....so she shouted out Polk....so I said now go the other way until you get about 6 streets away and you will find City View....they did, they were so happy...so then I said go up City View....to 19....they said which way...I said just go on City View and tell me the number you see....They found 22....so I said keep going that direction and you will find 27....Venice found 28...I said go back one....Casey found 27....I said move your finger across the page and you will see Panorama...they did....they were so excited....by now we were actually at Chambers. and 18 so we continued on 18 and they traced it to City View and up City View to Panorama....they were quite proud....

Also in all of this they were reading the streets we crossed...and recognized the President's names....and wanted the first names of the pres...I don't know all of them...but more than they did....

fun ride.
Granny