50's family field trips

Riding the turtles...they rode the turtles 5 times


We had what we thought was a scary bean tree that this spring bloomed into a huge flowering wonder. The petals fell down and looked like snow.
We thought the kids would like ohio caverns...

weird stalacmites that Eva threw a gemstone at. We said she was going to hit the "crystal king" and shatter it.
More coney Island

We've had FAMILY FUN for the past couple days....we keep saying to Addie "IF ITS NOT FUN WE"RE NOT DOING IT" and "IF ITS FUN... WE'RE DOING IT!"

This has made me laugh because both of them stare at us really blankly with no expression.So As you can see there's been plenty o fun.

So this is my first day of summer break (this is Danny). I woke up this morning hearing Amelia talk about how bad TV and computers are for kids. I researched a little on-line about using computers in the classroom. I came to the conclusion that the truth must lie somewhere in the middle. Amelia then spouted about 10 more facts all containing percentages (I half believe that she is making them up on the fly). One of them was to the effect that 4 year olds only comprehend like "5%" of what they watch (shows designed for them) and that it really only provides a hypnotic effect. At that moment Addie was watching "Arthur" on PBS. I asked her about the show. "What's going on? I don't know. What are they doing? I don't know." This went on for a couple of minutes without any success. So I guess I am somewhat of a believer. Then only a minute later I snag a couple of pictures of their breakfast. Yes that is "Rainbow Lemon Sunrise." I guess I am left with confusion.

Rainy drainy brainy day

It's been a little rainy the past 2 days. So we've been stuck in the house.
I started thinking about how much TV my kids watch. YES even Eva will sit under a blanket and stare endlessly at the tube. Yesterday after a full morning of PBS cartoons and then a series of movies I flipped off the TV and was like WE CAN'T WATCH ANYMORE TV!!
Addie was like "Why?"
I said "Because it will rot your brain and it's making me crazy."
Addie "Then what will I do?"
Me "I don't know. You will have to use your imagination and think of something."
Addie "BUT THATS SO BORING!!"
So then we have like a whining session for about 15 minutes of her saying, I HAVE NOTHING TO DO. And everything I suggest is "boring". I'm like, color a pictures..."BORING"
play with Chilly dog ....she says "BORING" , teach Eva how to do her shape sorter "BORING" and on and on. Until I thought...my children have absolutely no creative processes going on here. I need to make a serious plan. So then I say....How about we go to the dollar store and we are going to buy a timer. When the timer hits 1 hour you have to quit watching tv. You get 1 hour a day. That's it. When it rings...times up. You have to find something new to do.
I felt very proud of my plan and she seemed to go along with it.
So we are about to hear the timer ring this morning and I'm doubting my sanity with it only being 8 a.m. Hmmmm.