Pokemon Catching!

My three girls all love Pokemon.. I am amazed at how many there are (about 718!) and how they can remember what their names are.. their powers and what the change too. Today we went to get some fresh air and the girls decided they would "look" for Pokemon to catch.

 Pikachu and Oshawott were who they found.  I love creative play and the use of imagination and how you can take something that normally requires you to sit in front of a screen and get outside.

Something in the sky

The girls and I went to the beach to try and see some meteors.. it was supposed to be a good night to see them. We didn't see many. The moon was full and the lights from the dockyard didn't help I am sure. We still enjoyed our time... we watched a cruise ship sail away and cuddled and talked. I love these moments, when we slow down. The kids think it is extra special because they are out later than normal and doing something that they don't usually do.

Drama

Today was the worst day of my life!!!!!!!!!!!!! How many times have I heard that from my children!? There were days when I was with them, all day.. and I saw them playing and laughing and having lots of fun.. and one thing happened.. ONE and "IT is the worst day of my life" was what I would hear.  Is it drama, over doing it.. or did that one thing overshadow everything else from the day? I am a firm believer that most of us need to learn the "glass half full instead of half empty".. I don't think that outlook is born into everyone.. Maybe not even most of us. So how do we talk to our kids so that we can let them know the bad stuff doesn't have to ruin the day.. to focus on all the good that happened instead of the bad?
When my oldest was in early elementary, grade 1 or 2, I decided that I would try and refocus all of us. We decided we would tell something funny that happened that day. The twins were too little to participate.. but I made sure I always had something funny and interesting to tell her that happened to me during the day, or that I saw. It really helped our dialogue and I think it really helped her to pay attention throughout the day to the good things.. or funny, so she could share it with me on the way home from school. Those giggles we had after a long day sure helped. We still talked about the bad things that happened, but after having a laugh we were able to focus more realistically on where those bad things figured into her day.

Last Day of Summer Break

Today was the last day of freedom for the kidlets... We had to get a few more things on their supply list, and then we were determined to do something fun. They were pretty darn patient as we ran from store to store. In between markers and thesaurus's we went into a grocery store and I asked for some fish trimmings... we bought three bags for $1 each.  We went and had ice cream and a little walk through an old cemetery.. the kids found some interesting things there,

Acorn hats.. each came home with a pocketful of acorns to plant.

There was a large wasp nest that had fallen from a tree.. There were no wasps around, but the paper was fascinating to the girls. It really is remarkable that what they do with some chewed up wood.

This gorgeous old tree's roots were growing around thise cobblestones.. I found it kind of cool

Someone painted this little rock and left it on a grave..

Then we went to feed the seals.. They are such hams.

 

 

As we were leaving, it started to rain. The girls were talking about how much fun they'd had on the way to the car..  love that :)

Todays abundance

Today's abundance was pears!! Yummy, sweet, juicy, delicious, pears. I answered an ad on a local online selling site. This person had unsprayed pears ready and we could come pick them for $5 a bag.

I took one of my twins... I like when I am able to split the kids up and taking one of them with me. Even when we are doing mundane things like shopping and errands.. I feel like I am able to connect with them and we enjoy lots of laughs doing almost anything. A lot of great talks happen in those times. Plus lets face it.. the extra help is always nice!

I am not sure who ( yes, sadly it was me ) decided picking them at noon on a hot day was a good idea! Phew were so red faced and thirsty by the time we were done. The lady ended up only charging us $10 for three bags. What a great deal!  I am going to give them a couple days to ripen a bit more before canning them.
We will be enjoying this bounty through the winter!

A fishy tale

Today the kids and I went to the pet store.. that is sort of like going to the zoo for my kids lol. They have a lot of different creatures there .. cats for adoption, snakes, spiders, birds, lizards, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats and mice.. and a huge display of fish.

We went for something specific today. We have a large 100 gallon tank and recently we have had an explosion of snails. I was given some live plants and the eggs must have been on them. The tank, almost over night is just full. We tried containing the problem by picking the ones we could see, but soon realized that was like plugging a hole in a damn with our finger! Futile!

I did a lot of research and looked at what our options were. One option was to treat the tank with some stuff that would kill them.. but we also have ghost shrimp, and it would of killed them. The other option was to get some Loaches.. they love snails. Seemed like the right thing to do to me!

So we got two

But do you think we could get out of there with only them!?! No way.. We also came home with two more mollies (we already have a healthy amount of them) AND... duh duh duuuuh... a Peacock Eel

I had a couple of them long long ago and loved them. They were friendly, I was able to hand feed them and they also loved swimming inbetween my fingers if I put my hand in the tank. This guy was bought for my oldest daughter. He is buried in the substrate right now, so we will have to see how friendly he turns out to be.

 

***Pictures from pet store website, not my own***