Cleaning.

I finally broke down and bought the book "The house that cleans itself" (after checking it out of the library at least twice) and we are going to try and implement as much of it as we can. The thing is with our house that everything doesn't have a place. We have too much stuff for our available places to put stuff. Decluttering works somewhat but we are always aquiring new things, it seems like, even if we don't buy things, people give us things. I'm just as bad as everyone else. I'm trying to balance things out a bit for example, I bought new books at the book swap so I got rid of the books that I tried to sell there and couldn't. I took them to a consignment store and told her if she can't sell them, just donate them. I don't want them coming back here.

Right now I'm on my cleaning break, I'm blogging and reading the third Bartimaeus book while I drink my coffee and the kids are playing Wii. I gave them extra screen time for cleaning. After we get finished cleaning, they can get in the pool and I'll get to work at my job. It doesn't sound fair, does it? Speaking of work, things are going a tiny bit better with the new accounts. They don't seem to have as many English-as-a-second-language doctors dictating there and last night, I was actually typing for people whose last names were "Smith" and "Brown" and "Middleton" instead of "Patel", "Tsai" and "Ikramullah" not that I don't love those other guys from my old account, I'd take them back in an instant, (we'd been together for 8 years!) but I'm adjusting is the point and it's going better than I thought it would. Maybe this pay period, I'll actually make the minimum number of required lines? It might actually happen!

Anyway, back to cleaning, I've only got one more minute of my break left and I've still got to publish. :-)

The pool is up!

I tried to share pictures of it but I can't find my camera cord (again!).  It'll turn up eventually.  I took a few pictures of the pool itself and then my silly family all getting in the pool before it was even filled up all the way (cold water!), before  I left and went to the neurologist, but I couldn't share those even if I found my cord, because they threatened that if pictures of them in the pool turned up on my blog, that soon, film of me snoring would show up on America's Funniest Videos.  Apparently, Freckles and I have a great synchronized snoring show that we put on here pretty much every day.  I've heard we're hilarious.

We've got some crabby kids around here because someone forgot the sunscreen, actually four someones who should all know better, and now they have sunburns, fortunately, not too terrible, but still, I hate for them to get burned at all, ever. 

Almost pool time!

My father-in-law came over yesterday with his tractor and helped us move the gravel and sand to try and make a flat place on the side of our knob and it's almost ready to put the pool there and fill it up.  My husband has gone to town to get a tarp (the one we had wasn't big enough) to put the pool on and then we'll inflate it and go.  Very exciting! 

Today, I'll be taking my mom to the neurologist (fun!) who I suspect makes only morning appointments and afternoon appointments and makes everyone wait until they just feel like they might die.  I'm not sure what the reason for this is.  I told mom to bring a book.  I may take my Rainbow Resource catalog and a notebook and get started on that big old thing.   That will make the time pass more quickly.   I might need to take a small table to put it on though.  It's heavy.

I've really got to get busy cleaning today before I go!

Low Key Weekend.

I've been working off and on this weekend, but otherwise taking it pretty easy.  We've all be watching Mythbusters Collection 4, which we got my husband for Father's Day and I've got a new Katie Fforde book out of the library, on interlibrary loan.  I think this may be my last one until she writes another one (I hope she hurries!).  I wonder if the library would mind borrowing all of them again from other libraries so I can read them all again?  I'm sure there's not a ton of paperwork involved ...  These may actually have to be book purchases.  I wonder how much money we'd spend on books if we had unlimited money.  Probably a lot.   We'd have to build onto the house in order to store them all. 

This and that.

I managed to get all of my phone calls made yesterday. This is a big deal for me as I hate making phone calls. I really, really hate it. Anyway, that's done. Today's the last day of summer reading at the library and maybe next week, we'll start getting some of these home improvement projects done. Nah. Something else will probably happen. I still haven't looked at my Rainbow Resource catalog much at all. I have some vague plans in my mind for what to do next year, but nothing at all concrete. I really, really, really want to go on a vacation and then come back and start on the projects and the planning, but that's been put on hold for a while, until we see how everyone's job situations around here are going to go. I hate this recession.

What to do?

It's what I always sit and ponder with my morning coffee.  What to do today. 

I'm not scheduled to work today but I probably will.  I'm behind because of these new accounts, the fact that these new accounts didn't really need more transcriptionists (I'm lucky I didn't get laid off when we lost my regular accounts), and the fact that my internet connection is probably one of the slowest on earth.  

Anyway, back to the plan for today.  We need groceries.  We need to work on our cleaning, decluttering and organizing.  The library thing is from 2-4 and there's a mom's night out scheduled for 5.  I'm really kind of hoping the kids don't want to go and do the poetry class today as that will make my day easier.  I've also got a bazillion phone  calls to make today and if you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you know that I hate making phone calls.   I need to get that done early, just so I won't have to dread it all day.  Did I mention that I hate making phone calls? 

If the kids do go to the poetry class and the class tomorrow, that will be a total of 10 hours of classes this week.  That should count for something, right?  We may have to add a couple hours of something else so we can count it as 2 full school days.  Hmm.   Maybe I should make them do a little math today?  Add up the grocery prices?  Compare store brands and major brands?   Maybe.  Or maybe I'll leave them home with their dad and save money.  ;-)

Okay today.

Today's going okay so far. My Dad is taking a while to get settled in at home with all his different medications, but hopefully, he may have it now. His medical regimen is very complicated.

We've really been enjoying the library's summer reading week. The first day, the kids did cartooning with a professional cartoonist. The second day, they played improv games and met Woodie the Kentucky Weiner dog (I'm promise, I am not making that up!). Today, they did Stomp type drumming with real drumsticks on overturned trash cans. What could be funner than that? They also got to bring home said real drumsticks. (I don't know how fun they are going to be at home.) Tomorrow, a poetry group is going to be there. I'm not sure how poetry is going to go over with my kids. If they don't want to go, I think I could stand to stay home one day this week. Friday there's a cookout and games.

Pondering the big questions tonight.

What is life? Why am I here? How much Healthy Choice ice cream can I eat before it's no longer a healthy choice?


:-)

(Someone sent this to me in an email.)  

Today's the day !!

Dad's on his way home.  Thank goodness.  Now he'll need a week or two just to catch up on his sleep.  I wonder why they don't let you sleep properly in the hospital.  There has got to be something they can do, some kind of technology to check your vital signs while you sleep undisturbed.  Surely, we have progressed to that point? 

Anyway, he's coming home.  I'm baking them a chicken pot pie for lunch.  Actually, my daughter made it and when it's done, we're going over there and then we're off to the library for the second day of summer reading week. 

Still.

Dad's still in the hospital.  We're hoping/praying he'll get to come home tomorrow.  It's been a long stay this time.   I took the kids to see him today and then we went to a cartooning class which is part of the summer reading program at the library.  It was really good and all of the kids thoroughly enjoyed it.  Actually, I did too.  It was interesting.  Tomorrow, they are having some kind of improv game program.  I'm not sure how that will go.  I doubt my daughter will talk in front of other people.  We'll see. 

Father's Day.

My husband and my 12-year-old daughter are playing Wii sports bowling in the next room.  The girl is just freakishly good at that game, which is weird, since she has zero real bowling experience.
I heard my husband say "Hey, it's Father's Day, you should let me win."  Her response?  "Um, no."

Can't blame a guy for trying. 

Scatter brained.

I'm scatter-brained this morning, as we used to say back in the day, spaced out. It's not that I'm not thinking about anything this morning, I am, but my thoughts are disjointed, probably because I have had a headache for 3 days (sinus). I'm thinking about what I should do today. Dad might come home from the hospital today and might need me to do something. I kind of want to go to church, but I feel kind of icky. I've been up since 5:30 because one of my kids had nightmares and therefore, I'd kind of like to go back to bed. Since I'm not sure what I'm going to do today, I'm just going to take a shower, have another cup of coffee and then, attempt to think and make a plan. Somedays, that's really difficult.

Not really doing anything.

I went to the hospital to see Dad this morning.  He's doing pretty well.  He might be able to come home tomorrow.  We'll see.   Before I went and since I've been home, I've done very little.  I seem to be in kind of slow-motion today.   I've got no wind in my sails.  Oh well, I'll just keep plugging along, very slowly.  Tomorrow is another day.

Sometimes life comes at you fast.

My Dad's in the hospital today.  My brother took him up there last night.  He was feeling pretty bad last night but the report is that he feels much better this morning after IV antibiotics and breathing treatments, probably he has pneumonia, a common complication in people who used to smoke.  I'm here with the kids, one of the decisions my brother and I always have to make when these situations come up is who goes to the hospital, who stays with the kids, who stays with the spouse of the hospitalized family member (sometimes it's the kids), who has to take off work, etc.   Luckily, my brother and I get along really well and are able to communicate with each other and support each other.  I do kind of wish there were more of us though.  Sometimes we get spread a little thin.

Since I'm not at the hospital right now, I've been looking a little at my Rainbow Resource book.  I took it to the skating rink last night, but it was too dark to see it there, so I didn't get any more things circled.  I need to get some idea of what I want to do next year.  It feels a little bit overwhelming, but really I didn't have much sleep last night and I have a splitting headache, so that probably has something to do with it.  There are a few things I know I want to do next year, finish the Novel Way study, work on my youngest son's spelling, my daughter's writing and grammar, math for everyone, lots of cool hands-on science, Cleps/college credit for my oldest son and I want to incorporate notebooking back into our studies.  I've missed doing it this year.  So far, though, all the plans are fuzzy.  I've got pretty much nothing concrete, but I'll get there eventually. 

Thursday, June 18.

I don't know what I'm going to do today. It's weird not having to do school. We've been having a lot of homeschool group activities this week and I've been asked quite a few questions by other homeschool moms about how we do school around here, how many hours a day, whether the kids work on their own or whether I have to sit right with them. It's made me think and evaluate what we do. Because I don't have a current book going (waiting on a library hold!) I was finally able to open the massive Rainbow Resource catalog and circle my first item. I usually circle about 100 things I'd like to have and then narrow it down to the 3-4 I can actually afford. This takes a long time and is best done outside, by the pool in the summer. We don't have our pool up yet this year. This may be yet another year without a pool, which is unfortunate. The kids really benefit from all that summer exercise and I benefit from sitting outside, talking to them while they swim and enjoying summer. There's just something about the smell of chlorine ...

Speaking of how many hours we do school, the kids and I were talking about that last night. I once heard (and have no idea if this is even remotely true) that in a regular school classroom, because of waiting in line, eating lunch, going to the bathroom, disruptive students, coloring, etc. that kids were likely to get only about 15 minutes of actual instruction each day. Anyway, true or not, every now and then I think about it and it comforts me. The kids and I were talking about public school last night, they decided that anytime we are waiting in line that should count as school time, since that's what they remember doing a lot of in school. Maybe I should also make them go to the bathroom when they don't need to go and then not let them go later when they do need to go. (This is what my oldest son remembers.)

Anyway, back to what we'll do today, we'll probably continue our spring cleaning, scrape off some more wallpaper and finish listening to Dragon Rider, then go to the library (to get another good audio book, of course!) and then go skating. (It's really a shame we don't get out more!)

Lastly, this has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm talking about today, but the quote of the day that I got in email this morning was cute, so I'll share it.

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me. -Noel Coward

Cookie Recipe.

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup nestle quick chocolate milk mix (or similar).
Put the first 3 ingredients in a saucepan on medium/high. Bring to a full boil, all across the pan, not just the edges. Let boil for 1 minute. (time it!).
Remove from heat and add 1 cup of peanut butter and 1 1/2 cups oats. (I sometimes put more peanut butter and less oats.)

Freakmom asked for the recipe. :-)

Weird day.

It's been storming off and on all day, with hail and really hard rain and wind.  We've been wondering if we'd get to go to the pool tonight, but my friend just called right now and the pool is open, so we're going to try to go. 

Earlier today, I asked my youngest son if he was ready to clean (we're doing "spring" cleaning now.) and he said "sure, as long as I can listen to Dragon Rider"  Can you believe that? 

It went pretty well.

There were only about 7 teens and 3 moms there, but the ones who were there had a very good time. The boys played Wii mostly, although I did hear some guitar and laser tag noises floating up the stairs. The girls talked very quietly and the moms also talked - we had a good discussion about reasons and techniques for homeschooling. I would like to see a larger turnout next time (we're going to do this every month), but if not, that's okay too.

Today.

We've got a teen event today with the larger homeschool group we're part of. Hopefully it will be fun for the teens. It's rainy looking again today but we don't have to worry about cancelling it because one of the families has opened their home for us today and apparently, they have plenty of space. I'm going to make some stove-top chocolate oatmeal cookies (my specialty) for the event. This is our first event like this, at a home, without planned activities, so I'm a little nervous that some of the kids will be left out but I've got my fingers crossed that it will go well.

Nothing on the schedule for today.

I love it.  I wrote "Work Day" on the calendar last night when I was looking at it to plan the week, but I haven't decided exactly what work we'll be doing.  We need to clean inside, but we've also got a ton of stuff that could be done outside.  It kind of looks like rain though.  Either way, there will probably be some grouchy children around here.  We do have Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke on audio book to listen to while we work.  Having a good audio book makes a huge difference in attitude while cleaning and makes the time seem to go faster. 

About our 2 TV channels.

Yes, we only get 2 TV channels now. Only one of them actually has anything really on it and that's only on Saturday. My mom mentioned this at the family gathering and everyone feels sorry for us now. Honestly, I think we're adequately entertained without cable or satellite TV. I admit I would like to have it, to watch HGTV and house flip shows, Discovery channel for Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs, etc. However, we're surviving quite well with some game systems, some computers, Netflix, books, art supplies, board games, toys, the internet and a bunch of other things. This has got to be the most entertained generation in the history of the world. We struggle with keeping it under control as it is. I think we can live without the TV.

Can you believe it?

I've had the Rainbow Resource catalog at my home for several days and have not even really opened it?  I started reading The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud and when I get a minute to do something, that's what I've been doing, but the spare minutes have been few and far between.  We had a family get-together today for my cousin's daughter who graduated from high school.  We went for a little while, but I had to come home and work tonight, so we didn't stay too long.  All the kids are growing up so quickly.  Anyway, this week, on Monday, we'll be cleaning, on Tuesday we have a get-together with the large homeschool group, on Wednesday we've got swimming with the small homeschool group and also on Thursday with them, skating.  

Maybe Friday I'll start on my catalog?  Only if I'm done with the Bartimaeous trilogy.  I'm about halfway through book two.

It was just one of those days

today, where the day kind of gets away from you and next thing you know, it's 7:30 p.m.  I got up and did a little bit of stuff around the house, then set out to go to walmart and the library.  Right before I left, my brother called and asked if the kids and I wanted to go to a movie.  We saw Night at the Museum 2, which was very good.  Then, when we came out, my brother's car had an oil leak.  He managed to fix it with a little bit of help from us (driving him to the car parts store ;-).  Then we stopped by mom and dad's and I looked at the clock, 7:00 p.m.  Now we're home and it's 7:30.   Wow, today went fast. 

Okay, we have 2 TV channels now.

We do have a converter box, but still only get the 2 channels.  My youngest still gets to watch his Saturday morning shows and that's about it.  Oh well. 

Tired, tired, tired.

My husband had a medical test this morning at (guess when?) 6:00 a.m. (you known for homeschoolers and 2nd shifters like ourselves, 8:00 a.m. is pretty much the crack of dawn!)  Anyway, we were there from a little before 6:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. or so.  (I kind of lost track, I was so, so, so, tired.).  Anyway, we're back, he's absolutely fine and I hope we don't have to see the inside of a hospital again for a long time.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my youngest son's birthday.  He's 11.  So for the next few months, my kids will be 16, 12 and 11.  It won't be that long until we have 2 teens and then in a couple of years, we'll have 3.  I can't believe it.  It just goes so fast!!!!

Happy Birthday!

It's here!!!

My Rainbow Resource catalog, big as a New York City phone book, full of cool homeschooling stuff is here! I haven't had a chance to read it as last night we were at the pool and then I had to work, but I'll be spending some time with it in the next few weeks, browsing, hoping and planning. I might need to sell some things on EBay to help me afford the things I want ...

Moving things around.

I've had my store at Cafepress for several years and it has been a mutually profitable enterprise for them and for me, however, this month, they've decided to cut profits of all their shop owners dramatically and so I'm in the process of moving all my inventory over to a different site, Printfection.  It's going to take a while but hopefully this will also be a profitable site.  I'm so angry at Cafepress, I could spit nails.  June is usually one of my better months, because of Father's day.  Yesterday, I made quite a few sales, which would have been about 50.00 on the old system, but was approximately 15.00 on the new pricing system that they have.  This follows them changing their bonus schedule a few months ago, which was a hit, but not as bad as this one.  It's very frustrating to have to do this. 

The contrast between last year and this year.

Last year, my youngest son wasn't reading much. He could sound out words and read a bit, but it was a very slow process. Last year at the homeschool book swap/sale in May, I bought a bunch of books on learning disabilities. This year, he's reading chapter books, finishing one every 2-3 days. What dramatic thing did we do? We just gave him some space. He and I worked on the illustrated sight words a little and did a little bit of All About Spelling, but really, I think he just needed some time. He certainly gets reading for pleasure modeled to him in this house! We are all readers now!. The funny thing is, since then, I've gotten involved in a yahoo group called Homeschooling Creatively, which is actually about learning differences, which I've come to realize are not necessarily disabilities, just differences. I believe now that is is normal for some kids, usually boys but not always, to start reading at 9, 10 or even 11 and I think if you can just wait it out a bit, it will resolve on its own in most cases. The trouble is, it's hard to know if your child is one of the 'most cases" or if he truly has a disability. I've lost a little sleep over that. I worried that reading would never click for him. Thank goodness, it finally did and the joy of reading is something that he will have forever.

Oh well.

It looks like I'm going to have to clean and organize my house myself. I guess that's what summer break is for. Sigh. When does school start up again? Actually, that's up to me, isn't it? We'll probably start at around the same time as the public schools do, because it's easier to keep up with that way. Before we start back, though, I really want to get some of these projects done around the house, clean and organize the homeschool shelves. I'll also need to spend some time poring over the Rainbow Resource catalog and planning curriculum for next year. There was one thing we didn't get finished this year and that was the Novel Way curriculum. Turns out, it's difficult to write a novel. Who knew? We did fine with the characters, the settings, etc. but when it came time to actually sit down and write, we lost our momentum. Maybe next year.

No takers.

No one wants to house swap with me?  Let me see if I can write an ad to make it sound more attractive.

ATTENTION NEAT FREAKS  - House swap available.  Idyllic wooded setting, 3 bedroom, 2 bath brick house with previously made mess for you to straighten out.  Imagine the feeling of accomplishment you will feel, after you've put this house in order, redecorated it, stained the deck and painted the kitchen.  Love carpentry work?  The owner will give you carte blanche to build in some cabinets, closets or bookshelves.  As an added bonus, the owners, their 3 children, 3 dogs and 3 cats will come to your house and make a wonderful mess for you to clean there.  So really, you'll get 2 weeks of fun for the price of one (which is free other than your transportation!)  What a great deal!  Don't let this opportunity pass you by!

Today, we need to actually get something done.

Our weekend was very low key (read lazy) and we didn't get a lot done. I did work some on both of my new accounts, planted some more tomatoes because I never plant enough, worked on the calendar for the website for our big homeschool group and worked on my store a little bit, but other than that, not too much. Today, hopefully, I will be able to get in gear, rally the troops and get something done. I have a ton of home improvement /cleaning/ organization things I want to get done this summer. Actually, I'd like to go on an extended vacation and have someone else clean and organize my house while I'm gone ... hey, maybe I could do a house-swap thingy with a really neat, very organized person who just loves to put things in order for others - someone who would actually enjoy putting my mess to rights.

Anyone interested?

Homeschool Links

I've updated my homeschool links blog lately with some interesting things. Even if you don't homeschool, there are some cool things you could do this summer with your kids. Check it out. Homeschool-Links

It's that time of year!

It's the time of year when I promote my store a little bit for Father's day.  I've been working on some new designs.  Here's one of them. 

It's available at my grandparent gifts store.  

What to do today?

I'm not scheduled to work today but I probably should. I'm way behind because of the new accounts, etc. This kind of thing reminds me why I ventured out last fall to try an hourly paid job ... I might need to spend a few minutes meditating on why I quit.

OM. No flexibility. BREATHE DEEPLY. Time away from the family (which sometimes is a good thing!) OM. Not getting things done around here. RELAX. Public bathrooms. OM. The uncomfortable desk/chair combo. The aching arms and shoulders. DEEP SLOW BREATH. Having to type EVERY. SINGLE. WORD. Horribly inefficient spell check. AAAH.

Okay, I'm better now. I really do prefer working at home and this is just a temporary setback. I'm also thinking about writing a book about how to do medical transcription for some kind of internet self-publishing site and possibly teaching some classes or tutoring in MT.

I had all these plans to work on painting the kitchen and get the house in order this summer, but it seems like I'm going to have to focus most of my time on earning my paycheck.

What would you do ooh ooh?

We got some Klondike bars this week at the grocery, for the first time in a very long time.  There are 5 of us and there are 6 of them.  The kids wanted to know who got the extra one.  I said that was easy, Mom gets the extra one, but if they were willing, they could take on my responsibilities for one whole day and then they could have it. 

There were no takers. 

Good times.

Okay, I'll warn you I'm being sarcastic here.  Yesterday, I had kind of an annoying day.  It turned out okay, I guess, I mean it's over now ...

It started with waking up to a just plain filthy house.  I started in on cleaning it and took the the garbage, which leaked strawberry juice in my van (our driveway is really too long to carry it).  I was supposed to have a conference call for work but that was rescheduled to today so that gave me the afternoon free.  We needed groceries, so my daughter and I headed out to the next town over to go to Michael's crafts for some shirts for her (T-shirts 2 for $5) and groceries.  My hair was still wet from my shower (it takes forever to dry) so I picked up a hairbrush thinking I'd brush it when I got there.  On the way out to the car, I dropped the hairbrush into a puddle, picked it up, dropped my sunglasses into the puddle along with my cloth grocery bags.  Somehow, in running back in to rinse off the hairbrush and my sunglasses (which I didn't really need), I left the hairbrush in the house.  We started out and made it to Michael's where my daughter didn't like any of the colors of T shirts but one and they didn't have it in her size.  We left there and went to Kroger.  On the way, I noticed that a cup of lemonade that I'd had the day before was in the cup holder and thought I should pour it out, before it spilled.  No sooner had I thought that, than it did spill, all over my driving foot.  So, I got to Kroger with my hair a crazy mess and lemonade all over my pants leg, foot and sandal and ran into a lady I used to work with.

I'm sure I made a great impression. 

Break.

The kids are having a break between school and our summer schedule.  Basically, I've been running around the past couple of days, taking myself and my mom to appointments and going crazy with my new account and not getting anything else done and they've really not done much of anything.  I hope they've been enjoying it because tomorrow, we have to clean this house up!

First day of summer.

The first day of summer break was kind of low key. I, of course, was struggling with work most of the day plus I had a doctor's appointment. The kids spent the day making strawberry lumpies (our blender doesn't work well enough to make smoothies!) and playing with legos and bionicles and reading, really not doing much of anything, but I think they enjoyed the day off all the same.

Frustration.

I hate being on new accounts.  There is so much to remember and I am as slow as Christmas because I'm trying to familiarize myself with so much new stuff at once. The way this whole thing has worked out, basically I'm on 2 new accounts, one I've never had before and one I had a few years ago but I've forgotten.  Both have different formats from what I'm used to and very different formats from each other, pretty much opposites.  I've been working for hours and made very little money today. 

Very frustrating.

I'm going to have to go with what someone else said the other day though, at least I have a job. 

Revisiting the fire swamp.

Over at Homespun Juggling, they've written a very funny parody of the princess bride with a homeschooling theme, called Revisiting the Fire Swamp.  It's very cute.  I wish I'd written it, but I didn't so I'll have to just pass on the link.  Homespun Juggling.

Strawberries.

So we went, as planned, to the farm.  We rode a little wagon out to the strawberry patch and started picking.  We each had a box and we picked strawberries for about 30 minutes. (or so)  In the boxes, it didn't really look like that many, but once we got home and started cutting the tops off of them and washing them and freezing and refrigerating them, they just seemed to multiply.   We have a gallon canister full of them in the fridge and bags and bags and bags and bags of them in the freezer.  I think we'll be good for strawberries for a while ...

Field trip.

We've got a field trip to a farm to pick strawberries today, something my daughter has always wanted to do. Strawberries are her absolutely favorite food. There's a play area there too and we'll probably hang out for a while. I enjoy the more relaxed field trips without strict schedules.