Fearfully and Wonderfully: Summer 2021

And them came summer break. A mix of structure and doing random fun things. The summer was a little different than usual since Taylor was on sabbatical. He was gone for a week taking some intensive classes and then he had the summer to finish up the work. He still had plenty to do but his schedule was much more flexible. We went to different churches in the area and Sundays generally were relaxing, laid back days.

Corban working on making a Panda with
a stuffed animal set from Christmas

We tried to have some structure on days that we weren't out doing something. They each worked on some "Reflex Math" games, did reading, Corban did some ABC Mouse, Gabriel did some online games learning to type, they each practiced their instruments (more on that later)

Hiking at Falls Ridge Preserve

Mill Mountain playing Killer Bunnies with Dad

Bowling with Dad

Uncle Aaron and Aunt Tiffany moved to Asheville right before Covid but we hadn't been able to see them since that time. We all had the same day free so we met at a national park that was kinda in the middle (they drove longer then we did), went on a hike, explored, and had lunch. It was so nice to see them. And Gabriel had to use his Hobbit cloak for the occasion as well.

The hike was hot and tiring

We also participated in two camps in June. Normally our "go to" camp is Ninja Camp at Virginia Techniques, but they were still requiring masks while doing gymnastics all day in the summer and that just sounded miserable. Since they liked soccer so much for one week they went to a soccer camp at Virginia Tech that is taught by some of the VT soccer players. There ended up being some kids there that they knew and they had a lot of fun.

The week after that they went to "Great Outdoors Camp" at the Children's Museum. Their friend Aela went as well. They spent mornings that week exploring outside along the Huckleberry Trail, hearing talks from wildlife experts, playing in the museum, and doing fun experiments and crafts (they made a solar powered box to make s'mores outside)

Enjoying the rain with Aela

Corban finally got to do something this summer that he's been asking to do for 2 years. Take piano lessons. His teacher, Julie, only teaches during the day so she said that she could just teach him for the summer, but we figured that would let us know if he was ready. He loved going. She was fun and engaging and had games to go along with what he was learning. At the end of the summer another teacher presented herself through our church email list and Corban has really enjoyed doing that every week as well. All I have to do is remind him to practice and he's off to do it. He doesn't want help and is very proud of what he is learning. Unfortunately all we have to practice on is a keyboard that does not have weighted keys, but it's a start. So now when Gabriel has violin to practice Corban can practice as well.

This summer the boys also opened their own restaurant called "Super Boom Meals". They specialized in breakfast foods. I was actually pretty impressed with what they made using their kids cookbook. On this particular morning Gabriel made me eggs but instead of 1/4 teaspoon of salt he used 1/4 cup. Just a little bit salty, but I sure loved having someone make me breakfast.

I was working the next day and Gabriel asked me to
place a "to go" order for the next morning. He had my
banana muffin from the restaurant all packaged and ready to go

Camping with Dad

My mom was moving toward the end of June and I wanted to help her do that. Taylor could really work from anywhere, so we went down to Georgia. He stayed with his dad and his mom took the boys to Alabama to stay with Tracy and play with Drew. They had a blast, especially since they have a pool in the backyard. Gabriel has really gained confidence in the water in the past year and Taylor's mom taught Corban how to swim while they were there. He came back a swimming machine, where as before that his thoughts on swimming were "I can swim, I just can't keep my head above water"

Dog piling the cousin

Roanoke children's museum

Super tiger

We took a day trip to the Safari Park which was really fun since the zoo portion was open again. The boys loved petting the goats and touching the giraffes. The aviary was really fun too, especially when birds kept landing on Daddy's head

My car was a mess afterwards

While we were in Georgia we hired a college age guy that really knew what he was doing to cut the wall out in the kitchen, a project that has been on Taylor's mind since we moved in. It really opens the house up

Frog pond with friends. They both loved the big slides, but Corban had to be forced to take breaks when he was getting too tired to swim to the side after coming down into the deep water.

Cards with Dad at Great Road Coffee

Festival at a local church

Steppin out. Aunt Tracy came to visit us toward the end of summer and
they had fun playing outside and doing random things that young boys do

In the middle of July Aunt Tracy let us know about this online zoom class for a couple of days called "Epic Animal Battles." They were online with some other kids about their ages (Drew included). They talked about different animals and which they thought would win in a fight.

Going on a walk with Drew. There are emergency phones along the trail. We heard Corban say "Drew, those phone are only for emergencies. Like if you really need to use the bathroom"

Doing a Tao Bo Video or a Nintendo battle video

Landing a space craft on the moon at the Science Museum. We went one
day after public school started and basically had the place to ourselves

Old arcade games

The boys really wanted to grow something in the small garden space that we have. We had started some seedlings before we left for Disney but they didn't make it. In June we went to a local gardening center to see what options they had. Corban saw some tiny watermelon plants and got so excited (he loves some watermelon). Gabriel wanted to grow some peppers but they were out of those. He chose to get some okra plants to try.

I have to say that for how little time we had for maintenance we did pretty well. Corban ended up getting several watermelons that were packed full of seeds, but otherwise very tasty. And I had no idea that okra was so low maintenance. I first I thought the plants weren't going to make it but once they did we had plenty of okra and we still have a couple large bags in the freezer. We've been putting it in soup and frying it sometimes too. Gabriel actually did all of that by himself except he needed a little help with the fryer.