On Saturday Nico and I went to a Bazaar at Jeff & Allicia's church where Evelyn was doing face painting. She gave me a few hearts on my cheek. Nico brought his own money with him and bought two pictures of birds from a photographer there. He was flipping through the ones available and he remarked, "That's a Western Tanager!" They look up at him, surprised, "Yes! You're right!" He bought that one plus another one of a bald eagle catching a fish. It apparently won a blue ribbon at the fair. The one he got was a smaller print of it.
Playing in the kids room at the Bazaar. This was his old preschool room he used to go to when he was 4 years old!
On the way home, Nico told me he wanted to take pictures of birds, too. We talked about National Geographic and college. He asked me if he could study two different things in college. I told him yes, so he said he wanted to study birds and photography.
After we got home, he hung his photos on the wall.
That afternoon, William and Grace came over to play. They had a heyday on the keyboard.
Sunday after church we went over to the Grandparents Salisbury's house to have lunch and plan Thanksgiving. The lunch my mom made was almost like a Thanksgiving feast itself, it was amazing. We left with leftovers. Yum! Thanks Mom!
That night, we had a get together at the church to celebrate the last Bible Study of the year. Nico and I left early because he was feeling sick. He said he had a headache and a stomach ache, I think it may have been a migraine. He crawled right into bed when we got home without changing his clothes. I gave him a foot rub, and he fell asleep until morning.
He was confused on Monday morning why he felt so good after he felt so bad the night before.
Nico had an orthodontist consult on Wednesday. I picked him up early from school. I saw him at the end of the hall as soon as he turned the corner. His nose was in a book and he didn't once look up at me as he walked toward me. When he got right in front of me, he said HI without even looking at me. How did he know it was me? He walked to the car without looking once at what was in front of him. He read the book in the car, and then in the orthodontist's waiting room.
The orthodontist said his teeth look good so far, and that the only thing that might be an issue later is his overbite, like the dentist had said. He said we'll keep an eye on it each year, and wait until most of his adult teeth have grown in before we do anything. We made our next appointment for November of next year.
Last Friday evening we went back over to the Clubhouse to finish clean-up. Guy brought home Tin Roof Tacos for everyone and we ate in the main house. It was strange to be considered guests and not roommates! After dinner, the kiddos played while the rest of us finished cleaning up the Clubhouse.
While I was sweeping the outdoor front area, I came across another black widow spider. I called for Avery to get the Bug-a-Salt gun and Avery let Nico kill it.
On Saturday, Guy and Nico were planning to go shooting with the Cub Scouts in Nampa, but we didn't realize we had to sign up for it and when Guy contacted the coordinator Friday night, they told us there was no more room. Oh well! It probably ended up being a good thing. This is how it went Saturday morning when we decided to set up the bookshelf in the living room:
Let's set up the bookshelf today
We need to set up the couches where they're going first
Before that we need to unpack these boxes to get them out of the way
We should probably first fill out the move-in survey which we've been putting off, because look at these gouges on the floor (not from us)
While we do this let's make a list of all the things the handy-woman needs to fix when she comes back
Ok, great, the bookshelf is where we want it. Now we need the stud finder. Do you know where the stud finder is?
I found it! It's out of batteries. Do we have any AAA batteries? No? I will go to the store (Guy)
While I'm at the store, do we need anything else? Yes: light bulbs, and drywall anchors.
The first store didn't have the right light bulbs, go to a 2nd store.
Now we need the drill to screw the bookshelf support into the wall.
I can't find our drill, I will go borrow Jeff's
He finished just in time for lunch. We had lunch, and then Guy took Nico to Urban Air. Guy had promised Nico a fun trip on Saturday to make up for not being able to go shooting.
When they came back, Guy mowed the front yard. Then, pizza time! We had our first pizza night at our new house, and we were able to bake all the pizzas at the same time. They were done in a flash. Nico chose to watch episodes of Captain Underpants for our movie night.
Sunday afternoon, Nico helped Guy pick up fallen sticks in the backyard before Guy mowed. There was a lot from the recent storm.
Later that afternoon, there was a Rock Party at the Idaho Museum of Mining and Geology next to the Old Penitentiary. It was a HOT day but I found a nice spot to sit in the shade while Nico went around to all the booths. We had just enough time to get a sticker from each of the 12 booths before the Rock Party was over. He was able to turn in his card with all the stickers on it in exchange for a stone. He chose a rose quartz.
Cracking open a geode.
We ran into Jeff and Allicia and kids while we were there. So funny to see them in the wild. Instead of saying "see you at home" when we left, we said "see you later".
Monday after school Nico and I went to visit GG. The traffic was bad so we ended up being about 20 minutes late. They were in their backyard playing Scrabble Upwords. We joined them on their back porch. Melody, Aunt Pat's daughter, stopped by while we were there. She refilled with water their fountain she mended last week, and then hung out to chat.
GG is giving us her old TV. Guy will stop by there some day soon to pick it up. It was a little too heavy for me to load up into the car while we were there Monday.
Wednesday, Nico's class had a bird field trip. I found this post on Facebook from the Intermountain Bird Observatory regarding Nico's class's visit:
Usually rain puts a damper on our banding research, but not today! We nearly cancelled our banding activities at our River Research Station with Adams Elementary this morning, but decided to give it a try during a break in showers. Soon after the 4th grade class arrived, we could tell they brought us good luck. We started catching a number of birds with just seven of our nets up and running.
Then, as storm clouds began to reappear and the class headed back to the bus, we really hit the motherload. Gretel and Joni ended up with 34 birds (nearly all of them Yellow-rumped Warblers) suddenly dropping into net 11 all at once! They hurriedly extracted the birds, we closed our nets early, and we finished banding the whole lot just as rain drops began to fall.
We banded nearly 50 birds with nets open for just two hours! Not a bad day along the Boise River 😁
I asked Nico what the bags were, and he said those bags have BIRDS inside them. I was not expecting that. They open up each bag one at a time and put a "bracelet" (as Nico called it) on the bird and let it go.
Wednesday while Nico was at Youth Group, Guy and I headed over to the Clubhouse to pick up the last of our stuff. We still had our bikes and scooters over there, and a few other odds and ends. We hung out for a bit with everyone. The kids are having a blast using the Clubhouse to play in. Sock-skating, and throwing bouncy balls everywhere, it's the perfect place for that. They are still mulling over ideas on what to do with the room.
Nico has signed up to be a hall monitor. He had training today. He has a specific day and time each week that he will monitor the halls (just a 20 minute blip), and he is very excited. He told me he signed up to be a hall monitor because he "doesn't like recess". ?? I asked him about it and he said he doesn't know why he doesn't like recess, he just likes to do school work or sit down and read at recess, calling himself an "indoor person".
I suspect he may have had a hard day at recess one day. I couldn't get any more out of him surreptitiously.
When I ask him what he did at recess on any particular day he always says "play four square".
Well this week is all about the big move! Most of this blog experience will be communicated through video, which you can watch at the end of the blog.
It was a bittersweet week with an awkward moment at the end of Saturday, moving day, when we were tired at our new house and I was looking forward to going home and going to bed. But, we were already home. It was a strange feeling to be home in our new house, but wanting to go back to familiar Clubhouse to snuggle in for the night. First night at a new place!
Saturday night we ordered pizza from Smokey Mountain Pizza and waited 2 hours for it to arrive before I called them and they said their printer never printed the order so they never received it. They said they could get it to us in 45 minutes but it was already 8PM so we cancelled the order and ate other things at home instead. To make up for it, we ordered pizza for lunch on Sunday after church.
We woke up this morning to a broken dishwasher (puddle-jumping with socks on in the middle of the night - eek!) and a broken water heater. The handy-woman stopped by today and fixed the water heater, and will be back on Saturday to fix the washer.
Now on to some pictures, then the video at the end!
Friday walking to our new house with Avery and Ivy in the afternoon to pick up our key. I told them how to recognize our house so they know how to get there in the future.
Playing Switch with Avery
Friday night after receiving our key, we went over to explore the house. Nico wanted to be in charge of pictures.
Bedtime snack, the last night in the Clubhouse
Moving day! Pile of boxes in the garage.
Emptying out the Clubhouse
Avery eating a tomato like an apple while watching the moving men load up the truck.
Movers done!
The first boxes in our new house
Discovering old treasures
Drawer trash
This is how perfectly our corner table fits into the dining room.
After the moving men left, time to eat Jimmy Johns!
Evelyn came over to help Nico unpack. Not sure he would have been motivated otherwise. Still have a lot left to do, though!
Nico doing spelling homework at my desk.
Tuesday, Avery, Ivy, and myself met Guy at Boise Fry Company for lunch.
Nico at school helping to fill up their class' bird feeder. The Bird by Bird organization posted this picture on their Facebook page, that's where I got it.
From the school Facebook page, pictures of Nico and his classmates making dog biscuits. Nico ate dog biscuit dough that day, containing regular flour. Oops.
Last Friday was Nico's last day of school. It was a half day, and when he got home we ran some errands. We went over the Natatorium to sign him up for swimming lessons first. It was the first day the pool was open this summer! Nico kept telling me he didn't want swimming lessons, but after being inside and seeing all the kids having fun in the pool, we left there with him saying "Ok I think I'm excited now." He's going to get one-on-one swimming lessons instead of the group lessons he had last year.
After our other errands, I took him to Blue Cow Frozen Yogurt for a last-day-of-school treat. If we remember, we will do this same thing next year, Nico liked that idea. You get to choose your own flavor (or flavors) and add it to your own bowl, then add toppings, then they weigh the bowl and charge you based on weight. He chose cotton candy, vanilla, and chocolate. Toppings were sprinkles and nerds. Crunch crunch!
Saturday morning was Nico's race day for the Capitol Classic Children's Race. We dropped him off at the Train Depot and then parked downtown and walked over to meet Papa. We found a place to hang out along 8th street until the race started. Last year the girls got to go first, this year, the boys!
On the way to the Train Depot. #285
The first sighting!
After finishing, trying to avoid getting his picture taken.
Free TCBY yogurt for all racers!
His time this year was 14:43. His time LAST year was 14:33. I told Papa this over text and he said that maybe it took an extra 10 seconds when he turned to say "Say hi to Grandma"! Hehe. Grandma was home with some of my older cousins who were staying at their house overnight.
We asked him if he wanted to do it next year and he said no. He said he wanted to skip a year. Okie dokie! We'll ask him again later. I think he got a really bad side ache during the run :)
Sunday we had a graduation party to attend after church, for someone in the church. It was at Baggley Park (aka Picka Park). Nico found a very climbable tree.
Monday was a day of preparation for our TRIP to Arlington and Moscow! Allicia took all the kids including Nico to the park in the morning to give me some time to focus. It was great! We got everything ready that we needed to and woke up Tuesday morning and set off for Yakima a little before 8AM.
I drove us to Yakima, and Guy and Nico spent most of the trip playing trip Bingo! Allicia let us borrow 4 bingo cards. Guy said he loved playing trip bingo times 2 million. I guess that's a lot! We learned that Nico needed to take Dramamine an hour before travel like the box says, instead of taking it right when we get in the car. He was nauseated for the first part of the trip but was fine after it kicked in.
Gummy worms from our stop in Pendleton.
First things first after arriving in Yakima after checking into our hotel. We went straight to Miner Burger.
After swimming Nico took a bath and then we watched some softball on TV. Then, to bed!
In the morning we made our way to Seattle. Guy drove this time. We arrived at the Seattle Center around 9:30am where we were meeting Grandpa and Grandma Russell!! We got there a bit early so we stopped and played at the park nearby for a few.
Grandma!
Grandpa! Same table we sat at last year when we met here!
Playing hygeine bingo.
Space shuttle
Waiting for his opponent to make his move.
After we were done at the Science Center, the boys went up to the Space Needle!
They got a SpaceBook picture taken you can set it to a variety of different Seattle skyline backdrops.
After they came back down we went to the fountain! The water is set to music. Nico was resistant at first to getting wet, he said he wanted his swimsuit. But we dared him to go touch the fountain without getting wet. He got wet.
After wrapping up at the Seattle Center, we went to Spuds near Green Lake for Fish and Chips!
The next morning we packed up the cars and drove to Cama Beach on Camano Island. We rented a cabin on the beach that had 2 rooms and a bathroom, plus a little kitchenette and dining table.
Nico wore his new binocular bag over his shoulder, with his new bird journal in it. He wore the actual binoculars around his neck on top of that. We spent some time searching for birds so he could enter them into his journal. He would record the date, the location, and notes about the sighting.
Cama Beach also had a large chess board. We played several games of chess while there!
Filling out the workbook we picked up for free at the gift store.
Nico found a piece of a shell that looks like Montana, and one that looks like a face. Nico and Grandma Russell both made a collection of shells and interesting things found on the beach. We weren't able to take anything with us because it was the rules. Grandpa found a certain type of rock that when striking two of them together produces a spark. We took 2 back to our cabin and tried it with all the lights off.
Writing a bird sighting in his journal.
On our second bird outing we didn't stop to record any birds, but they kept them in their heads and recorded them when we got back to the cabin.
Reading books before bed Thursday night.
We are having so much fun in Arlington spending time with the Grandparents!! We get to stay through Saturday and then will be going on to Moscow!
Here's a video from the race and Nico climbing the tree! Instead of splitting up the trip video, I will post the entire video from our vacation next week :D See you then!
