Clubhouse Cleanup, Rock Party, GG

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:

1. Let's set up the bookshelf today
2. We need to set up the couches where they're going first
3. Before that we need to unpack these boxes to get them out of the way
4. 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)
5. While we do this let's make a list of all the things the handy-woman needs to fix when she comes back
6. Ok, great, the bookshelf is where we want it. Now we need the stud finder. Do you know where the stud finder is? 
7. I found it! It's out of batteries. Do we have any AAA batteries? No? I will go to the store (Guy)
8. While I'm at the store, do we need anything else? Yes: light bulbs, and drywall anchors.
9. The first store didn't have the right light bulbs, go to a 2nd store.
10. Now we need the drill to screw the bookshelf support into the wall.
11. 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".

Enjoy the video!