Moso: A Traveler’s Guide

Monday morning, Steven woke to the sound of new construction vehicles outside. He was eager to get outside and take some pictures, which Penni made happen during their morning recess break.

SSA seem good about doing the scheduled gym activities set up by the PE teachers. They’re not always so thrilled to be caught on camera via stealthy selfie mode, though. 🙂

Steven has a Mo Willems art book that has resurfaced as a recent favorite. He uses Light Cat, a gift from Charlie, to light his way when he’s doing his art in the early morning hours (in our bed).

I’ve enjoyed seeing the artwork that the kids are doing “at” school. This week they made these elephants. In order it’s Amaya’s, Sammy’s and then Steven’s. Sammy’s critique of Steven’s elephant was that the background line, for perspective, was not supposed to go through the elephant.

The kids use white boards for school. I think they do equations and other work that they can do quickly, show their teacher if needed, and then erase. The kids also like drawing on their white boards during breaks.

Steven’s Tank House.

Amaya’s rainbow heart.

Steven told me what this is. A truck delivering something. Maybe construction materials for our street. But I can’t remember exactly and he’s busy watching our Roomba mop (Moppy) so it may live as a bit of a mystery.

The rule is that the kids have to sit up properly for their live, synchronous learning time but they have more flexibility during independent working time – as long as they stay focused and get their work done. I was able to sneak this picture when I came down to get a snack.

Ms. and Mr. Raspberry Hands.

During lunch one day, Steven had this comment about rice & beans: The way Amaya eats rice and beans is kind of like Q and U. Amaya will eat beans without rice but she’ll only eat rice with beans. You can have U without Q but you can’t have Q without U. So it’s sort of the same.

I love Amaya’s fashion choices. This is a tank top that she wears as a halter by putting her head through one of the arm holes.

We leave for NY on Friday, 10/9 and Amaya is already planning with Charlie. This is a visual reputation of activities she wants to do with Charlie in NY. Jump on the trampoline. Color-on temporary tattoos. Make bracelets. Bake cupcakes. I suspect her list will continue to grow.

SSA tend to fight Penni when she suggests they go outside for recess but always seem happy to be outside once they acquiesce. With all the time in the house, it’s not quite as optional as the presentation makes it seem.

Sweet chats with his Daddy.

Sometime this week Steven imagined the planet Moso. It’s in the Butt Cheek galaxy, 100,000 miles from Earth. When it’s day on Earth, it’s night on Moso. On Moso, there are no clouds but they do have rainbows. The nearest dwarf planet does have clouds, however. Moso is flat planet. You don’t have to worry if you visit because there are many signs warning you two minutes before you get to the end of the planet. Moso is more technologically advanced and have two space stations, unlike Earth’s one. One space station is for when Steven visits. The other is for the rest of the people of Moso. Moso has volcanoes but not lava volcanoes because there’s no lava at the center of Moso. Every day there’s something new to learn about this planet.

Sally has been so patient with the kids these days. (And vice versa.) They can sit and pet her for ages now. It’s awesome.

Thornton Creek Gators art!

Sleeping Sammy. He is still the best sleeper in the Cline family, and the least likely of the kids to call for us at bedtime. When it’s time to sleep, he sleeps.

On Friday night Steven was having a difficult time falling asleep so I cuddled with him and fell asleep myself. Best way to drift off… Love that Jason captured this.

On Saturday morning we had another class meet up at the TC playground. I think it will be a regular thing as long as the weather is nice enough. The kids played gaga again, and did lots of (needed) running around. I even put a ball in our trunk in case no one else brought one.

Saturday afternoon was our last pool day of the season. Sadness. 🙁 Steven, Sammy and Amaya didn’t expect to get in another swim day, though, so they made the most of it and no one wanted to leave. I’m so glad the JCC found a way to make this work this summer. It was wonderful. Fortunately, the kids will keep swimming because swim lessons start on 10/1. Definitely not the same as free play time in the pool but hopefully they enjoy it and develop new skills.

Credit for this photo goes to Amaya. <3

We’re hanging on to summer but it’s definitely fall in the Land of Cheltenham.

I was upstairs relaxing, before going to pick up sushi, and heard the tell-tale sounds of an ice cream truck on our street. We’ve been to ice cream trucks in NY, by Chase and Charlie’s school, but never had the fun of running outside out house for ice cream. No way we were passing that up. Even I couldn’t resist getting a Chocolate Eclair ice cream bar. Those, and Strawberry Shortcakes, were my elementary school go-tos.

Another photo I’m so glad Jason captured.

Today, for reasons that make great sense in the minds of the Cline kids, was National Sports Day and National Dads Day. (Different from Father’s Day which isn’t national, you see. And on National Dads Day, dads don’t get to sleep late.) The kids celebrated with activity stations around the house. Sammy set up a book-making station. Amaya set up a puppet making station. Steven set up a ball card and Jedi dueling station. On National Dad’s Day you also eat cake. So there was cheesecake.

As always, Amaya made goody bags.

Making Puppets.

Jason’s story book deserves some space of it’s own in this week’s blog.

“Space Family Cline – by Daddy

Space Family Cline boards the rocket ship. Up, up and away for space, Family Cline! Space Family Cline appears to be weightless in orbit. That’s how it seems… but in reality, both they and the ship are falling around the earth at the same rate. To come back to early, Space Family Cline fires rockets to slow their horizontal speed. And so, instead of falling around the earth, the fall toward the earth… So they can come home to the land of… Cheltenham. <3″

This afternoon the kids and I headed over the the Novi library for their first library cards. What a great age and time for this. Knowing that they won’t be able to check out books from their school library adds a ton of value to visits to our local library and they’re really into picking out books to read (and have read to them).

Outside of the library there’s a statue of two boys and a girl reading books. Immediately, SSA noticed the statue and said that it was “Just like them”. Amaya looks annoyed in this picture because Sammy was standing on the “wrong” side and they weren’t in the same BBG order as the statue.

New library card holders! They even got to write their names on their cards. Forever keepsakes, for sure.

A whole world opening to them…

Amaya saw this picture and said, “I look like a grown up.”

After the library we spent about an hour at a nearby playground. I haven’t been to this one with the kids in at least a year and, suddenly, it seems so much smaller. It’s still great for the kids but they fill the space so differently.

We wrapped up the day with chicken and potatoes ala Amaya and Sammy. Amaya washed, cut and seasoned the potatoes. I just added some salt and put them in the oven. Sammy prepped and seasoned the chicken all on his own, and to his own desire. Again, I just added salt (and cut the onions). We have amazing chefs.