Karen and Crew: I Can't Believe Summer is Almost Over

When I say this Isaac disagrees. He doesn't feel like the "summer" has been much different than the rest of the year. He has been spending a good chunk of time on school. He signed up for three classes--Marketing, German, and second half of Algebra 2 and he had to finish the swimming that got pushed back thanks to the broken arm. He and I made a challenging schedule and he is perfectly on track to meet his two month completion goal. He has been trying to talk me into paying him for god grades for years, but that just seemed silly to me since his motivation comes from within. I did see the benefit in encouraging time management though. So since July, we started an incentive/consequence system that has worked wonderfully. If he meets his deadlines (ever 9-12 days) he gets 20 AED per class, but if he misses them, he has to pay me instead. He hasn't missed one yet, thought there were a couple that came down to the wire. He has learned to work to a deadline!! Yeah! Maybe this will speed up his test taking too?? But he hasn't been only doing school. He has also made time to do a lot of side projects and fun stuff. I have not been good at journaling recently, so this will be a big dump of sorts.

Jess continues knitting. She has made a pillow for George and this is some sort of neck warmer. I think part of the incentive to think up new projects is to listen to good books on tape (or iPad)

Here is Isaac in the process of taking apart a remote control helicopter to scavenge for parts to make a device that could be paired up with the raspberry pi to automatically open doors. It turned out that the motor wasn't strong enough to produce the necessary torque, but he loves these projects. We also got links to allow him to take some online (college level) programming classes--free for homeschoolers. He is LOVING that.

He is probably listening to TED talks--still a favorite.

We have only gone to ski Dubai once! Quite a departure from summer 2012 when we went once a week. The kids still have their skills and are really looking forward to skiing on a real mountain in a few months in Switzerland. Jess wore the hat she made herself and hoped not to get scolded. Under 12 are supposed to wear helmets. She made it.

After 2 hours. They were freezing and starving.

Jess is still loving her self-made monkey PJ bottoms. She also still spends ample time upside down in various forms. When we rearranged her room a few weeks ago she made sure to leave a section of wall open for handstands.

Good bun day.

This is looking down 2 stories on an old rug on display? We didn't go down to read all about it--I think this was on the way to a doctor's appointment--but we stopped to take a picture. It's really big, but it's hard to realize unless you use the people walking in the upper right hand corner for scale.

Tried a new Italian place in Motor City after a failed attempt to pop into Midriff during one evening of Eid--NO PARKING. This bruschetta was so good. It was quite reminiscent of the place in Ramstein village that sadly closed down.

Isaac wanted to build an addition to his desk to house an additional monitor. Since he would be sawing and hammering, he added sanding and painting as well. The girls helped and the finished product is happily being used.

Jess can do something I cannot do--"dutch braid". My fingers just can't make the braid on top, only buried in the French style. She whipped this out on my hair.

Makenna took a few weeks off summer gymnastics, but is happily back.

This just struck me as so funny and reminiscent of Peanuts (with Lucy) or Calvin and Hobbes comics setting up lemonade stands and offering to sell advice or a "swift kick in the behind".

My new favorite window display. Bloomingdales mannequins are having a pillow fight.

We went to a new climbing wall and sky trail. Jess tried wearing Makenna's old "toe shoes" for the first time. Makenna's feet are currently my size and so she wore mine.

We were waiting for other families to show up.

Isaac

Makenna

Jessica

Looking up at them on the course.

No idea. It's basically an empty closet with no door, and well labeled.

When leaving our friends' house after dinner, the kids excitedly found some a few bats hanging out.

A mom and some babies we think.

Best find of the summer. Too bad we didn't try it till August! The World Trade Center's main room gets turned a massive sports arena. I took a tally. 8 soccer fields, 2 basketball courts, 1 volleyball, 1 tennis, 12 ping pong tables, 1 cricket pitch, a weight room, skate park and a 660 meter two lane track around the whole thing. It's free to go in. You pay to reserve a court--which many summer sport camps use--but if they are open, anyone can jump in. Our first time there Makenna brought a friend and we met up with another family. We stayed for over 5 hours! They brought a bag of sport equipment and tried everything! A few boys Isaac's age joined them in a pick up game of soccer during the last hour. They are there daily for a soccer camp and Isaac planned on meeting up again the next week.

None of these really show the scope. It is a great escape from the heat and encourages action.

We tried the recipe that Makenna's friend made for us for dinner the week before. It's pasta in ONE pot--you cook the dry noodles at the same time as the sauce. It is simple and delicious! We did not have leftovers.

Yeah it's been crazy hot for months, but I had 1/2 a cabbage in the fridge and borscht just sounded so good. I chopped everything up late one night and then turned the crock pot on low. I turned it off at breakfast time and by lunch it was cool enough to eat.

After going to the sports complex this week, we joined our friends to check out a small photo exhibit. National Geographic has a contest each year for the region. over 13K entries were submitted (see explanation below) and the top 3 were displayed along with about 30 of the runner-ups. The theme was hand crafts. The grandmas would have loved it.