So we went to the movies

INOX at Citi Centre is a nice theater. It's brand new, only a few months old, clean and pretty comfy. But...

There's always a but, isn't there?

Poor design planning makes it a bit of hassle. There is no waiting area. Oh, there's a large lobby, places to get snacks, movie posters, etc. But you can't get physically into the theater until 15 minutes before your movie. Until then you are shoved to the side, either blocking the ticket windows or blocking the escalator. You and the other 100 people watching the same movie, all crammed together. Heaven forbid there are two movies starting at the same time. Everyone is told is wait in a place about as big as our living room, together with folks in line for tickets, folks trying get by to go down the escalator and folks pushing their way in the middle, forward through security.
Previews start 5 minutes before movie time which leaves 10 minutes allowed for snacks, restroom, whathaveyou. Everyone swarms the snack counters at the same time.
But first you have to go through the security check, which involves men in one line and women in the other. Heaven forbid you're blocking the wrong side (like me, I was blocking the ticket windows on the left when I should have been blocking the escalator on the right in order to avoid pushing my way through the men thronging through the male security check, which I was prevented from passing through). In this security check, they wave their little wands then tell you to open your bags. I refused. I'm going to see Shrek, I have my 2 little boys with me, and yes, I'm carrying a camera (not allowed), a package of cookies (not allowed, even though it's been in my bag for weeks) and gum (definitely not allowed). Too bad for all their Not Alloweds. I said No, she asked what I had in my bag and I said nothing. She waved me through after I repeated again I wasn't opening it and I'm sure I ticked some people off, especially those who had opened their tiny bags and had their open packs of gun confiscated.
It left a sour taste in my mouth, it really did. Our neighbor had an entire grocery store in her bag and she refused to open as well, but told them straight up she was carrying loads of food. They waved her through as well
I don't like being pushy like that. I really really don't. But do I want them to take my camera to prevent me from... what? Pirating the movie somehow? I carry the thing everywhere, and I'm not going to give it to them to put in a little bag and keep on the floor in the lobby of the mall. Nor am I going to hand over five packs of gum and the cookies I carry with me "just in case." (Those with little kids will get that.) It wouldn't have been a hardship, but it would have been a hassle. And really, it's the principle of the thing.
By the way, the movie was OK. The second half was better than the first, by far.

Day Two: A little slower, a lot hotter

This morning the boys did some math, continued with their French lessons and each did a spelling list. Jonathon won't have problems with spelling, he seems to memorize them quickly. Nicholas did piano, Jonathon still needs to do his 10 minutes today.

By late morning we were off to bowling with the neighbor kids and some friends, followed by a snacky lunch at Cafe' Coffee Day and now we're off to the pool.

I want to nap, but I'll go swim instead.

Hopper Summer Camp

I'm sure the boys wish they were in a summer camp right now!

It's Day One of "home all day with mom." The boyss got up (they've moved themselves into Katherine's bed for the duration) and made themselves breakfast, then by 8 a.m. our day was rolling. Here's a breakdown:
Math: Both boys have math work to do. Everyday Math may not be perfect for in-class work, but it's great for at-home review. A problem of this, a problem of that, nothing too long or involved and therefore not boring. Last week I tore apart the kids' used math books from the school year and pulled all the pages that hadn't been finished. Nicholas is doing Rebecca's incomplete pages, and Jonathon is doing Nicholas's. Working on these through the summer will keep topics like measuring, time and adding money in daily use aside from normal activities.
Reading: I expect each kid to read every day, it's not so much to ask. Jonathon has several _Now I'm Reading_ sets he hasn't finished, and Nicholas has chapter books to work through. In the evening we'll have regular storytimes again.
Piano: Each boy did 10 minutes of piano practice. Again, it's to keep things fun, short with a little learning. A measure here and there of practice means over time playing will get smoother. I'm not looking for little Mozarts, just kids who enjoy figuring out a piece of music.
French: Two lessons of Rosetta Stone each. We started at the beginning again. Easy stuff, fun and quick. It'll get harder over time, but no need to get frustrated yet, right?
Letters: I'm going to have the boys regularly writing to keep up their handwriting, spelling and getting thoughts on paper. Today they wrote letters to their sisters, but other days it will be different.
Spelling: From the "100 Words" books, we started with 1st grade. Of the 17 words Jonathon had in Group 1, he got 12 correct. Sure, it starts with words like "as" and "it" but that's a good way to have him start with success. Nicholas did Group 6 in the 1st grade book and missed one. He'll do the rest of the groups as review over this week then he'll move to the 2nd grade lists.
I'm not looking to confuse or frustrate the kids this summer. It will be a lot of review, some new stuff, and useful things too. This afternoon we'll bake cookies, tomorrow we'll go bowling, and we'll do a lot of swimming and Dance Dance Revolution too. There will be plenty of laundry folding and room cleaning as well.
I know not all days will be as productive as today, but my goal is to keep us moving. We have a list up so the boys know what to expect each day and I'm always up for alternatives.

Landmark is a Costly Store

Today I bought:

The 7 books in the Pendragon Series by D.J. Machale. I've read 5 while in Togo, having skipped The Never War and not had the chance to read Quillan Games.

The 6 books in Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain. Never read them and always wanted to read The Black Cauldron.

Dead Famous: Al Capone, Dead Famous: Isaac Newton, Dead Famous: Queen Victoria

Stories for 9 Year Olds, for Rebecca

The Plague by Philip Wooderson, two books in one with My Side of the Story... a girl's story on one end, flip the book over and a boy's story on the other.

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett. Had never heard of this book but saw it on a recommended reading list, then saw it in the store, and bought it.

Hugo Pepper by Paul Stewart. The neighbor's kid liked it.

Operation Typhoon Shore by Joshua Mowll. I put in a request for the first book, Operation Red Jericho. The books are touted as "A Da Vinci Code for children."

Some Rs15 superhero comic books for Nicholas.

And 5 VikramAditya stories... The Snow Leopard Adventure, Ladakh Adventure, Ranthambore Adventure, and two Andaman Adventure stories. Written by an Indian, the books are obviously set in India and have a conservationist bent to them.

Welcome to Summer

The local kids started back to school this past week. Our kids had their last (half) day on Friday and we now have a 1st grader, 2nd grader, 4th grader and 6th grader. Yup, parents to a middle schooler.

The girls made it to Virignia. Aside from being a long trip they sounded happy, had time for McDonalds in Frankfurt, and I think they grew up on their 20 hour trip. The family who acted as their guardians on the trip, well, I can't thank them enough. As far as I know, they ran into no troubles traveling with minors not their own. I'm thankful. They are in for several fun weeks in Virginia and I'm excited for them.
All the kids did well on their report cards, all moved up. I guess that's rather a "duh" comment. Katherine made straight As but for a B in P.E. That's my girl, I never did well in P.E. either. At the Awards Assembly on Wednesday, Katherine received the President's Award for Educational Excellence. Her teacher had called me the day before to ensure I would be present, and I was. Katherine hadn't been told she was receiving anything so her face was priceless when they called her name.
I spoke with Nicholas's teacher, she's leaving this year to move back to Stafford, VA. If we keep in touch there's a good chance we'll see her when we're back in a couple years.
I also asked in the library to help out next year, either Book Week, reading to the younger kids, or something of the sort. I did not sign up to be class parent or anything of the sort. That depends a lot on the teacher and how much involvement from parents they want.
Next year is full already.

Today is the Day

The girls head out tonight. I'm nervous. How do people do this? It will be the longest 24 hours of my life, I know it.

Add to that the driver decided he was sick, so now we scramble to get people places this evening. The girls are clearing out their school desks (oh, we got Nicholas's teacher assignment for next year, Ms. Bigwood, a new hire), and then we do a final room clean-up at home, double check everything is together, and take them to the Feldmann's house.

And that will be that. Skype on!

End of Year

The end of year (school year that is) is a busy time.

People are leaving so everyone feels they have to DO something. I figure one "something" is enough, but seems no one agrees with me as everyone is doing their own "something" for all the same people. Tell me the logic of that?
Other news first. No dead cats. Two fine boy cats and one quite angry girl cat, but no dead cats. Definitely an improvement over last time. Even better, the cats are on antibiotics for 5 days and that's not as miserable as it sounds. The first pill was a pain as I shoved it down each little kitty throat. But after the check-up with the vet he recommended mixing the crushed pill with a little honey or jam and rubbing it on their paws. It works. They hate having anything on their fur, they lick it off no matter how vile it may taste. Masala and Tandoori are all healed up and hopping around the house, Tikka is a hissing sausage (she's all wrapped up to provide abdominal support) sequestered to the cat room until she can play nice again. All will be well.
The end of year party at school on Friday was fun. I watched over the Sponge Toss, which is exactly as it sounds. Half the kids on one side, half on the other, water and spongers. Wet sponges... throw. Simple enough and the kids didn't mind soaking their already soaked classmates for 15 minutes straight. There was a break in the schedule when Nicholas was swimming, so I played with him in the pool. I only caught the tail end of the disco, the girls had a blast, and next year I know to provide fruit of some sort not the requested cookies or chips.
Nicholas had a friend come over after school Friday, and we all picked up the cats from the vet. That evening Ian picked up TDYers from Manila and came home at 1 a.m. It was a tiring start to the weekend for him.
Saturday's party went off well, but as a neighbor said, it would have helped to advertise. An e-mail invite went out on Tuesday, the plans were in place for 100 people for dinner. I think we had half that. Our fridge is packed with leftovers. The earlier kid time was well-attended, bouncy castles packed and face painters busy. The women's time was well-attended as well, I bought a couple pieces of jewelry as gifts and passed on the manicures/pedicures in favor of chatting a bit with Ms. Whitson, Jonathon's teacher for next year. I didn't know he'd been assigned to her, but she knew and brought it up and thankfully is excited about having him.
So now we know 2 of our teacher assignments for next year. Jonathon has Ms. Whitson and Rebecca has a new hire, Ms. Forgie. She's not completely new to us and here's one of those small world moments... Ms. Forgie was a 2nd grade teacher at IS Manila when Katherine was in second grade at ISM. Ms. Forgie says she remembers Katherine even though she wasn't in her class. They did cross grade teaching there just like here.
So the evening dinner of biryanis, dhals, raitas, green salads, fruit salads, chapati, cakes and desserts was well-received. Oh, Ian assured me no one would be in the house except to get food and use the restroom, but we cleaned up anyway and the tents in the yard went largely unused as folks came in for food and stayed for the air conditioning. The last folks departed around 11, minor cleaning was left for the morning.
Today, we have a family coming over for lasagna and swimming. This is the family in charge of the girls on their trip to Virginia on Friday, but really the girls haven't spent much time with them. I need to get cracking on putting the lasagna together, but now I'm thinking if I do it early where will I put it? The fridge is bursting. As it is, the fruit salad from yesterday is in the pantry awaiting its demise into fruit shakes this afternoon. I'll probably do the lasagna right before out guests get here and just put it straight into the oven. The nice thing about the cook working yesterday evening (she never works on the weekends for us) is the kitchen is clean and the dishes are washed. I can make a mess today.