Up Periscope!

It was Memorial Day, and so the logical thing for us to do was this:  make a periscope!  This was somewhat of a later project, sort of a spontaneous idea.  Daddy found this periscope kit a while back, holding on to it for a few months now.

We did a little of the "hot dog and potato salad" thing today, as we did in fact have those for dinner.  But the rest of the day was a bit of a wash, really.  We had a few chores to do, and there is still a lot to do towards Summer Xtreme.  There was a lot of planning, phone calls and what-not, all in preparation for a bit of filming tomorrow.

But there was also a lot of relaxing done.  We sat and watched "Spy Kids 2," which Madison saw for the first time.  She's enjoying the adventures of Carmen and Juni, and Mommy and Daddy have been enjoying the movies too - lots of cameos and references to things Mommy and Daddy remember growing up, in this movie, namely Ray Harryhausen.

We played another board game, as that's been our thing lately - revisiting all our board games, one at a time.  Today's feature:  "Trouble."  This has a Stitch theme to it, as all the characters sneak around Experiment 626, trying to get home safely.

We're all a bit tired lately.  We went to bed early tonight, completely worn out by the weekend.  We need to get this rest now, as later on it will be harder to come by.  As for Memorial Day itself, the concept is not lost on Madison, who understands what the day is all about.  She learned a bit of that yesterday, how freedom isn't free.  She'll give you speech about how soldiers gave everything so that we can be free.  It's good head knowledge, which for now will suffice.  Eventually, there's a moment where the reality of it all sinks in, the reality of sacrifice.

We wrote a skit for Summer Xtreme today - one I think will be pretty good for it all.  Also, we've been writing some rather destructive bits too, which will probably be chronicled here as we film them this week.  All is coming together rather well there, but there is quite a bit of stress this week before hand.  Also there's a bit of adventure doing new things.  We'll see how it all comes together.  Madison will be a pirate this year, and she's really looking forward to that.

Speaking of which, this is summer.  No more school for Madison, who is getting to stay up late this week.  She's sleeping in, and generally a lot slower paced right now.  We've got daily activities planned for her, with piano and reading and writing as well.  But it's nothing like the school season, where there's always something going on.  This is like hitting the breaks suddenly, and everyone flying forward in the car - it's a surprise.  What?  Nothing to go to?  What's going on?

We'll take it easy this week, as Daddy is doing quite a bit of planning and Mommy is keeping busy.  But once Summer Xtreme is over with, we'll get together a fun routine for the summer with even more fun planned.  Until then, it's back to work - back to getting Summer Xtreme together...