Ice Cream and Golf

You can see here how Ye-Ye is gloating over his spectacular score at mini-golf tonight.  It was ten under par, and just ridiculous!  He got three hole-in-ones in a row!  He should have had two more, his aim was so deadly tonight.  He's not a big fan of the game, but lo!  The anointing apparently fell upon him, and he just had "one of those games."  We all had a great time too, by the way.  It's all about having fun, of course, and not the competing part so much.

These are the memories though, golf and then ice cream afterwards on the deck there.  It overlooks the course, and there's this big line of rocking chairs.  When the full family is there, we take up all the chairs exactly.  We got our ice creams and sat for a while, talking in the pleasant weather.  It was a little windy, but we were shielded from that in the woods, and it wasn't really that cold.  It was just right, actually.  But everyone had a good time.  It's a nice little golf course, and it's right there next to us, pretty much.  No doubt we'll be stopping by there for ice cream frequently now, as that was a tradition last year.

We got home, and of course the three of us were all about the series finale of "Gravity Falls."  It's gone from a "that's interesting and pretty funny" show to a "must see what happens next" sort of thing, as the episodes are less "stand alone" and more "part of this greater story."  And it has been a greater story too.  There have been hilarious moments, and after tonight, some really heartfelt moments as well.  It's a great show, and fortunately we're not completely done with it:  there is a third part of this collection that has some shorts, and we're not talking about the kind you wear.  But as you could probably predict, we'll be right on that pretty soon.

So "Endgame" came out yesterday, officially, and we're off of social media and anything else that could spoil it for us.  We're blissfully clueless about what happens at the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, although it's not technically the end for the universe - just the end for certain characters, or so we've been lead to believe.  Anyway, it's been a "series finale" sort of weekend here.  The Marvel one is a big deal though.  We're going to see this final movie in the morning.  There's a showing at 10:15am, and we're hoping it isn't as packed as the other showings will be.  We'll see!

As mentioned above, it was a breezy day, and slightly cooler, but very pleasant nonetheless.  We did some yard work outside, and Daddy wrote the second of the Summer Xtreme skits, so that's halfway done there.  Each one of these is such a burden, and it feels so good to have 50% of that weight off the ol' shoulders right now.

Madison got a few perfect scores on her Latin America assignments, and fortunately there's been no mention of air pollution so far.  For context, you'll have to read earlier, because it seems as if that's one of the main things she's learned about Canada.  Forget geography and history.  Let's talk about those Canadians and their pollution!

Seriously though:  that is one big gripe I have about this social studies class.  And of course it is not the teacher's fault.  It's "IT'S" fault.  Yes, that's a reference to "A Wrinkle in Time," where some master control programmer from a central location dictates what is acceptable and not, and everyone must comply.  Anyway, IT wants Madison and all the other teachers to learn this year about the types of government that Europe has over anything else.  The end result:  Madison thinks Europe is boring. She thinks Canada is polluted.  Australia is nice and Latin America is looking better than the others.  She's an "A" student.  I put on a defense of Europe tonight:  "Didn't they tell you about the history of Europe, of Medieval Times and Victorian London, or glory of Rome, or the French Exposition, where the greatest artists converged, the Eiffel Tower was constructed?"  Her reply was that Germany was interesting, because of its role in World Wars, but that was about it.  She hadn't really thought about the idea that Medieval Times, the thing she loves so much, was actually something that took place in England.  And that is how you failed, IT.  Or maybe you wanted to fail, and maybe you want a bunch of ignorant students.  I have no idea.  But it's more or less our jobs as parents to introduce these basic moments in history to our kids, I suppose.  Like, how can you think Europe is boring?  That's the home of the Renaissance, scientific discovery, and so much history!  The big thing she came away with from that overview of Europe (and believe me, because I helped her study for it) was that there were about three different types of governments.  Months later, she's telling me about autocracies, as if that's a word we use left and right here.  Inside, I'm like, "But... but... castles, and wars, and industrial revolutions!"

Latin America is not as boring to her, and I have no idea why.  She's not even studying all the countries.  They've decided to focus on Mexico, Brazil and Cuba.  Venezuela would be an interesting thing to talk about, of course.  I wonder if that was brought up.  We'll have to ask her about that one.  Daddy showed her how the highest waterfall in the world is in Venezuela.  This Sunday is Cinco de Mayo, so we'll have to have fun with that Latin America theme.

Anyway, there are certain things that you scratch your head about.  Or rub your chin. Or whatever.  Elsewhere, the classes seem to be going well.  The math class at this point is a lot of review.  They've been learning a lot of seventh grade material so far, and next year they'll be learning eighth grade material.  She's doing well overall - really well!

We read from our book tonight, which seems to be picking up a bit, but it's really different to the girls.  They were expecting more Peter Pan and Neverland, which hasn't happened quite yet.  But it'll get there.  Until then, we're getting a bit of a book that more resembles a "Kingdom Keepers" book, which might be something Madison will hear eventually.

We also read from our devotional, which is about to wrap up, and then got to bed.  Tomorrow, we're actually setting the alarm and not sleeping in so much so that we can see a Marvel movie.  It's not that we're running out the door to see it, but we want time to bathe and eat breakfast and all that.  It seems crazy to go see a movie in the morning, but it's a worldwide event, both onscreen and off.

That being said... goodnight!