Zipped

The Friday before G left, we came to the shocking realization that we had a completely free Saturday the next day. We started throwing around ideas for doing something momentous for his last New England wahoo weekend. After about 14 total years of living in the area, it seemed like there should be something to mark the end of the era. At some point G suggested "What about doing a zip line course?" 

A quick google search and an online reservation later, we were booked for the next day before we could really stop and think about the implications of dangling from a wire high off of the ground. (Although we did have a 2+ hour drive to mull it over the next morning!)

We arrived in Lincoln, NH, got fitted for harnesses and instructed on hanging on for dear life, and headed up the mountain in an old WWII all terrain vehicle. The forested zipline course was made up of about 7 long swoops between high platforms at the tops of the trees. That first step is a nail biter but it was glorious to soar out over the breathtaking scenery--glorious and a wee bit terrifying. I was especially proud of M (usually the most timid amongst us) for jumping in with gusto. By the end the guide had most of us convinced to jump off backwards in the last, freefall zipline.

All except G, who dove off head first. 

How's that for an apt metaphor for life?  

I am about to break all of my personal rules about posting pictures of myself. This is an unflattering, hair-plastered, awkwardly posed photo of me (and, let's face it, the harness does me no favors in the fashion department) but we were so utterly thrilled and gleeful at the end that I love this, sweaty hair and all.

 

Throughout the course I kept repeating: We are intrepid; we carry on. (Name that movie.)

I think intrepid will be our new word around here this summer. I like how it feels. 

Getting cozi

First, before I start glorifying the beauty of scheduling and calendars for a fairly busy family, I want to be clear: I believe in down time. I want my kids to enjoy hours of free range decisions, to be creative, to have daydreaming time,  to nestle in with a good book.  I spent long hours of my childhood following the trail of my imagination and have worked to clear space in our lives for our kids to do the same.

I loved what Jennie had to say about this.

And Tara Whitney. Treat yourself to a read of her ode to this kind of life. Bravo, Tara.

Having said that, sometimes your kids turn into high schoolers with their own opinions whose trails of imagination lead straight to music lessons and play practices. And it becomes tricky to make sure everyone is where they're supposed to be.

We have tried different calendars and techniques to help make sure we are where we need to be. Recently we've finally settled on a system and I've loved it so much that I thought I'd share in case it's helpful to someone else. 

I joined Cozi over a year ago but I just didn't really use it. I'm a paper-lovin' gal and was perfectly happy with my lovely exacompta planner refill every year (which I still have and use). But we needed a way to operate from a family master calendar that everyone could access at any time. So in January we started putting everything into Cozi (by the way, they don't know me nor have they asked me or paid me to do this. I just really like them).

Here's what I love: 

1. everyone can access this from a computer, cell phone, etc. for the most up-to-date version. So if something changes schedule-wise for G when he's at work, he can go right in and change it
2. you can program an event to repeat every day, weekday, week, month, year, etc. or even every 13 (or whatever) weeks, making it much more flexible than iCal or other digital calendars
3. you can program it to send an email or text message reminder to specific people for any item (for instance, Lauren needed to remember to talk to her counselor at school but kept forgetting so we just added a reminder to the calendar and it pinged her.) 
4. you can tag any combination of people for their own events
5. there's an app for that so we can input or check schedules on iphones, blackberries & itouches
6. the to-do lists and shopping lists mean that everyone can add to the list and then we have it handy on our phones when we're at the store
7. you can schedule something in the far distant future instead of waiting to get next year's calendar
8. it's free

We use it as our master list for everything and then we print it out, week by week, and post it on the fridge. If you have older kids or teenagers (or if you, like me, chronically forget appointments--oh the shame) this could be just the ticket.

Still, nothing makes me happier than an empty square on the calendar (next Monday and Tuesday, I'm looking at you and cheering).

How about you? How do you keep track of your life?
  

p.s. Quizlet

We are loving Quizlet, a great website for creating online flashcards (or using those that others have created). After you enter the words and meanings, the site creates exercises to complete and gives a score.

Lauren uses it for Latin and chemistry but you could use it for pretty much anything with a vocabulary to master (you can also upload images to identify). Perfect for older elementary through college (there are even flashcards for standardized tests like the ACT, SAT, and GRE).

Summer launch

One of the advantages of getting out of school later than most of the rest of the country is I had time to peruse all of the summer ideas that other families were doing. I loved Jenny's (private blog) take on being productive in the mornings and leaving the afternoons for fun. I remember visiting Christie last summer and loving how her kids earn books each week (I think she has a bin full of new books she snagged at a book fair...right, C?).

We usually like to have some kind of structure (although flexible). I wanted to be able to set aside mornings to get work done on some research and writing I've commited to this summer and, at the same time, give some guidelines for the kids to get a few things done every day relatively unsupervised (and by unsupervised I mean un-nagged). I also wanted to provide some fun ideas to stave off the blahs and the floppies (as in, flopping on the couch, flopping on the floor, and whining). So this is what we've come up with.

Summer Bingo! Stacy described her Summer Bingo idea here and I was hooked (she even includes downloadable bingo forms and rules, which I adapted for my kids' ages and interests). After the kids do their beds, pick up their clothes, do a job and practicing, they can do activities on the Bingo sheet. Some are really fun, some are enriching or educational, some will help move the kids forward on goals (scouts, personal progress). They can earn tickets toward prizes every time they get "bingo" and, if they do the whole thing each week, some $ will be put toward their school clothes or something they're saving for. The best part is that it's self guided and it motivates them to get the essentials (work and practicing) done quickly.

click to enlarge^

Maddy and her best friend, Meg, have been helping as junior counselors for the Vacation Bible School here in town in the mornings. They got home and decided to do the "make something in the kitchen" option. {Mmm. Chocolate chip cookies...keep them away from me, please.}

Sam elected to do the most decadent item on the sheet first: one hour of video games. Figures!

Lauren is babysitting for a neighborhood family all week so she has yet to dive into the world of Summer Bingo.

For the afternoons, we've put together a list of activities and field trips we'd like to do together as often as we can. Our days will be just like a mullet: business up front, party in the back.

What are you doing this summer to stay occupied and sane?

High {in}fidelity

I must admit: I've been cheating on you, blog.

I've been tweeting.
I know, I know. I'm sorry!
It's not you, it's me. (And now the not-following-the-crowd-silly-snob in me insists on noting that I've been on Twitter for over a year, long before all of these recent press flurries about it. There, n-f-t-c-s-s Annie, are you happy?)

It's been difficult to write blog entries lately, for a variety of reasons, but somehow the little twitter tweets with their 140 character limit have been a welcome recipient of my spare thoughts (and much less time consuming!).

We just keep getting shorter and pithier, don't we? First letters, then phone calls, then emails, then blogs, then facebook, then twitter. With some texting thrown in there somewhere. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this progression (regression?) but I do know I've become a convert to this newest thing. I like knowing what others are up to. It satisfies the curious-about-life-and-others me. Plus you get information lightning fast.

Anyway, here are some pretty mundane descriptions of what I've been up to lately:

2. On the bright side=my migraine last night made me go to bed at 7:30 and now I feel pretty great.about 4 hours ago from TwitterGadget
3. listening to Sam practice the piano. It takes much longer to convince him to practice than it does for him to actually do it.about 21 hours ago from TwitterGadget
4. I'm so glad I didn't buy an iphone on Saturday...I want the new one on June 19! http://www.apple.com/iphone/5:36 PM Jun 8th from TwitterGadget
5. Just made all of the phone calls on my list (dr., dentist, plumber, eye dr., you name it I called them). Now I deserve a reward, right?3:44 PM Jun 8th from TwitterGadget
6. gym-->working at home-->listening to Little Joy-->walk dog-->lunch at neighborhood shop.11:33 AM Jun 8th from TwitterGadget
7. Dessert for dinner: what's not to like about angel food cake, lemon curd, strawberries and whipped cream?5:39 PM Jun 7th from TwitterGadget
8. already looking forward to my Sunday nap.7:16 AM Jun 7th from TwitterGadget
9. I'm pretty sure the lecture I just gave my daughter about not procrastinating was really aimed at myself.5:46 PM Jun 6th from TwitterGadget
10. this might be iphone day...3:16 PM Jun 6th from TwitterGadget
11. fresh mozzarella and tomato salad = lunch bliss1:53 PM Jun 5th from TwitterGadget
12. @bridgetrawlins congrats to him! that's huge.5:19 PM Jun 4th from TwitterGadget in reply to bridgetrawlins
13. Reading parts of Obama's speech to my kids and chatting about it. I love that we can have these conversations (@ ages 10, 13, 15).5:19 PM Jun 4th from TwitterGadget
14. Now there's a bad day at work for someone:http://bit.ly/J48MQ9:19 PM Jun 2nd from web
15. Stooping to McDonalds for dinner tonight. My apologies, Supersize Me book.6:43 PM Jun 1st from web
16. Off to meet my friend Jess at the lovely Nashoba Brooks Bakery. Nice way to welcome the weekend, even if it *is* raining.9:51 AM May 29th from web
17. taking Louie to the vet this morning. I'm not a fan of the "bringing a sample" part.7:44 AM May 29th from web
18. watching the national spelling bee with my kids. Cause we're cool like that.8:03 PM May 28th from web
19. Up way too early this morning. If you can't sleep at 4:30 a.m. does it still count as insomnia?7:32 AM May 27th from web
20. You know what's a good sound? Listening to your kids doing the dishes in the next room, dancing/singing to the TingTings & Paul Oakenfold7:56 PM May 26th from web
    
    

So do you twitter? 

If yes--> I'd love to follow you...just leave your [twitter]name in the comments. 

If you don't but are intrigued---> give it a shot!

If you don't and are repelled by the idea-->Just forget I said anything at all.  And sorry!--I'm sure my boring list of tweets did nothing to entice you.)