This is My Forties

The boys and I went over to Noah's school for a little hands-on learning fun.  Noah was our teacher as we took a look at all the things they have been learning this year. In 2nd grade they have already introduced multiplication and division and they're sure to include these lessons in many ways: word problems, manipulatives, and the simple text version I remember.  They have also begun to introduce practical application with fractions.  Tristan did some geometry and found a sphere! In social studies we learned all about Native Americans.  We saw the Aztec calendar.  Did you know it only has 20 days?  We also got to see the paper model of Tenochitlan the kids made, the original Mexico City, built by the Aztecs. We read Noah's fascinating tale about planting 10 cents that grew into a money tree!  I cannot wait to read the rest of his stories.  Noah has apparently already learned how to use Microsoft Power Point too, which is so very "...

We took the metro back in to Boadilla today to spend time with some friends before we left and pay some final bills and whatnot.  We'll be going back there again to cancel phones and close the bank account.  It wasn't difficult at all!  It was a lot of fun, actually.   We even made a side trip to the grocery store since we haven't had much luck finding produce or meats in our area downtown yet (and we knew they'd have them where we were going).  We're all shopped up for the rest of the week here.   There are more metro rides to come!  We have to go up to the base a few times before we fly out.  I'm sure by then the thrill will be gone for the kids, but they'll be old pros at it. Yesterday we took Brennan and Tristan over to Retiro Park to help them expend some energy while Noah was on a playdate.  The playground equipment over there is crazy!  The park itself is ginormous.  Hopefully the weather w...

Our last day went as well as it could have.  Noah was at school most of the day so he was blissfully unaware of the cleaning frenzy that was happening back at home.  I don't think I even saw Josh most of the day.  We were always in a different room getting something finished.  The boys watched movies all day... sorta.  They whined a lot, which is completely understandable since there was nothing to do and neither of us was able to give them much attention.  They were propped in the living room while strangers roamed around to get the loaner furniture and appliances out of the way. We had some friends show up to help us out.  Cheryl took away most of the trash and extra 220v valuables we didn't have the heart to throw into a dumpster.  Our buddy Rolando gave Josh and our mountain of luggage a ride to the hotel to check in.  As luck would have it on the way there they saw an awful accident and became the first responders.  A small ...