What have you guys been doing?!

We've been doing lots of fun stuff lately. I guess that's one reason I have so neglected this blog. Of course we've been in lots of water. In August we met Faith, Easy, Malila, and Zola at Riis Park in Brooklyn.

Sitting in chairs: Esther & Malila

Sitting on a Towel: Ryan & Easy

Ethan had a really great time talking with Malila.At the end of August, we went to the Northeast Unschooling Conference in Massachusetts. We hung out with friends.

Drue and Ethan

We got tattoos.

We laughed...a lot!

Drue (Standing) Declan (Pointing) Ethan (Sitting) Ryan (Standing on a chair)

We even played some of our favorite board games.

We had sleepovers and even slept at some of them!

Ryan (Left bed) Amory (Sleeping bag next the right bed)
Doran (Right bed) Ethan (Sleeping bag in the foreground)

We tried out new pools like the one at the newly opened Shoreline Y.

Mimi, Ethan, and Doran

We had a visit from Aunt Kathie.

We tried out chocolate fondue. Doran wasn't as fond of it as everyone else. He enjoyed eating the fruit without dipping it.

Ryan, Ethan, Amory, & Doran

We went to Madison Square Park in NYC and then went to see the King Tut exhibit.

Ryan asked to have his picture taken on top of the tire swing structure.

Ethan on the tire swing.

For my birthday, Ethan made me chocolate brownies! He and Ryan lit the candles. Afterward Ryan had a blast re-lighting a candle and blowing it out until it became nothing more than a stub.

We've been having amazing sunsets here lately. This is one we saw from the top of East Rock.

East Rock has been Ryan's favorite place lately. He loves building cities in the sand pit and being buried up to his neck.

So, that's a little of what has occupied out time lately. Now it's time for me to go play with Ryan.

Water Park, Computers, and Snow!

Wow it's been a long time since I wrote here. Guess I've been too busy enjoying life to write about it. We just got back from the UWWG.That was big fun.

Ryan loved the sword fight and the endless games of chase.
He enjoyed reconnecting with friends (Jared is on the right) and making new ones (Jet is on the left).
Ethan had a blast selling and trading Pokémon cards with Aryn and Evan.
Ethan really wants to learn to surf. We thought this would be a perfect place to try it out, but he absolutely hated the flow-rider. He said it was too fast and too scary.
After he tried it out, cried, and calmed down he said, "I'm really proud of myself for trying that." Way to go Ethan.

We left the Water park on Friday and arrived home Saturday to a visit from two wonderful friends. Doran and Amory are here for the week. They arrived just in time for Ethan to get his long awaited holiday present. He wanted a laptop and used all his Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice money to get it. He waited until we could find one in his budget that met his needs. That finally happened yesterday. He was so excited. He and Doran opened the box together.
Mimi helped get it all set up.
Ethan hasn't been off it for long since.
Today we have lots of snow. Doran wanted to go play in it, but was having trouble convincing the other guys to go out. I suggested we could cover him in snow without leaving the house. Ethan leaned out the back window and shoveled the snow from the overhang. All Doran had to do was wait. It was Ethan's idea of perfect snow fun. He got to cover someone in snow without going outside.

Now we're setting up all the computers in the house so that all four guys can play Wizard101 together.