Rocket Launch: Summer 2020

 Benji has been asking to launch his rocket, so we finally bought some new engines. It was beautiful on Wednesday night, and Abby was on a Zoom training for her fall job at CBI, so we headed out to Walker for a launch:

The moon was up over the field as the boys searched for the best launch spot

Setting up for launch

Sadly, on the first launch, the rocket landed on the Walker roof, so we had to call it a night. Kevin thinks it was time to buy a new rocket anyway.

Benji's New Desk

 Since we'll be virtual schooling at least through the fall, we asked Benji whether he would want us to buy him a desk. He was very enthusiastic about this proposition and had surprisingly strong opinions on the desk's design. Once we identified the right desk and he and Kevin built it, he set himself right up and has been using it for large chunks of the day. A desk chair is coming later today -- oh the excitement!

Outdoor Movie Nights

 Last Thursday, the weather was beautiful and we decided to try for our second outdoor movie night. Benji had been excited to see that the theater version of Newsies was available on Disney plus and eagerly set up for us to watch it on the patio. A few days later, we decided to invite Andrew and Cathy over for a second (socially distanced) movie night on the patio and had a lot of fun watching Jurassic Park together:

Waiting for our guests

We set them up across the patio from us with some treats

Ruth's 45th Birthday

 It was a quiet day, but we enjoyed some good food and company, with Gammy joining us early afternoon and a game night with Alex and Steph in the evening:

Presents!

Fun gift from Kevin

And a thoughtful gift from the kids

We decided to have princess cake after lunch (Brazo's Tacos) so that we could have a second slice after dinner (Milan Indian)

Pizza on the Grill

 Another bucket list item. Kevin read up on how to make pizza on the grill and we were excited to try it out. It turned out to be a lot of fun, not too hard, and the pizza was tasty. It did start drizzling shortly after we started, so Benji made himself a little cozy spot while the rest of us just got a little wet. We all agreed we would definitely do this again:

Hula Hoop Contest

 More bucket list. Apparently neither the kids nor Kevin know how to hula hoop, but it was fun to try:

Hair Chalk

 Try out hair chalk was a bucket list item this month. Abby was super excited when the chalk arrived and had been asking to try it out for several days. Benji, on the other hand, was freaked out by it and hid every time it was mentioned. When we had a quiet Saturday, the three of us took a stab at it, with varying results:

Universal Yums #2

 We tasted our way through Kevin's second Universal Yums box last weekend. This box was from Thailand and included two flavors of potato chip (sweet and sour and sweet and salty), banana cookies, sticky rice and mango, lime salty gummies and some assorted candies. It also had fried crispy rice, which we passed on to some friends. We all liked the chips, but the sweets had varying reviews (none were terrible, but the kids rice was so-so):

Make-Your-Own Trail Mix Bar

 

TV through the Decades

 A fun bucket list item this month, we watched a TV show from every decade, starting with the 1950s. Here's the list of what we watched:

1950s: Leave It to Beaver
1960s: Bewitched
1970s: Diff’rent Strokes
1980s: Family Ties
1990s: Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
2000: Hannah Montana

Surprisingly, most of these held up pretty well. Kevin and I both really enjoyed Leave It to Beaver, while Benji thought Family Ties was the best (Abby didn't have a strong opinion). Here's a picture of Benji in front of Fresh Prince:

Kindness Cafe

Our friend Katie opened Kindness Cafe this spring to employ individuals with cognitive disabilities. It's a coffee and smoothie shop, and the lockdown made for a delayed and then different opening, but for the last month they have been serving customers curbside. We finally made our first smoothie visit, walking up from the high school for our treats:

Riverland Spirit Week

Riverland is the name of our island in Nintendo Switch's Animal Crossing game (Benji named it). Each of us enjoy different things about the game, but Abby particularly enjoys buying clothing at the Tailor's Shop.  Playing to her strengths, she proposed a "spirit week" for the island and came up with a schedule. We were happy to participate and asked the Lamy-Petersons to serve as judges for the week:

I've posted the pictures as Kevin, Ruth, Abby then Benji each day.

Day 1, Abby was declared the winner in cozy wear (or groutfit, which is grey outfit):

the winner

Day 2: Beach or Mountain, Kevin was the winner:

the winner

A second Abby outfit as she did beach AND mountain

Day 3, White-out. Benji was the winner:

The winner

Day 4, Western wear, Ruth wins:

Winner

Day 5, Rave. Ruth, for back-to-back wins:

Winner!

Day 6, black-out. Abby won:

The winner

Day 7 (the big finale). Formal, winner Benji (so, final total is everyone but Kevin won twice, Kevin won once):

Winner, although Alex made clear it was a plurality decision, with Abby and Ruth each getting one vote as well

Benji also created this extra image because Alex said they were open to bribes of lego sets (we did not send it until after the decision was made)

The final tally. I made the first badge for Abby on Monday as a joke, and then a teeny tiny badge for Kevin on Tuesday to keep the joke going, but the kids really liked them and requested I keep going, so I made the last 5 themed to the day (although just realized Benji's bow tie should say Sunday, not Friday)