Dragon Battle

For his eight birthday, Aunt Rita and Uncle Tom took Merrit shopping in downtown Black Mountain. What Merrit chose was a book called The Klutz Book of Animation. For all our homeschooling friends and/or bored summer-vacationers, there are tons of fun projects in the book to engage a young, aspiring animator.

Check out Merrit's first animation. We did this together in about an hour (my role was simply installing and opening software programs and cueing up the music...he did everything else).

If you have a webcam, a computer with an Internet connection that you are willing to let your kid use, and can download a free software application called SAM, you have everything you need to let your kid create his or her own short animations. Hope you have as much fun with this as we had--and will continue to have! 
Thanks Durenda and Tom for such a great birthday gift! Here's that book again. Not that you need the book, but it does have lots of good ideas and some background information on animations in general; you can get it at Amazon.com.

How We Spent Our Half-Term Holiday

Saturday
Drove up the coast to Lindisfarne Island.


Photo source: http://www.scotcolour.com/



Photo source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

Sunday
Merrit made omelettes. Delicious, as always. :-)

Monday
A trip to the nearby park turned into water play since the new splashground, which has been under construction for the last month or two, just opened this past weekend. We hadn't planned ahead, so Ollie stripped down to his underwear like all the other little kids and Merrit went shirtless with his pant-legs pushed up. It was a bit too chilly, truth be told, but I can remember swimming until my lips were blue as a kid so I figured they'd be okay.

Sunny, but chilly. These kids are braver than me, that's for sure. 

Merrit, opening the dam.

Tuesday
We went with friends to an event sponsored by an organization for kids with disabilities but open for all to attend. There was much to see and do, but the boys most enjoyed the drum circle, the mud hut built in traditional Celtic style, and awesome wooden playground.

The front door to the mud hut was only about three feet high.
I was so impressed by the aeration vents and amazing thatched roof.

Once inside the hut, the ceiling soared to a peak high above.

Ollie conquering the wobbly bridge.

Wednesday
The boys and I walked to the indoor pool, swam and rode the waterslides all morning, stopped for a pizza marguerita on the way home, and then they napped!

A picture of the nearby indoor pool where we can swim.
Photo source: http://www.northtyneside.gov.uk/

Thursday
New friends invited us for dinner at their house tonight. We barbequed in the back yard. How American! But of course we had sausages. How British!

Friday
I took the boys down to the skate park for Merrit's first attempt at riding the bowls, ramps, and walls. He's been getting really good at around-town scootering (is that a word?). Helmet on, we set off for the skate park, which is about four blocks away, right next to the North Sea. Unbelievably, Ollie was mostly content to just watch the big boys.

Saturday
Having caught the bug, Merrit wanted to go back to the skate park for more! Mike was happy to oblige. They were gone for a few hours. Back at home, Ollie and I did some cooking. We mixed up chicken salad and tabouli for a picnic the next day.

Sunday
No time for omelettes today! All four of us drove about an hour and a half south/southeast to a spot in York County called The Forbidden Corner. We were invited to tag along with another family, so we followed them there. At our trip to The Forbidden Corner we saw amazing English gardens, wooded paths, trick water features, hedge mazes, optical illusions, underground caverns and passageway, and quirky sculptures.

The Left Lane...Literally...and My Day with Ollie

The company is renting us a car for a bit while we get used to driving
and save our pennies (pence?) for a car of our own. Mike drove it
home from the office last night and looked a little white-faced when he
came in. It was stressful to find his way across town...in the left lane...
at rush hour!

Undaunted, he is ready to do it again the next day. Do you think it has anything
to do with the fact that the rental car is a BMW? Uh, yeah.

Ollie and I made peanut butter cookies after dropping Merrit off at school.

The easiest recipe ever.

Whip together 1 cup sugar and one egg. Fold in 1 cup peanut butter.
Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 5 to 7 minutes.
Makes 18 cookies.

They were so yummy hot from the oven.
With milk, of course.

Ollie and I went to the library, read for a while, then checked out eight books for him.
He has his own library card!

Then we went to the park and played for about an hour. Ollie loved the slide best.

Okay, sure, I don't have a food processor--for now. But I can make some hummus.
Heck, if Lebanese grandmothers have made it for generations without food
processors, so can I! This is what Ollie and I had for lunch.

We picked up Merrit at 3:30 and came straight home.
The alley behind our house is the perfect spot for practicing
Merrit's new scooter. Ollie was happy to run alongside.

Exhilaration.