All I Want for Christmas

As Christmas is quickly approaching, I asked Michael to give me an idea of what he might like this year.  His surprisingly prompt (and serious) reply, "a steady income."

Health Kick

Spencer has been health conscious lately.  He recently went to the gym and ran on the treadmill.    The next morning as I was preparing his lunch for school, he asked if he could have salad in place of his usual sandwich.  He proceeded to make himself a spinach salad with parmesan cheese, almonds and turkey (no dressing).  He has since taken a spinach salad for lunch on several occasions.  Last week he wanted to make an all fruit smoothie.  He could barely contain himself when Jon got home with the frozen strawberries.  Our current blender did the job, but is not good at breaking up the ice cubes.  He has requested a blender for Christmas.

Not to detract from the health choices Spencer is currently making, but by way of providing background on his dietary history, he has always had a big sweet tooth.  Spencer would love to have dessert every night.  Also, not more than 6 weeks ago I found seven lemon drops under his pillow while I was changing his sheets.  He said he was storing them for later (and, no, he is not a squirrel).  We had a brief chat about the hygiene of storing unwrapped candy in our beds.

Returning to the present,  I like that Spencer is aware of what he is eating and that he takes pride in making healthy choices.  And as a further update, this morning Spencer prepared a smoothie with banana, strawberries and raw spinach.  No juice, yogurt or sugar.  It tasted pretty good.  He then made himself a spinach salad for lunch and advised me that he was not going to eat any sugar today despite the fact that a classmate would be bringing cupcakes to school to celebrate his birthday today.  He asked me to abstain from added sugar today as well.  I am.

My Future Job

I get extremely weary of every day picking up the various belongings of everyone in the house (with the exception of Luka, who never leaves her things lying about) and putting them where they belong.  However, yesterday, when engaged in this tiresome occupation, I came across the following school assignment of Michael's, which brightened my day:

MY FUTURE JOB

By:  Michael

I want to by a Physicist.

I want to go to Harvard University.

Some classes I'm going to take are:

Computing
High Mathematics
Core Mechanics

Some things I am going to do to build my resume are:

Take Mathematics classes
Take Physics classes
Keep taking extra-curricular classes/activities such as piano

Halloween

Spencer as a clown (yikes!)

Michael as a math geek.  His t-shirt is full of math equations. 

Apple Orchard

 Our annual trip to the Apple Orchard with the cousins.  This is after apple picking at the petting zoo.

First Day of School

 Michael and Spencer waiting for the bus on the first day of school, September 2013.  Spencer is is 5th grade.  Michael is is 7th grade.

Summer of 2013 - Colorado

We took a family trip to Colorado in the summer of 2013.  This was a great trip.  We stayed three nights at a resort where we did a lot of swimming.  We went to the top of Pike's Peak (elevation 14,115 feet) via the Cog Railway.  The views were spectacular, but it took Laura and Jon a little while to get acclimated to the thin air.  We also did some hiking and driving through Garden on the Gods and visited the Manitou Cliff Dwellings.

We celebrated Michael's 13th birthday while we were there!!  On Michael's birthday and for the final three days we stayed at a ranch where we rode horses every day, learned to fly fish, caught lots of fish (rainbow trout, brook trout and brown trout), went hiking, relaxed in the hot tub, and played horseshoes.  The boys also had the opportunity for archery, which they took advantage of at every free minute (literally).   The food was excellent and both boys were very adventurous with what they sampled.  It was a great trip.

South Dakota Summer of 2012

We took a family trip to South Dakota in the summer of 2012.  We visited Custer National Park and took a jeep tour where we got very close to the buffalo.  We also saw pronghorns and donkeys.  We visited Wind Cave, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Bear Country, Wall Drug, the Badlands, and took a scenic drive along the Needles highway.

Chicago Summer of 2011

We took a family trip to Chicago in 2011.   We visited the Field Museum, the Art Museum, Millennium Park, took an architectural boat tour, and went to the top of the Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower).

Spring Vacation 2012

Last summer we took a trip to Arizona.  We saw cliff dwellings, hiked in the Grand Canyon, rode horses, visited Taliesen West, the Botanical Gardens, and climbed Camelback Mountain.

We had a great time!