Happy 14th Birthday Mica!

Mica turns 14 today! 

Sadly our Honda Civic turns 14 too. :(

Next year Mica will be starting high school, and probably learning how to drive. Hold out Honda Civic!

What a great year! Mica does well in school, and won a ton of awards. He's growing up. Mica's growing a mustache. I'd love to introduce him to a razor, but no one else in our house agrees. Ha!

Favorites: 

Hobby: Reading

Mica's a bookworm. If I let him he'd stay in his room reading most of the time.

Club at School: Quiz Bowl

Quiz Bowl is the one thing he gets really excited about!

Subject: Astronomy

Food: Arby's

Really he'll eat most anything. Watch out for the snacks, he'll eat the whole box before anyone else gets a chance to eat them. Hello growth spurts! He's taller than I am, and almost taller than Travis!

Color: Blue

Movie: Avengers Endgame

Thank goodness for his Aunt Angela. She takes him to superhero movies. Travis and I could really care less about them.

Show: Flash

We spent some time watching Stranger Things Season 2, The Man in the High Castle Season 4, and Curb Your Enthusiasm (all the seasons).

Camps and Leadership: 

Banister Leadership Academy

Healthcare Academy

Volunteer at Milton Abraham Branch Library

Hummel Day Camp

Awards:

Geography Bee Contestant

Astronomy Academic Excellence

Social Studies Academic Excellence

Student Council

Quiz Bowl

Language Art Academic Excellence

Student of the Week

Outstanding Achievement in Music

Renaissance Gold

Perfect Attendance

3rd Place in Think Tank

New: 

He gets to do the morning announcements this year. He's super excited to join the News Crew. 

Dislikes: 

Insects, especially butterflies

Bananas

Eggs

Sports

Tasks, although he's getting so much better with helping. Only when I ask though.

Happy Birthday my Leo! 

Random Tid Bits

1. We've had a ton of zucchini growing in our garden.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. I don't feel like PMS makes me bitchy, but it sure does give me anxiety. If I have several big things to do I just innerly freak out. I feel my face getting red and hot, and my heart pumps really fast.
   
   Boss man wanted me call, and set up Adobe Creative Cloud for the teachers. I had never done this before. He had very specific things he wanted. I couldn't get everything he wanted, but it was a heck of a lot cheaper than last year, and got it approved.
   
   The next day he wanted me to back peddle to get things even cheaper. 


3. Some advice is worth taking. My parents have given me a lot of good advice in the past.
   
   Good Advice:
   
   1. Choose your battles.
   
   2. Kids make their own schedules based on what's going on in their life.
   
   Lately they've been off on their game.
   
   Bad Advice:
   
   1. You might want to talk to Isaak and tell him not to cry. He might get made fun of in school. - He hasn't had issues with crying in school. I didn't say it, but think it's great that he can cry in front of us. Just because he's a boy I don't want him to think he should keep his emotions in. I have to say that Mica was pretty unbearable at Isaak's age. He was pretty much a jerk. Now Isaak's at that magical puberty stage. He shows his emotions differently - with crying, and wanting to sleep. I don't know that he's worse, or better than Mica. Just different.
   
   2. You should probably read up on Asthma and Allergies. Start taking other things to help them besides medicine. - I didn't say too much, but in the past I tried a lot of natural things. By not taking meds I got a nose so full of polyps that the doctor had to cut out. Some of my nasal receptors went with that surgery. No thanks I'll stick to my meds. I do drink turmeric and ginger a lot + do the neti pot regularly. Those count as natural remedies. I think my doctors would agree that they want me breathing, so taking my daily inhaler when I need it is important.


4. Mica and Isaak have started fighting over really silly things. That's when I know it's time to go back to school. I let them both pick out snacks at the store. Isaak picked out Bunny Graham's.
   
   
   
   
   
   Travis got a call from Mica that he was all pissed because Isaak wouldn't let him eat the snack he picked out. In Isaak's defense, Mica would eat the whole box if he's able to. When I talked to them at lunch I said, "Maybe you shouldn't get a a morning snack. You don't have one at school."
   
   The next day we discussed their ridiculous spat. Travis found the whole thing comical because this is a snack I used to buy them when Isaak was in preschool. We decided we'd pour how much they get into bowls. Problem solved. I really wish they'd solve their own problems though.
   
   I explained that this kind of fighting is normal, for siblings. Travis never fought a whole lot with his sister growing up. His sister was inside a lot, when he was outside most of the time.
   
   I remember having battles with my sisters over the dumbest stuff. One time I tied my younger sister into her room. She wasn't tied, but her bedroom door was tied to the bathroom and my parent's bedroom door. She could not get out. I was way to old to do that. My friend got sent home. What's a silly thing you did when you were a kid?


5. The boy's back to school night it the same night, in two different parts of town. I knew this could happen. Mica's starts at 3:30, Isaak's starts at 5:30, so we figured we'd go to Mica's first. Then we got a letter saying they'd prefer younger kids to go earlier at Mica's school. They get what they get. Isaak's starts August 13, and Mica starts August 14. They have the younger middle schoolers go first to get used to the building. When do kids start where you live?

Epic Lemonade Stand

We had a ton of strawberries. I didn't think they'd do well with all the rain we go. They did. Now the plants are looking fried from the sun.

We told the boys they could have a Lemonade Stand.

One Friday night Travis is like, "Let's have that Lemonade Stand tomorrow." 

I said, "Let's have that Lemonade Stand on Sunday. I think there's some preparing that needs to be done. 

We had to buy paper glasses, foam board for signs, and an extra cooler. Mica thought it would be great for me to make cookies to give people more buying options. I made Chocolate Chip Cherry Chip Cookies without nuts.

Travis and Isaak made the signs! They did a great job!

Isaak did the letters on his, but Travis helped him blow those letters up.

The only sucky thing about the signs: They did them with highlighter, and they faded with the sun.

Caterpillar

While we were waiting for customers, we found this big hungry caterpillar in the grass. It was as wide as a Garter Snake!

Hawt

It was a super hawt day. About 100 degrees, but we had a tent and lots of water to keep us cool. 

Funds

I was happy that some of my friends from facebook stopped by. Social media can be good! Each boy made $30! Some people just liked that the kids were out there trying to sell something. They gave us extra $$$. Others liked that it was for a good cause. Mica's trying to raise funds to go to Chicago with his Social Studies/Quiz Bowl teacher and a group from school next year. Money comes out of our checking account monthly, but he doesn't need to know that.

Left Overs

We didn't have a whole lot of left over lemonade left. Our neighbor came over, and handed us a $10 bill. I gave them a pitcher of lemonade.

Travis did have frozen strawberries in a cooler to make more Strawberry Lemonade. He forgot about them until the next day. We had no choice, but to can a bunch of Strawberry Jam.

Did you ever have a Lemonade Stand when you were growing up?

WW: Duluth South Breakwater Outer Light {Linky}

This post is very much out of order, from everything else I posted. The first light house we saw on our trip to Minneapolis was at Duluth South Breakwater Outer Light. The light house was built to help guide ships into the canal from Lake Superior.

Why was this post out of order from the others?

I took photos with my phone and my camera throughout our trip. The night before this particular day I had my camera battery charging. Mica came up, unplugged it, to charge his Kindle without telling me. We went out and about. I saw great photo ops. I got out my camera, and there was no battery in it. I did happen to see a black box in my purse before we went out, thinking Travis popped my battery charger in my purse. It was my business card box. 

If you want to see rage from this Momma, that was the time I was the most pissed off. I was worried my camera battery was gone for good. I had no idea where it was. Did it fall onto the floor at our last camp site, is it in a bag somewhere? A rechargeable battery isn't easy to find just anywhere. 

I snapped a few photos with my phone, that I wasn't all that happy with. Isaak had his break down because he found a butterfly that he couldn't take home. We left to walk along the Duluth main strip for shopping. Along the strip there was major construction going on. I know it has to be done, but it didn't help our already sour moods. We had detours everywhere we walked, it was loud, and we needed a break from walking. Not our best day.

I know many people say that iphones can produce wonderful shots. Many times they do. 

If you are trying to shoot with some distance behind you, or darker lighting a real camera does way better than an iphone! Hands down!

Foam always makes me thing of Root Beer Floats.

The first light house I ever saw was captured with an iphone. 

I didn't even get too close to this light house. My phone was running low on battery. Usually I'm more of a...let's see how close we can get to that kind of a person.

Isaak thought we were at the beach. He's never been to a beach. Seeing the waves, and pebbles that was close to sand was closest to the beach he's been. Mica kept saying, "Isaak this isn't a beach!"

Good News!

We went back to our cabin that evening, and my charger with my battery still in it was in a bag that was sitting near the bed in both cabins we stayed at. Thank Gawd! I went on the rest of the trip with a working camera and phone.

Have you ever had a break down moment when you were on a trip? We have, but usually it's because family members are hungry.

Disclaimer: This is not a paid review. I got no compensation, for writing this post. All opinions are my own. 

Disclaimer: This is not a paid review. I got no compensation, for writing this post. All opinions are my own.