William in Virginia - 2

Yes, yes, summer in Virginia. It is hot. Well, it is July. But we are still having fun!

Thursday July 10 - nothing special on the calendar. We have a leisurely breakfast. One has to have time for a morning with soft-boiled eggs. If you read these blogs regularly you are not surprised what William did to "surprise" Omi.

Not sure what else we did during the day except, of course, we went to the Science Museum. Of course we always ask William what he wants to do. This time he found a scheduled demo "Supercool: Liquid Nitrogen Demo". It was really supercool! All three of us enjoyed it. 

And every time we entered and left the museum we had to stop and watch the Foucault Pendulum. This time we saw it knock down a peg.

1. A Foucault Pendulum: This type of exhibit demonstrates the rotation of the Earth, rather than directly displaying the time in a conventional sense. It consists of a large, heavy ball suspended by a long wire from the ceiling. As the pendulum swings, it appears to change direction over time, but it's actually the Earth rotating beneath it. Some Foucault pendulums are designed to knock down pegs arranged in a circle, and the time it takes to knock down all the pegs can give a sense of the Earth's rotation over a certain period.

A photo from Friday: Of course William has to check his "apple tree" every day. More leaves!

Saturday: James should have had his monthly breakfast meeting of the St. Martin's men and I should have been at the meeting of the church ladies, but family came first. We had agreed to bring the twins to a meeting point so they could spend a week with their other grandparents (who live more than 3 hours away) and 2 cousins on that side. It was fun to hear William, Colin and Owen chatter in our car on the way. 

Timing and place was great. After the "hand-over" we went to the Edelweiss Restaurant in Staunton for lunch. 

German food family style. All was pretty good but the potato dumplings were a disappointment for me. Too Bavarian! Definitely not like my mother used to make them. 

And from there it was not very far to the Green Valley Book Fair . We had been there before on a little trip with Sarah. William always loved reading and found several books. Some were from this Author:

And this was another selection of his. James also found one and I found several for the others to have when needed. Well, Christmas is not that far away either.

Well, can't be on that part of 64 on the way home without stopping and taking a photo. It is such an awsome view.

When we were back home, more German food. This one baked by Omi.

Sunday of course is church time and we are very happy that William wants to go too (not just because of us). In the afternoon he suggested ... you guessed it ... the science museum. There were two movies in the Dome he would like to see. This was the first: Messengers of Time and Space.

It was very interesting. But we had also signed up for the next one, had to go out, wait in line, and re-enter for Secrets of the Sea.

 

Back home there was still time in the evening for a walk when it was not so very very hot any more.

Ah, Monday! One of William's favorite things/meals. Sushi! This restaurant must have changed owner since we were here a year or so ago for "all you can eat". Now called Sushi Masa it seemed different to me. It is a bit more expensive but we do like the menu and the service. Lunch time is the way to go.

And I do like this Kani Salad (Japanese crab salad) too. So tasty.

In the evening it was not so hot any more and we decided to have a walk. It's nice to do it with a purpose so we carried the bags with the thin plastic bags for recycling to our Publix. A good walk.

And then we came to the topic of encyclopedias and google on the internet. I think it started when he had found an old photo album in the guest room which started talk about parents, grandparents and great great grandparents. 

I showed him my father's encyclopedias which were printed in the 1880s. World maps are different now and so much is really "old news". We now know so much more about many things. He was fascinated and said that he would like to have those books one day.

Yes, we are having a good time!

William in Virginia - 1

Saturday July 5 - We arrived from North Carolina at SarahPlusFamily's house. We had to say goodbye to Caleb and went to our house. William was asked to spend the night and would have loved to stay with his cousins but after just coming from a camp he really needed to settle for one night in "his" bed. 

Sunday morning we went to church of course. He said he likes our church. In the afternoon he packed the overnight bag and we went "over the river". Needless to say the 4 cousins disappeared fast to play somewhere. 

Monday morning Sarah brought the two oldest to her workplace for me to pick up. I think the twins had their baseball camp which had to be cancelled 2 (or 3?) weeks ago because of the weather. Of course we had to have a bagatelle tournament. 

I can't quite remember all the little details of each day (happens when you are not doing it in a timely matter) but Wade probably picked Caleb up. It was about 4 pm when William mentioned that he would like to go to the Science Museum.

This is his cousins' favorite: the "hamster wheel"!

Needless to say that there is a lot to see! Even just things on the walls.

Back home we decided that we needed to have a walk around the block. At daytime it is sooooo hot but quite nice at 7:30 pm.

But the day was not over yet. When I was prepping some food in the kitchen I remembered that I had found a sprouting seed in an envy apple just before we had left for NC. I had put it in a little clear plastic container between a moist paper towel. It was thriving with roots.

William wanted to plant it in a pot. I found what we needed in the garage.

It is now happy in his place in the sunroom.

A special time on Tuesday. I had arranged a disc golf lesson with Christian, the nice young son of our friend Martha. Unfortunately the twins Colin and Owen could not join William and Caleb, but Caleb's friends Pierce and (another) William were very keen to join in.

It started at 10 am at Dunncroft/Castle Point Park. There is an 18 hole Disc Golf Course not far from our house. James and I used to walk the trail there in years past.  With the car we had to drive about 9 minutes. 

The first lesson was about how to grip the disc, how to throw it and an intro to the different discs. Just at the other golf game there is a driver and a patter and everything inbetween.

At one point in the newest part of the course we were so close to our house that I was sure I would be able to see it through the trees if I would take 15 more steps in that direction. Of course the GPS showed me the direction. 

Christian's bag with some of his almost 600 discs.

After 3 hours (with a short pause for lunch) everybody was a little worn in that heat.

Wednesday

James and I had to go out early. When we opened the garage door, this little gay was very close to the door. We had to relocate him (or her) a little. The door coming down could crash him if not careful. Or the car wheels.

Yes, the daily card game continues. Now mostly with three playing. 

Look who won and look who lost!

A late lunch at our Korean restaurant. Not a fancy place but James and I like that japchae. William almost ordered it too but then he so the kimbap. I was surprised because they look like sushi and I know that is japanese. Well, Korea has something similar but there are distinct differences. He liked the kimbap.

At about 2:30 we were back at the Science Museum. We had to have a look at the special exhibition "Ultimate Dinosaurs". 

But every time we go we have to have a quick look at the bees in the second floor. William discovered from a window between building wings were the bees enter into that room from the outside. I should have taken a photo of that. 

We always find something to have fun with. I think they called this "virtual wallpaper". William and I designed it on the tablet and it appeared on the wall.

And what a coincidence that we had to drive past Bruster's Ice cream on the way home. Of course we could not "drive past" in this heat.

Yes, and that was the first half week.