1. A day at the Beach

   August 23, 2026

   Today, we went to the beach at Beaver Island State Park

   

   White Heron on Niagara

   The weatherman forcasted sunny and 80 degrees, and then changed his/her mind and said it might rain so at one point we were not going to go at all but then the sun poked out for a bit so we had a quick lunch and then packed the beach umbrella and chairs and a few snacks and we were off to the beach!

   A few things:

   1. We always forget something. Sunscreen for the adults would have been nice. (Note to self - buy more sunscreen)

   2. whomever designed our beach umbrella designed it for use with white fluffy sand that’s a foot deep - not sand that is about 4 inches deep and turns to clay. We brought the umbrella - but we could not use the umbrella. For a time it worked propped up against a cooler and with some hope it worked -until it didn’t and decided it had enough and I had to go chase after it.

   3. The park at the beach is the attraction as much as the beach itself because even though she went to camp at the same beach and the same park two of the most interesting rides were off limits to the kids because it’s too hard to watch 50+ kids on a zip line. We went on the zip line today and she was good - we went 3 times and then it was somebody else’s turn - no protests - just agreeable.

   And.. as I tell her - if you behave - good things can happen to you. And they did, in the form of ice cream.

   

   She had one more short dig in the dirt and rock collecting and then one more swim in the river and then it was time to go home because the forcasted thunderstorms were rolling in.

   She had a great day and was very, very happy with how her day turned out. Save for a bit of tears when at one point it didn’t look like the weather would cooperate - she was great all day today.

   One day down, 17 to go until back to school.

   

   Summer will be over before we know it.

   Until Next Time,

   TH and Co.

   Permalink

2. Tonight is Brought to You by the Letter S

   August 22, 2026

   Scrabble. First time since the ladies got back home - we had a good game of scrabble.

   

   Photo by Piotr Łaskawski on Unsplash

   Stalling. “I don’t want to go to bed… I am..”..

   Scared. “Your’re not scared, you’re stalling - but do you want to sit on Dad’s lap and play a few turns and help him out?” which brings us to…

   Smiles - Ear to Ear. Also, we played the word VAN and then went to get to bed and speaking of bed…

   Seventeen. That’s how many minutes I had to …

   Sit with her until she went to…

   Sleep - it finally happened. after a very long day including a one mile run at the last day of camp for the

   Summer

   Until Next Time,

   TH and Co.

   PS> BW won the game. I think it all went downhill after we played the word VAN.

   Permalink

3. Getting the Balance Right

   August 21, 2026

   I had just turned the corner after leaving the house. And there it was:

   

   Photo by Nelson Ndongala on Unsplash

   A bright pink bike that was the perfect size for the child. We couldn’t ask for a better match.

   Our newy found bike was leaned up against the neighbors mailbox and here that’s code for “take me” so.. we did. :)

   Turns out it’s a perfectly good bike. A brand name even - Trek. We had a bike last year for her - a paw patrol piece of junk from Walmart or the like and when I went to look for it this summer it was gone. This is very weird because we are pretty sure we didn’t toss it out. I mean.. where would a bike go? My thought it was left on the front lawn overnight and it went walking. (or, rolling- technically)

   So, the bike. It’s a brand name bike that’s the perfect size for her and I was this closeto buying her a new one at Walmart to learn on because at 7.5 she has to learn to ride a bike.

   This free bike she has needs a tune up and some new grips so these are on order - bright pink with tassels because the girl needs a blinged up ride.

   We tried to take the new bike for spin up the street but the balancing is not there yet unless Dad is hanging on to the back seat and running alongside which is an exercise in itself. She better learn to ride that thing soon.

   Athletic ability does not run deep in this family. We’re more cerebral here and after a couple laps in front of the house it was time to come inside:

   

   We like to read and write and draw and sing and all of those things happened today.

   As for the bike: we tried today, and tomorrow we will try again.

   Stay tuned for the “she rode a bike!” post.

   Until Next Time,

   TH and Co.

   Permalink

4. Everything is Backwards

   August 20, 2026

   You just never know what the evening will bring you here.

   

   Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

   We had eaten, cleaned up, tooth brushed, and pajama’d. After that we negotiated, danced and tried to make rubber band bracelets. It was a full night.

   There was a bit of pushback about going to bed, but I managed to get her to play along with me and I eventually had a ready for bed small person in her bed.

   Then the nightly crankies started: “ I don’t want to go to camp tomorrow”, she told me.

   “You mean PMAC?” I asked her.

   She furrowed her little brow and I explained that it is camp spelled backwards but don’t worry - you’re not going to camp tomorrow - you’re now going to PMAC.

   You could see the little brain trying to understand what I was saying…1…2..3.. THERE WE GO. She started to laugh so hard I didn’t think she would ever stop. She finally did but then she got up to get a pen because after going though the usual - I am MIJ, btw - I threw her a curveball and told her that her aunt’s name is spelled the same backwards and forwards.

   She could not get her mind wrapped around it so out came the paper and pen.

   Spell it forwards - NAME

   Spell it backwards - still the same.

   I left her stewing on that and then I left her with one last thing to think about:

   “uoy evol I thgin doog”

   litnu txen emit,

   HT dna .oC

   Permalink

5. The Planning Session

   August 19, 2026

   The child is done with camp on Friday.

   

   Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

   She starts School on the 8TH of SEPTEMBER

   This leave us with 18 DAYS to with her in the house. If I recall, the programs used to last longer and it would be camp and then the long weekend and School on Tuesday.

   Now we have the end of camp and 18 days to find stuff for her to do. So BW and I got our laptops out and I fired up my little AI helper and I asked it: what can I do with a 7 year old next week?

   Here’s what it came back with:

   Tue 8/25 Paint by Number Workshop (Hyatt’s) + Explore & More Museum

   Wed 8/26 Buffalo Zoo (Dinosaur exhibit!) + Canalside splash pads

   Thu 8/27 Paint Nite Niagara Falls + Niagara Falls State Park

   Fri 8/28 Beaver Island State Park beach day

   Sat 8/29 🌟 BEST DAY — Nature Craft Day (AM) → Main Block Party (noon) or Irish Festival (noon)

   Sun 8/30 Penn Dixie Fossil Dig + Clifton Hill Fun Pass

   Mon 8/31 Free Kids Yoga (Grand Island) + Maid of the Mis

   It took us all night to get our calendars synced and working and seeing what is affordable and what is not. All night. Not fun.

   We reserve the right to change our minds, but for the time being we’re on a alternating relax/activity day with the activities during the week being a trip to Niagara Falls to walk and around and wear her out and then we’re off to dig for fossils later in the week which sounds kind of fun TBH.

   Maybe we will find an ice cream somewhere, or go to the beach on the no plan days.

   Or not.

   Because the best part of summer vacation is having no plans at all. I think the new term for it is “kid rotting”. Back in the day we called it summer vacation and we didn’t have our parents planning our days like we were planning a papal visit.

   Back then the planning was “Go outside. come home at dinner”

   No laptop required.

   Until Next Time,

   TH and Co.

   Permalink

Every post → · RSS feed