Did zilch for homeschooling today

Mark's company had a picnic today for their employees and their families. It was at Shoreline Park, which boasts a small lake with paddleboats, kayaks, canoes, rowboats, sailboats, and wind surfing, as well as a restaurant and fields for picnics and games.

And lots of geese. With lots of goose poop.

The kids and I stopped by this park several weeks ago when we wanted to head to a beach. Mark had suggested that it might be nicer, and warmer, and definitely closer, than driving to Santa Cruz. Warmer? Probably. Closer? Oh heck, yes. Nicer? Not by a long shot. But the kids were interested in the paddleboats, so I told them we'd come back some afternoon after kidnapping Mark from work. Turns out we didn't have to kidnap him :)

We got up this morning and dropped Mark at work and headed to a used bookstore in downtown Mountain View. They buy books and I had a small bag of them to sell :) While we were there Sayer read her way through about 10 books (so maybe that counts as homeschooling!) and I browsed and Duncan got entranced by the Pirateology book (which I didn't get, and he's going to throw a conniption fit when he realizes ...)

I also took the kids across the street for a quick errand into Tap Plastics for a quote for dividers for the library book sale (next one is at the end of September, and someone else will have to coordinate set-up as I'll be in Oregon with my friend Cathy for her baby boy's birth). After running through various options and getting my numbers we headed back to Mark's office to pick him up and head to the lake for the picnic.

The kids went right into the bounce castle. Sayer barely came out for lunch. Duncan jumped for a bit, then wanted a hot dog, then wanted to go out on a boat. So he and I went and put on life jackets and got into a paddleboat. I paddled us over so that we could wave to Mark and Sayer, and then Sayer decided she wanted to be in the boat, too. So she and Mark headed over to the dock to get life jackets while I paddled us back over there.

We paddled around the lake for about 20 minutes, having fun and trying to stay out of the way of the sail boats. We saw a family in a canoe and thought that looked like a fun thing to try ...

Finished up our ride and went back over to the picnic area to socialize some more and jump some more and eat some more. Then the company 'games' started. Now, who invites families with children to games, including sack races, tug of war, etc., and then doesn't want the kids to play? These were 'team building' exercises, so they were aimed at the employees. Sayer and Duncan were not happy about this. AT ALL. It was mid-afternoon and they'd been active (!) and it was bright and hot and they were just a touch crabby. Mark took them with him when he went to get on the tug-of-war team, and then other parents with kids followed suit. Mark's side was judged the winner and stopped pulling, but the other side gave a huge heave and those who were still holding on (like Duncan) got pulled hard and fell down. So Duncan might have been glad to get to play originally, but afterwards he was not a happy boy. They played tug-of-war two more times. All the same teams and kids involved, so Sayer enjoyed it.

Then we headed back to the picnic area just in time for Duncan, who had wanted another turn in the bounce castle) to see them taking it down. Oh, the melt down.

Yes, he fell asleep in the car on the way home. Almost immediately. Woke when we got home and was still quite cranky for about half an hour. Finally decided he wanted to snuggle in his bed and would let me read some Harry Potter to him. Whew!

So, no homeschooling today. Sayer read a bit, and we all got some exercise, and I read to them before bed (and through the end of the crankies). But that was it.

I think it was probably still a good day :)