July 27, 2013

Free Fun Friday - {pretty, happy, funny, real} edition

Wow, what a different weather this Friday. Nice, chilly, rainy, cloudy. I can actually enjoy it for few days:)
Morning came and we set off to violin and art classes. We skipped the doctor this time. It looks that the medicine is working, because Kubus is sleeping better and he does not have episodes of sleep apnea. At least I don't hear them. Next week though I take him to the ENT doctor to check what is the cause of Kubus problems with breathing.

As for the program for Free Fun Friday, we opted for Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester.
First I wanted to go to Boston for Commonwealth Shakespeare Company but since we could only get there in the afternoon, and we did not know how much time we will spent in traffic and find a decent parking space, we decided to forgo that plan.
The museum was a good choice, although crowded.
The building itself has yet to resemble medieval castle, but it is new world after all and we can't expect too much. There was enough armor for kids to look at and try on, to get hands on idea about the medieval weapons.

I snapped few pictures, as my account of the visit and linked it with {phfr} hosted as always by Like Mother, Like Daughter.

{pretty}
 




The third and fourth floor resembles somewhat a castle. I thought that it looked really pretty.
 
{happy}

 



 
Kubus and Zuzia were the happiest playing with blocks and trying to build a castle. So were tens of other children. They were in constant move so that is why the pictures are blurry!!!
 
{funny}
 






 
 
 

 My children trying to be the knights:)

{real}
 

 
The line was long in front of the museum. A lot of visitors wanted to take advantage of this free program. Fortunately it moved quite quickly.
 
 
It looks that next week we will skip the Free Fun Friday. Girls are going to enjoy Mother of Hope camp! I and Kubus? We will find something to do for sure!
 
Kinga:)




July 24, 2013

BCM

On Sundays Kateri attends classes at MIT in Boston. There are enrichment classes with a diversity of subjects and difficulty levels to choose from. They are targeted toward middleschoolers and highschoolers. The good thing about them is, that a lot of kids want to participate and learn, the bad thing is that a lot of kids want to participate and learn... Kateri had  eyes and mind set up into one of the classes - developing Pokémon computer game. Unfortunately when it came to registering, the site was blocked for at least an hour. There was no way to access it. So when finally she could register, this class and several others that she was interested in, were already full:(
She was discouraged and disappointed. On the other hand it is a good lesson in "you are not always going to get what you want". There were few other classes interesting enough to sign her in, and she wanted to attend them. What comes with it, are weekly trips to Boston. So far two...

Last Sunday we decided to make it a family trip and Andrzej went to MIT with Kiki, while I spent four hours in Boston Children Museum.  I have to say, not even once did we start running between the floors. The kids were so busy and entertained. Kubus was very happy at Peep's Big World. But his very favorite place was the construction area. I think if he that place was on the first floor we would never make it to the third!
Zuzia was enchanted by the caterpillars. They were enlarged by the macro camera and shown on the screen. She herself liked spending time in the "store" and cleaning after the costumers. Zuzia did not like when costumers "bought" too many products. She took this job very seriously!
When it was finally time to leave she decided to get lost ( on purpose ) in the gigantic maze stretching from first to the third floor.
We liked the place a lot, but I don't think we will be back there soon.
Mama was the one exhausted there!
 

















 
Tego lata Kateri uczeszcza na programy organizowane na MIT w Bostonie dla uczniow klas 7-12.
Program jest interesujacy i tematy zajec sa zroznicowane. Kateri bardzo chciala uczestniczyc w klasie gdzie studenci ucza sie programowac gry komputerowe. W tym wypadku bardzo popularnej gry "Pokémon". Moje dziewczyny maja na punkcie tych gier przyslowiowego bzika juz od czterech lat.
Niestety zainteresowanie bylo duze. Gdy przyszedl czas na rejestrowanie, strona komputerowa sie zawiesila na ponad godzine. Po godzinie wszystkie ciekawsze program byly juz zajete. W tym "Pokémon". Kateri byla rozczarowana. Z drugiej strony jest to lekcja zycia, ze nie zawsze co chcesz, to dostaniesz.
Pomimo tego rozczarowania, bylo jeszcze kilka innych zajec z ktorych chciala skorzystac. Wiec co za tym idzie, to cotygodniowe, niedzielne wizyty w Bostonie.

W ostatnia niedziele postanowilismy wybrac sie wszyscy. Andrzej spedzil czas na MIT z Kateri, mnie z Kubusiem i Zuzia zostawil w "Boston Children Museum".
Spedzilismy tam cztery godziny. Dzieci byly tak zajete, ze nie musielismy powtarzac wizyt w poszczegolnych salach. Kubusiowi bardzo sie podobal "Peep's Big World". Najwiecej czasu jednak spedzil przy "robotach drogowych". Gdyby ta sala miescila sie na pierwszym pietrze, obawiam sie ze ciezko byloby go zmusic do odwiedzenia calego museum:)
Zuzia jak zwykle byla zafascynowana zwierzatkami. Kilka zywych zlowi, pyton, i gasienice powiekszone prze makro kamere. Najbardziej podobal jej sie jednak sklep i tam bardzo powaznie zajeta sie organizowaniem polek i sprzataniem po klientach.
Kiedy w koncu przyszedl czas na pozegnanie museum, wybrala sie do gigantycznego labiryntu i po znalezieniu kilku przyjacil, postanowila celowo sie w nim zgubic. Po dluzszym czasie udalo mi sie ja znalezc i sprowadzic "na ziemie".
Ogolnie bardzo podobalo nam sie to miejsce, ale chyba nie powrocimy tam szybko.
Mama chyba byla najbardziej po tej wyprawie zmeczona!
 
Kinga:)

 

 

 

 

 

 


July 23, 2013

Free Fun Friday

My kids have fun this summer. At least this is what we like to think and that is how we are trying to plan days and weeks. According to Kiki though, it would be just perfect if all she could do was to text her friends, meet with them, play "Mindcraft" , create on "Scratch", read books and draw sometimes.
Any extra activity might meet some resistance from her...
Kubus will go with a flow. A happy little champ, but Zuzia will be open to any possibility to go out and do something. Even hiking Mount Washington seems very appealing to her!

Last Friday was a hot, and muggy day. Yet it was a day of Free Fun Friday. There were a couple of programs to chose from. Since we did not go to the Zoo this year yet, we decided to visit Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford. Kiki had violin class in the morning, Zuzia art class, Kubus a visit at the doctor. Unfortunately he was diagnosed with a sleep apnea, something that I suspected for a while...

Nevertheless, we packed waters bottles, few snacks and set out to another state:)
Yes, the car thermometer read sometimes 100F and I was worried how we are going to survive the mid afternoon walk in the Zoo.
It turned out to be all right after all. It is not a big Zoo, but big enough for the little ones to be excited about few animals. Particularly barn animals for Kubus and reptiles and fish for Zuzia.
Train and carousel ride was a nice ending of the Zoo visit:)

This coming Friday is another Free Fun...I wonder what we are going to choose this time!













 
Nasze dzieci maja troche rozrywek tego lata. Tak przynajmniej nam sie wydaje i tak planujemy nasze dni i tygodnie. Co prawda gdyby to zalezalo od Kiki, ona moglaby caly dzien przesiedziec w domu i text do kolezanek albo sie z nimi spotykac. Reszte czasu spedzilaby na graniu lub programowaniu plus czytaniu ksiazek i czasami szkicowaniu. Takze proba organizowania wyjakiegokolwiek wypadu moze sie spotykac z oporem z jej strony.
Kubus idzie gdzie my idziemy nie narzekajac, ale Zuzia jest otwarta i optymistycznie nastawiona na wszelkiego rodzaju sugestie i plany!
 
Ostatni piatek byl bardzo goracym i dusznym dniem. Byl to jednak piatek, a w piatki jest organizowany Free Fun, gdzie z wielu programow czy odwiedzin muzeow i parkow mozna skorzystac bezplatnie.
W tym roku nie odwiedzilismy jeszcze Zoo, wiec postanowilismy wybrac sie do Buttonwood Park Zoo w New Bedford.
Byl to bardzo zajety dzien od samego rana. Kiki miala lekcje skrzypiec, Zuzia art class a Kubus wyladowal w lekarza. Zostal zdiagnozowany "sleep apnea" ktora juz jakis czas u niego podejrzewalam...
Pomimo tego zaopatrzylismy sie w duza ilosc zimnej wody, paczke krakersow, owocow i wyruszylismy w droge.
Czasami termometr w samochodzie wskazywal 100 stopni F i powaznie sie obawialam jak nam sie ten spacer po Zoo uda.
 
Nie bylo zle. Zoo raczej male, ale wystarczajaco duze dla maluchow ktore sie ciesza na widok zwierzat. Kubusiowi szczegolnie podobaly sie zwierzeta zagrodowe a Zuzi oczywiscie plazy i ryby!
Przejazdzka mini pociagiem i jazda na karuzeli dopelnily wizyte u parku.
 
W nadchodzacy piatek znowu jest kilka interesujacych programow w ramach Free Fun. Ciekawa jestem co wybierzemy tym razem!
 
Kinga:)