The Korenaks from A to Z

Space week came about because Zane's radish kit (monthly cooking kit that he loves) was space themed. Space week is over, ask me if we made any of the space food? Nope, fully forgot. Such is life. At the end of each theme week there is usually a take away for me. For instance at the end of Oklahoma week I realized there are lots of cool little places in Oklahoma that I would like to visit that wouldn't cost a ton of money or involve us going too far from home, it's just a matter of actually doing them. At the end of plant week I once again found myself wishing there was a way I could call my dad and ask him all my questions about plants and trees. At the end of space week I realized I don't understand anything about how space works. I vaguely remember basic things like the order of the planets. I don't necessarily find any of it interesting. I do like to look at stars, but have only really ever been able to find the dippers and the bright plants in the sky. And once again I ended the week so wishing I could pick up the phone and ask my dad all sorts of questions.

Call your parents people. Pick their brains. You know the things that you ask them repeatedly, that you call them to ask every single time you do that thing, write that stuff down. I remember after dad died calling mom and writing down the recipes for biscuits, gravy, potato salad, cheese ball, homemade bread, pea salad, and new peas and potatoes. Those were all things I had to call her to ask about every single time I wanted to make them. I have the recipes now. I have learned how to make them without the recipes, but I think of my mother fondly every time I make them, and sometimes give her a call just because I still can.

With all that being said I didn't have a lot of knowledge to share about space, but thanks to the library and Youtube I think we learned quite a bit. We read about and watched the moon landing, which the 50th anniversary of will be next week. We learned bout John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, and Mae Jemison (the first African American woman to go to space). We once again had to discuss how women have not always been able to do everything that men can do, but now they should be allowed to do all the same things and if you ever see women not being allowed to do all the same things that you are doing you need to stand up for them as well. This is a constant theme in our house as I try to raise white men who check their white male privilege and learn to use it to help those less fortunate than themselves. See Rowan asking me if it was illegal for women to drive a pick ups last week, while I was DRIVING A PICKUP. My head nearly exploded, but I used it as a learning opportunity.

We read a lot about constellations and the boys had all sorts of questions about what the names mean or what the pictures are suppose to represent, or who named them, and how are stars made, and on and on with things I have no answers for. We ended up watching Youtube videos about black holes and super nova's because I legit knew nothing about them and they had all the questions.

Also this week we went on some Waldo finding adventures around town. Our biggest adventure being to the Edmond Historical Society, which is a free little museum about Edmond that has a little cowboy village the boys can play in. Rowan and Zane are blatantly too big for this place, but they had a great time with T.

Zane gave a pretend lesson about the moon while we were there, so that counts right?

Unprompted brotherly affection always deserves documentation.

This is what Thatcher found to dress up in at the cowboy place. These glasses are an entire mood and I'm loving it.

Thursday was our big space outing to the Science Museum. I unlocked a new parenting badge while I was there, successfully surviving a trip to the science museum with no children in strollers. It was beyond stressful and happily we are on a tight time schedule so we made it out without any major meltdowns and without loosing any children. I feel like this museum has all kinds of space stuff since Oklahoma is the state to have produced the most astronauts. Who knows this might be an average amount of space stuff, but it's all very interesting.

That's a space toilet which you know my children loved.

We ended our day with a trip to the planetarium for a journey through the galaxy. We've never been before since I wasn't sure how T would do. I prepped the big boys that I might leave with him and they could just meet me outside. But to my surprise Thatcher did great and enjoyed the starry views. I kind of wished they had shown more constellations and had less random facts about Uranus, but the boys seemed to love it. I think St. Louis's planetarium is better but I don't think we have time to go there this upcoming visit.

The boys got astronaut ice cream before we left. I remember eating astronaut food at the Smithsonian the first time I went and thinking it tasted amazing. These freeze dried ice cream sandwiches we not tasty at all.

Other than our space activities we went to swim lessons every morning. Rowan is showing great improvement and passed his YMCA swim test yesterday while I was at work. Thatcher remains adorable and we continue fighting toddler battles on all fronts. Zane finally got to have a campout with his best friend, who was gone the entire month of June, and Rowan had a make up sleepover with E since he was sick the night of his bday sleep over. Oh and maybe the biggest news of all is that Zane is officially big enough to mow our backyard by himself. He needed minimal assistance with cleaning up some of his skipped areas on the corners, but for the most part mowed the whole use things without complaint. It's a miracle!!

As fun as having all the boys home everyday during the summer is, summer is also very hard. In order to not have to pay for childcare I work weekends all summer. Don't get me wrong it's a huge blessing to have a job where I have this option available. However, both parents always single parenting, is not ideal. I go one hundred miles an hour all week with these crazy boys, so by the time I get to work on Saturday I am dead. Then I have to work two twelve hour days. It's an exhausting cycle. So this year we planned three weekends for me to be off. These weekends we chosen and planned out back in May as beacons of hope for me to work towards during these exhausting weeks.
When you only have three weekends to spend as a family all summer it's important to do things that bring you the most joy. So this year two of the three weekends will be spent at the lake and the third one will be spent in St. Louis before heading to south to Zach's family.

The lake has been a life long happy place for me because when I was a kid the 4th of July was always spent at the lake. At the very least we'd spend the weekend there, but often we'd spend days there with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins. As one the cousins who lived in Oklahoma I was always jealous of the cousins who got to stay the night at the cabin. Our family would always leave late in the evening to drive back home. The next morning was excruciating as we waited for mom and dad to get ready to go back to Okeene or the lake. I just knew I was missing all the morning fun. So now it brings me such joy to be able to share these memories with my kids and to be fair the mornings at the lake truly are the best part. I knew it!!

The weekend after the fourth Able and Kari were out of town so my crew were the only people staying at the lake. Abbey's family did get to come out Friday afternoon so we could have some cousin swimming time. My cousin Jason and his family where there when we got there so we got to chat with them for awhile before they headed out of town.

This is the second time I've gotten to see the Florida Dotters this year, which is lovely.

MJ in her party suit.

Thatcher at the lake may be the cutest thing I've ever seen. I'm highly impressed with how far life jackets/flotation devices for toddlers have come in the past nine years. I think I can safely say that he could not get his head under water in this little lifejacket contraption. He just floats around, kicking his little feet, occasionally blowing bubbles, chasing after his brothers. He would occasionally yell at people, then calmly ask them "What doing?" Just to make sure you're paying attention to him. This set up is amazing because I don't have to be in the lake the whole time, with a toddler pulling my bathing suit off. It's the small victories that truly make the difference with the third child.

T loved talking to the fish.

and playing with worms.

Friday I think we let T over do it just a bit. He had napped the whole way then spent pretty much the rest of the afternoon swimming. By four or five he was beat and potentially having a heat stroke. The good news is he probably swallowed enough lake water to keep him well hydrated, but he definitely was a little delirious and needed lots of Grandma cuddles while he watched Woody. T could watch Toy Story on repeat for days and basically did during the three days we were there. You have to have some sort of draw to get them inside and Toy Story works every time.

Also can I just say the number of kids that have been cuddled and patted and loved on this hideous, uncomfortable couch, is innumerable. I vividly remember sitting on the couch with Grandma getting pats. I've held nieces and nephews and my own children on this couch for hours. People have been cuddling and loving generations of children on this couch, in it's various forms, for decades.

Of course there was a lot of fishing to be done. The dock is the best place in the world to fish, as you can see the fish you're trying to catch while when you cast your line. Generally kids just catch small little fish, sometimes repeatedly, but the thrill is in reeling in any kind of fish.

On the rare occasion someone catching a bigger, different kind of fish and there is much rejoicing. This trip Rowan caught this decent sized catfish. I think this might be the first catfish he's ever caught. Usually at some point someone also catches a bass, Zane got an itty bitty tiny one this trip but it escaped before we could get a picture.

In the evening the sparklers come out, we find the bug spray, and then it's time for fireworks. There are substantially less sandburs out there now, thanks to Able's efforts at killing them, so sitting in the grass was less painful than usual. We also didn't buy nearly as many fireworks so it was just a little show, but lots of fun just the same.

Speaking of things that have been done for decades at the lake, ear treatments. My grandmother had a mixer of equal parts hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol that she kept at the lake. At the end of the day she would gather up all the grandchildren and drop a little bit of the mixer into our ear, using a black topped medicine dropper. We were instructed to keep our head to the side until she told us to turn over. I distinctly remember the smell and the feeling of the peroxide bubbling in my ears. I remember feeling kind of dizzy when it was all over, but also confident that after this treatment there was no way I'd get an ear infection. I don't know that there is a high risk of ear infections from lake water, but this made us all feel so much better about swimming in disgusting lake water all day. I don't think there are pictures of my cousins and I sitting around this table like this, because there weren't pictures being taken at every moment, but this too is a memory I'm happy to share with my kiddos. I am sure it makes Grandma Dotter so happy up in heaven as well.

As I mentioned before mornings at the lake are the absolute best. Even in July, when it's a hundred degrees in the afternoon, it's cool in the morning at the lake. The boys sleep somewhat later because they are worn out from swimming the entire day before and staying up way past their bedtime. We cook breakfast on the patio while the boys fish in their pajamas and I read a book. It does not get better than that people.

My three little blonde nuggets eating breakfast outside.

After breakfast, while it's still cool, we went on a walk to explore nature. This always gets the locals riled up because look at how scary this crew looks. Multiple people drove past, checking to see what we were doing. We specifically didn't walk by the railroad tracks in order to avoid a confrontation, but everyone still had to check to make sure we belonged there. We did sneak over and walk on these big stumps before heading back to the cabin because we are just that crazy.

Saturday afternoon, while T took a much needed nap, the big boys and I headed into Okeene to see Great Grandpa. My children love Great Grandpa dearly, though they don't get to see him very often. I tell them stories about him all the time and they frequently write him letters and send him pictures. I cannot imagine having memories of a Great Grandparent and I'm thrilled the two big boys at least will have some memories of my amazing Grandfather. Zane sat and talked to Grandpa for a while, it's very hard since he can't hear a thing, but Zane was patient and listened to his stories as well.

However, the draw at Grandpa Dotter's house is always, and will forever be, the upstairs. You have to scale the spiral stair case to get there, as all the adults yell at you to keep your hand on the wall. Then once you get up stairs, to the orange carpeted room, you step back in time where nothing has changed at all from thirty years ago when I played there with my cousins. The huge neon dragon mural is still on the far wall. Random holiday decorations still line the shelves, covered in plastic of course. The cabinets with all the tiny odd shaped draws are still there, full of treasures I had hidden years before I'm sure. I don't think the dress up clothes are still there, which is unfortunate, but the little medal kitchen and toys are still in the corner.

Sometimes I wonder if the house I grew up in hadn't been torn down if this is how it would feel to go back there. To walk back into such a familiar place, full of childhood memories. Would it feel as much like walking back in time as it does to walk through Grandpa's house? Would I have more memories from that place if I were able to walk through those doors again. I know it needed to be torn down, but there is a large part of me who hates that my children will never see where I grew up. They'll never see my hiding places, never sleep in the rooms where I slept, never climb or fall down those insanely steep stairs.

The other big draw at Grandma's house was always this spinny chair. My cousins and I spent hours spinning in this thing. My kids thought I was insane when I told them this.

Grandpa tried to give Zane the Cardinals hat I bought for him years ago, sadly it was too big for him. But he did manage to find the boys some random hats they could take with them as parting gifts. In good news Grandpa is doing very well. Up and about with his walker. He has had a few medical mysterious to ponder this summer and was in great spirits for a ninety three year old man.

The rest of Saturday and part of Sunday morning was spent swimming, paddle boating, kayaking, fishing, and soaking up the sun. I took the time to recreate one of my favorite photos.

Summer 2016

Four years later and these two still love each other even if they fight like cats and dogs most days.

And there is one more little blondie to add to the mix.

The iconic, end of the dock, sibling picture. Every family has them, at every age. This one is a classic.

The other thing you have to do at the lake is a cannon ball competition. I probably took one hundred pictures of this alone. They are all just so good!