Road Trip!

Splitting up the kids creates new and wonderful (and peaceful) dynamics. Today I took Marko and Laurel on a mini-road trip and Max stayed home with M. The most notable difference was apparent to me immediately...the car was so quiet! Laurel and Marko were both instructed to bring as much schoolwork as they thought they could accomplish, plus recreational reading. I also told them to pack snow clothes. We headed for Elk County to deliver some Girl Scout cookies to Cousin Sam, and then went to Parker Dam State Park. 

Marko didn't believe me about the snow. Our snow mostly melted overnight in the rain. He didn't even pack a coat. So when we got to the park, he was very surprised to see a foot of snow still on the ground. It was pretty warm out, though, and very sunny, so he still ran around. Laurel had listened and was wearing her lace up snow boots. I brought our Coleman stove to heat up burritos. I flew my kite over the frozen lake. I love being in the Pennsylvania forest and seeing snow-covered ridges boosted my spirits greatly. 

Meanwhile, back at home, M and Max baked a cake, did some skateboarding and went to zoom meetings. Max had his zoom science class. Max loves being 1:1 with a parent and he will entertain himself for long periods of time with Scratch or Epic books. He still needs help with a lot of things....mostly reaching what he needs and fixing meals, but he's much less screech-y when he's alone. 

We listened to the entire Galentine's Day playlist (think lots of Beyonce) and looked for signs of elk. Laurel worked through several pages of math fractions. Marko mostly read books. They ate our popcorn snack without spilling it everywhere. On the way home, we got a message that Laurel's new glasses were in so we stopped by to pick them up. 

Overall it was a lovely and relaxing day.