Crystal Clear

Almost as soon as I was vertical this morning, A started asking if we could do the crystal growing kit. I got myself fully awake and we set it all up. The girls were too cute with their goggles and aprons and gloves. Not that the chemicals were that dangerous or that I was letting them do it all, but they were happy to dress the part of a scientist in the lab. We got one crystal set up, which should give us blue rocks in 3 or 4 days. We can't see through the blue liquid, so I can't tell you what is happening in there yet. I'll keep you posted. We have yellow crystals as well and we can mix the two to make green ones, too.

I needed to get laundry done, so I got into that after our adventure in chemistry. A watched Discovery Kids and E played with her Polly Pockets. I asked them if they wanted to bake cookies. E jumped at the chance, but A said she did not want to help or watch, just eat them. But, after a few minutes she wandered into the kitchen and asked if she could help. E cracked the eggs and I was amazed, looking at the way her shells broke, that she did not get one single shell fragment in the bowl and every drop of egg ended up in there, too. Cool! We finished the cookies and spent some time cleaning up the pile of clothing in the girls' room. I had to find cool weather clothes that fit for our trip up the mountain tomorrow with the group. Then we got ready to go out for dinner.

We had a dinner date with one of C's work friends at her new apartment. She is a grown unschooler (now an engineer working for the government) and I credit her with saving my marriage when C was not yet on board with unschooling. He was willing to hear from her what I had tried to tell him and it made all the difference in how he came to accept my crazy ideas. Anyway, her mom was in town to help her move and since we had met this spring, she wanted to see us while she was in town. It was cool to talk to her about unschooling and she was great with the kids. T, C's friend, lives in a very nice apartment complex with a pool and hot tub, and a community "party spot" with grill and gas fireplace right by the pool. We came ready to swim and even though it was cool tonight, the girls had a blast going back and forth between the pool and hot tub. They miss swimming in our pool. I will have to take them to the rec center a lot this winter. It was a very nice time.

We are going to have a full day tomorrow, driving up to the mountain to hang with the Life Learners, so I best turn in.