Summer projects

We have just about finished identifying our summer projects. It is really pretty hard to figure out what to do because we like to do some fairly ambitious things, but we do not like to overload ourselves so much that we cannot get them done. We have tentatively settled on fourive things.

• The kids will be swimming on the swim team at the new YMCA. It is great because the team works out from 8:00-8:45 AM every day. They will get some good exercise and get the day started early.
• With all our moving around, we kind of let our portrait drawing fall by the wayside. We want to start that program up again with the excellent book we found to help us.
• I was thinking we would try to get our General Class Ham Radio License, but after looking at what is required, considering the time we have available, and talking to a couple of buddies, I decided that we should break this up into a two summer effort. I have ordered a book to study for the Technician Class License that we will study this summer. If we pass the test this summer, we will consider doing the General Class License next summer. I would like to get a radio for home and a radio for the pickup if we can afford it, but will have to see how it goes.
• The only academic item we are going to do during the summer is fifteen minutes of Rosetta Stone Spanish per day. I really want the kids to finish up so we can move on to French.

In addition to this, Christian and I want to do Hovercraft II. We are leaning toward a smaller one that we can run eventually turn into an AHV (Autonomous Hovering Vehicle) complete with computer controls and a camera. From there, we can think of making a ridable version. I would really like to do some kind of a furniture refinishing project with Kelly, too. I just thought of that this morning. We will have to give it a little more considerations, but it would be great to find a cool piece of furniture that needs refinishing at a garage sale–maybe another reading chair, a desk, a trunk, or a dresser. I think Lorena would like that, too. Finally, our buddy has a cool shooting thing going. The kids need a hunter safety course before too long, so maybe he can help us find a way to get them going on that.