The best lessons of all

This is just a quick post. I'm at my parents' house, and was thinking about the school we aren't doing this week, and more importantly, the things we are learning. (We school January through October, so we are still officially "in school" this month.)

• All of my children are over at my brother's house right now, playing Nintendo or some such thing. They are learning to take turns, to laugh, to cheer on each other, and who knows what else.
• Two of my boys worked with Grandpa on building little pliers holder thingies for my mom's beading tools. They got safety lessons in power tools, and learned that they can make something truly useful. And they had so much fun talking with Grandpa while sanding and staining.
• My big guys have played two games of Risk with various combinations of aunts and uncles. They learned that maps aren't always accurate, and they got to see various strategies and how those played out. They watched people losing - and winning - graciously.
• They are getting a ton of PE in at the park. Again, mostly with aunts and uncles.
• They learned that things don't always turn out the way you thought they would, but usually you can still salvage something from the experience (specifically chocolate chip cookie dough that was far too sticky/soft when made with soft margarine instead of butter)
• They learned a bunch about flowers by hanging out in the backyard with Grandma
• They had the chance to visit with relatives they had forgotten that they had, and were able to hear all kinds of stories about when Mommy was a girl (uhhh, not so sure this was one of the good lessons this week!)
• And they even managed to learn that just because something contains green peppers and onions, it doesn't necessarily mean it is inedible... now that lesson was priceless
• The biggest lesson of all was how much fun it is to visit now that Grandpa has retired...

We need more of these lessons.