Reunion Addendum

A few more reunion pictures.

These are on the drive up.  We took mostly country roads there so when Randy spied a playground we stopped and had a great time... but we were missing Cap'n K already.

He even had a duckie that looked so lonely...

But we still had fun.  We knew Cap'n K was having fun (and likely being spoiled rotten by the wonderful couple he was staying with!)

 

 Lots of fun on the drive up and even more at the reunion.

 Took some coaxing, but Aaron finally went down the slide... and loved it!

 Here's Gloria riding that carousel horse.  She loves it and would spent upwards of 10 minutes at a time just sitting on it.  And that was multiple times a day!




On the way home we stopped at Jacksonville's Science and history museum.  Meet Sue, the biggest and most complete T-rex fossil ever found!  Sorry, but no kids wanted to get close enough to it for a picture!

Aaron learns to be an archaeologist.

The kids enjoy looking at turtles at a native plant and turtle exhibit.

Sorry text refuses to line up with pictures all of a sudden.  You'd think blogger could get some consistency.  But I've wasted enough time on it.  Gotta move on.

A

School Time!

 School has begun at the Pinedale Palace!  Gloria is kinda sorta in 2nd grade, Aaron is kinda sorta in kindergarten and Nathan is doing preschool... when he darn well feels like it.

This picture was our first day of school.  Nathan did his "letter of the week." I got a hand print of Aaron's done, but neglected to take a picture of him.  Sorry.

 And here we have week 2.  Nathan was glue beans to his letter B.  He's very much into tactile learning... not so into coloring.  And 1 day a week is about all I get out of him.  I'm ok with that because he plays quietly by himself while the others are working.

 Here's Aaron working in his phonics book.  He already reads 3 letter words very well.  Being a lefty in a righty world, he's having some difficulty with pencil holding and such.  See his stash of colored pencils beside him with grippers all over them?  He's getting it though.  And with 1 single mention of "You know, Aaron, kindergartners try to color inside the lines." he neglected his mad scribble ways and is very careful with his coloring now.  He's quite proud of being a kindergartner.  Once he's a little bit stronger manipulating a pencil we'll start math.  For now, phonics and handwriting is enough.

And here's my ol' pro.  This girl amazes me.  Last year at this time she couldn't read "CAT".  Now she's reading full 3rd grade level chapter books.  Last week, we were working on science.  I read from the text book while the kids colored a corresponding coloring page.  I stopped every couple paragraphs to rehash and ask questions to make sure she was listening.  We got to the end of the section and began the comprehension questions.  Gloria couldn't answer a single one despite those questions being almost word for word what I had asked her intermittently during the reading.  She was drawing a blank on everything (though her coloring page was beautifully decorated with pink bushes and purple trees).  It was time for lunch, I grew frustrated and finally just set the book in front of her and said, "Fine, you read it this time." 

So she did.

She read an elementary botany textbook, one that is not designed specifically for 6 yr olds but for all elementary students.  She stumbled some on "binomial nomenclature."  I prepared lunch while she began at page 1 and read the section, periodically looking up with an invisible light bulb sitting over her head when she'd read the answer to one of the questions she couldn't answer before.

Clearly she's not an auditory learner.

We start each day with Bible.  Each child has a page with a rather complex picture on it with symbols and pictures to tell the entire contents of a book in the Bible.  We're working through Genesis.  They color each of these symbols as I teach them about the events that those symbols represent.  Nathan just scribbles all over his picture.  Aaron sometimes listens and follows and sometimes colors what he wants when he wants.  Gloria's all ears.  I'll ask a question, usually pertaining to what we learned on a previous day.  Nathan is always the first to shoot a hand in the air and say "I know! I know!  I know!"  No, he doesn't know, but he just knows that what he's supposed to do and so does it with exuberance.  I once asked where Constantinople was.  "I know! I know!"  If I could only get it on video!

This week we are studying the Byzantine empire.  I don't think I've ever learned about the Byzantine empire in my life.  Its an education for all of us.  And we enjoy it.  Mostly.  And the parts we don't enjoy, we enjoy that we're at least together trudging through it.  I consider myself very blessed to be able to do this with and for my children.  I firmly believe we'll all be better for it.

Family Reunion

 Earlier this summer we enjoyed a jaunt to Tennessee for a family reunion on Randy's mom's side of the family.  Hosted every 3 years (this time is was 4), they are frequent enough to stay in touch and distant enough to really make it special.  We had a great time.

I should start by detailing what it took to actually go.  First of all, we decided it would be just too much on Cap'n K to drag him along.  New territory, no routine, sleeping in hotels, throngs of new people... not a good mix.  So we opted for him going with another foster family.  And the had a great time with him and he with them so it was definitely the right decision.

But that then required packing for him.  Complete with toys as the other family had no children at the time.  And we had some friends milking our goats, but given that they get milked twice daily, we moved the goats to their house rather than requiring that they come to our house twice a day.  So we set up portable electric fencing, loaded the goats and Randy in the trailer (Randy to keep them calm) and red-neck drove them over there.  And I packed for the goats... their food, the milking bowls, jars and cleaning supplies.

 Then we had another family come over every day, once a day, to tend the other animals and water the gardens.  So I made lists and prepared things for them to know what to do when, etc. 

And finally, I got to pack for the 5 of us to drive to Tennessee, stay 3 days and drive back.  But it was worth it.

 Especially since a family member is a professional photographer.  We enjoyed hanging out with long lost cousins, swimming in the lake and piles of delicious food.  The kids were great.  I found a few 50 piece puzzles in little tins so Aaron had his puzzles.  The hosts graciously set up a whole kids craft area so Gloria made hats and crowns and was in her element.

 Nathan particularly enjoyed the carousel horse made by the late original of the lake house, Randy's great Uncle Paul.  Here's Gloria and Nathan on the horse... but they were laughing because they had just witnessed that photographer falling off his chair.  He does anything for the shot, right?  ;-)

 Here's the whole crew of us behind the house waiting for fireworks to start. 

And here's a fabulous shot of the fireworks.  They really go all out on fireworks.  They were beautiful.  Last time we were here, the fireworks scared Gloria and Aaron was sleeping in the sling so we just went inside and watched them from the window.  This time, no kids were scared.  All were thrilled and cheering and calling out the colors as they appeared.  What a difference 4 years makes.  

On the drive home we were hoping to stop and see friends in Georgia.  That didn't pan out so we ended up having an extra day before needing to pick up the goats and the boy and return to normal life.  So we spent a day at the Jacksonville museum.  And I just realized that those pictures are still on the camera, a girl is waiting for me to go outside with her to do chores and my blogging time is up.  I'll update later... I hope.