Weekly Daybook

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For Today...September 21, 2009

Outside My Window...it is a gorgeous evening. The sky is bright blue and the sun is casting long shadows, coating everything in a golden hue.

I am thinking...of all I hope to accomplish in the next few months. It doesn't make me feel quite as overwhelmed as it did before.
I am thankful for...so many choices. Sometimes it is almost overwhelming, but I am still glad for the freedom to have so many.
From the learning rooms...loving Exploring Countries and Cultures from My Father's World. Gabe and I are having a very fun time with this curriculum. We also added in Shurley Grammar today. This is a new curriculum for us.
From the kitchen...Bessie made her yummy macaroni and cheese.
I am wearing...black pants and a dark green long-sleeved shirt.
I am creating...a new cross-stitch block.
I am going...to accept the peace God is giving me right now. Even when things aren't the way I had hoped.
I am reading...a suspense novel by Elizabeth Peters.
I am hoping...that Dan continues to get better.
I am hearing...someone in the kitchen, the nightly sounds of the neighbor's dirt bike and a beginning sounds of the night creatures.
Around the house...so many areas to organize and declutter...we're getting there.
One of my favorite things...cool fall nights and flannel sheets to cozy into.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...keep adding subjects to our schedule. We are almost up to speed.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing Brian and I were sitting out in the yard and this little guy climbed up the bush and went into the birdhouse. He seemed quite content to sit there. I wonder if he is planning on making this his winter home?

The Lois McClure

This week a notice was sent through a local homeschooling group about a replica of a 1862 canal boat that was going to be at a local town dock. They were giving free tours. Living so close to the Champlain Canal, we love learning about canal life and the boats that worked the canals.

We decided to go out early. The Lois McClure is a lovely sailing canal boat. We were able to chat with the crew about all aspects of living about a canal boat. One of the women said we would be a great family for canal life. She was probably referring to our family size. Gabe especially thought it was cool to think that in two years at the age of 12, he would move out of the family quarters to the workers quarters.







I'm not sure after having all the comforts of modern living, I would like to go back to living this way, but it sure seems like a wonderful way to life. The flow of the river and the bustle of each town as you traveled through.

This is what the boat looks like when all her masts are up. They were tabernacled to navigate the canal with it's many bridges. When she is home on Lake Champlain or down by New York City, the masts are put back up.

Or course, the boat they used to model this one is at the bottom of Lake Champlain with many other canal boats, I guess it wasn't all romantic and slow paced. Life on any body of water has it's hazards.

The children enjoyed asking all sorts of questions from what the people wore to what they ate. We bought some wonderful books on canal life and early exploration in our area, some great additions to our home library

Camping - VA & DC - Day 2 - 8/27 - Visiting Kristine

When we were trying to decide where to go this year for our vacation I had Bess and Gabe make a list of the things they wanted to do. There were two things in the top 5 on both of their lists...visit my on-line friend Kristine and her family and go to the National Zoo. I was thrilled because Kristine and I had been trying to figure out when we could come visit. Brian is always up for meeting new people, so he had no objections.

They live about 3 hours from Charlottesville and that is where we headed out for on Thursday. The ride was easy and uneventful. Kristine and Robert have a beautiful home in the woods...our kind of place. They most graciously opened it up to us and we had a terrific visit.

They served us lunch as soon as we arrived and that is always a good start for my crew. I'm sure it isn't easy having seven extra people in your home for a meal.

They have a great deck and the day was great for visiting outside. Trevor took some of the kids down to the creek. The younger children enjoyed the dog and the cats, running around the yard, lizards with blue tails and yummy Popsicles. Bess and Holly went off and did their girly thing...I think nail polish was involved at one point.

Gabe and Trevor hit is off right away and we rarely saw them during the visit. They have so many things in common and really enjoyed each other's company. Trevor taught Gabe some new DS tricks and that worked out great later in the week as Bess and Gabe were able to compete against each other on their DSs. Sometimes Gabe doesn't always click with other boys his age as they can be so physical and in his words "hyper". Gabe loves being active, but also enjoys some quieter activities and he and Trevor were a perfect match.

Bessie and Holly have been emailing and IMing and Facebooking for a while, so they had a ready made friendship. I think it took them a bit of time to work through the awkwardness of first meeting, but then they had a great time together.

It was such a privilege to finally meet Kristine after being on-line pals for so many years. Kristine has been a tremendous encouragement to me especially over the last few years. I felt instantly at home...of course maybe some of it was Robert's teasing. :-) It was so nice to spend the afternoon with them. Robert and Brian hit it off well and I'm sure it isn't always easy for the husbands. Kristine and I have shared so much in emails and blogs that we feel like we really know each other but the hubbies don't have that advantage. I think they had a good time too.

I was so reluctant to leave and we did actually have to come back after we were down the road a bit as Gabe remembered his cap.

Look at all those happy faces.

Kristine, Robert, Holly and Trevor, thank you so much for opening your home to us. We had such a pleasant time and are already hoping to come back again.

Fair Day

The Friday of our local fair has been our annual day to go to the fair. The main reason being....tractor pulls. Now I am not sure if all parts of the country have tractor pulls, but if you don't, you really are missing out. :-) This is one of my favorite events at the fair.

The fair is a wonderful outing for our family. It is often hard to find something that will appeal to the younger guys and to Bess. The fair fits the bill. There are so many different things to see that everyone is content.

We met up with Mom and Dad who were also at the fair and watched the first class of tractors. Think large farm tractors with very big engines, lots of power and tremendous noise. We come prepared with earplugs.

The orange vehicle behind the tractor is the pulling machine. As the tractor pulls it down the track, the weights move forward causing more drag and making it harder to pull. As you can see the front end of the tractors often pull off the ground. The black smoke is caused by the mix of diesel fuel and water. I don't understand how these tractors run, but it sure is fun to watch.

Of course, a snack of fried dough is always required. Dan had more powdered sugar on him than in him.

The small steam engine area is a perennial favorite for Brian. It is quite interesting to watch all the engines working. I had to chuckle at his photo as Bri and Gabe strike the same pose.

These bags of onions were stacked next to an "onion bloom" concession. There were bags and bags.

We ate at a booth set up by a local BBQ place. It was very good. Dan was reluctant to eat. When we were almost done, he threw up. Poor guy. Thankfully we were outside. I guess he had too much fried dough. He still has a hard time deciding when to stop eating something. He was much cheerier after that.

The oxen demonstration was very fascinating. These docile creatures are so impressive in how they work and follow the voice commands of their owner.

As we were getting ready to leave the fairgrounds, we came upon an elephant, camel, horse and dog show...quite the combination. I have seen elephants many times before, but I never tire of their size and quiet dignity. They are such magnificent animals.

This particular maneuver was amazing to me...one elephant crawled under the belly of another.

As we headed to the car, I looked back and saw the moon coming up and the bright lights of the Ferris wheel. The beautiful end to a very nice day.

Camping - VA & DC - Day 1 - 8/26

On August 26th, we packed up and started out for a weeks camping trip to Virginia and Washington, DC. This was the first summer in 16 years that our big summer camping trip wasn't to Maine. It felt strange to be going south instead of east and north.

We hear so often from other parents how difficult it can be to travel very far with their children. I have to say, our children are great travelers. We had very little complaining and only a few "why so long" from Dan. Generally they get along well in the van and take the hours of driving in stride.

Our large van allows for plenty of elbow room for all, including Grace the dog. We watch DVDs, Bess and Gabe play their DS games. We listen to audio CDs. Bess brought her collection of Classical Kids which were very much enjoyed. Each child has a small bag with a few toys and books. Bessie even worked on her cross-stitch project.

Dan amused himself with his contortionist routine. I don't know how he does this while strapped into his carseat. He entertained the rest of us for quite a while with his antics.

We ran into construction in several areas and there was an accident that slowed us way down. At one point it took us an hour to drive 3 miles. As the day began to wane, we realized we would not make our first night's destination before dark. We pressed on.

Five states, 591 miles and 14 hours and we reached the Charlottesville KOA campground...in the dark. Bri did a great job parking the camper and everyone was very relieved to be out of the van. We let the children relax and play for a bit and then settled in for our first night on the road.

School Orientation

After 12 years of homeschooling, some of our children will be heading off to public school. Rachel, Hannah and Dan will be starting school on Wednesday.

This was a big day for them as we had two sessions of orientation at our local public school. The children met with their teachers, saw their classrooms, took a ride on a school bus and had ice cream. The parents were given the opportunity to ask questions of the principal, the transportation supervisor and the cafeteria supervisor.

This is all so new to us, but I think we now have enough information to make next Wednesday run relatively smoothly. I'm sure we will work out way through all the ins and outs of having some of our children attending school.

The bus ride was a big hit and the children did great and of course having ice cream after was a treat.

Look at Dan, you can't see his smile, but those eyes tell you he is grinning.




The girls were a bit more shy and reserved but enjoyed themselves.


This was a bittersweet day for me...knowing this is the best choice for our PI children this next year, but feeling sad that we won't all be homeschooling this year.