The half-yearly update

I always plan to regularly update the blog, but never quite get to it.  So, here's a bit of what we've been up to the past 6 months.

January
Another new year, which we rang in at home with my mom.  We are fairly boring folks for NYE, but we had a nice fish dinner, watched the ball drop and had some sparkling cider.  Katie and Zack stayed up right until midnight, I think for the first time, and then we were all tucked in by 12:30am!

We started the year with our regular routine of math (Teaching Textbooks pre-algebra), Italian (Rosetta Stone), handwriting and chores twice a week (although the kids are dismayed that daily making of beds, doing laundry and dealing with the trash don't fall under Mon/Fri chores).  Katie continued Girl Scouts, a Warrior Cat Club and art classes. Zack started an historical sword fighting class, which he really enjoyed and we will be looking for more swordplay opportunities for fall.  He continued Tae Kwon Do and both kids went skating on the weeks Katie did not have GS.

We also attended Virginia Tech's Kid's Tech classes once a month from Jan-April. This was a great program and took some of the mystery of college away.  Our favorite travel companions, Jeannie and Johno, were also going so we shared hotel and travel expenses and it also made the travel more fun.

The first session was in late Jan.  Sadly both Katie and Zack got headcolds once we got there, and had a hard time fully enjoying the activities.  We did enjoy trying fried pickles at dinner.

February...
...is a blur.  I know we ran around a lot and my birthday came and went.  We went to VA Tech the end of the month.  We went back down to VaTech.  This time just Katie was sick but still managed to have an OK time.  What bad luck to be sick again!

March
Kids and I off to see mom in FL where she took a condo for a few months.  We apparently hit the only spate of cold, nasty, weather for the entire time she was there, but we still had a great time. I brought my new camera to try out on the trip.  Ofcourse, Zack and I had finally caught the bug Katie had at Tech, so we took it even more easy.

Here's Zack at the entrance to a nature center in Jupiter, FL (you can also see me).

 

Here's Katie with the bald eagles.

 We also went to Boynton Beach to visit my friend Nancy.  Here's a pose with her local Buddha.

 We went to a nature reserve with Nancy as well and saw lots of birds including babies in giant nests.  Their long-legged mothers looked strange hanging around in trees.

The kids and I went to a turtle sanctuary and saw many turtles.  Most of those pictures are still on my phone but here's one of Katie joining the demo show in the role of sea turtle:

Most days were too cold and windy for really swimming at the beach, but we did go for a windy walk one afternoon.  Katie was shocked at the number of shells out there.  She could just scoop up handfuls and easily found enough to bring one home for each of her fellow Girl Scouts and other friends with plenty left for her own collection.

These are from the one day warm enough to really hang at the beach:

We also climbed a lighthouse, which was fun, if a little scary!  We did all manage to walk all the way around the outside deck and wave to grandma, who waited for us below.  Quite a work out mounting the stairs too. 

Later in March was the VaHomeschoolers Conference and Resource Fair. I was the vendor chair and had to attend down near Richmond.  It just so happened that it was the same weekend as VA Tech, so Jeannie kindly agreed to take K&Z with her.  I don't think anyone got sick this time!

The conference was great and quite a high mark for me to reach for next year, when I'll be coordinating the whole thing.  Yikes!

At some point, I think in March, there was an extremely big moon.  Didn't know how to use my camera well enough but got one decent shot:

Two weeks after the March VaTech program was the April program, due to Easter at the end of the month.  Since it was the last, Pete came along and we made it a weekend trip as well.  We stopped at Natural Bridge on the way down there.  Neat place, very cheesy tourist trappy but with this great natural phenom.

Natural Bridge

Pete at Natural Bridge

In the cave at natural bridge. Small cave but interesting

I absolutely LOVE wax museums, the cornier the BETTER.  Second only to sculptures made of butter.  I knew when the first display of what was supposed to be a show about American history was the Garden of Eden that there had to be a wax last supper and I was not disappointed. I have never seen an actual butter last supper, but someday I hope to!

The Wax museum at Natural Bridge--yes! had the last supper all in wax!

The last Kids' Tech and I think these were some of the best hands-on programs of the whole series.  Getting to hold chickies was a highlight for the kids, maybe not so much for the chickies.

On the way home we stopped at Monticello.  It was chilly that morning and we weren't dressed for the weather, so it wasn't as fun as it could have been.  We also didn't have as much time as I would have liked, but still it was quite nice.  Here's the kids in the cellar, it really wasn't a jail cell but they insisted on this picture.

I loved this tree on the grounds.

I was on this trip but so far no pictures of me.  I think there may be some on Pete's phone.

Katie went on a camping trip in PA where she got to rappel down into a cave (how cool is that?) and survived incredibly cold, windy, rainy weather.  She also got to see  Frank Lloyd Wright's house Falling Waters which was nearby. Lots of bonding with the other Girl Scouts who attended.

Then we arrived at the run up to Easter.  We headed down to NC to leave the kids and dog with my mom.  Pete and I stayed there for a day then headed to Asheville, which we've been meaning to get to for years.  Loved it!  Pete needed the vacation-he had been putting in long hours at work for weeks.

I was fascinated with this building in Asheville, which I thought looked just like the Tower of Terror in Disney.  Don't you think so?

We also stayed near this kitschy motel. 

Just by luck, we met up with my cousin Jayne and her husband Donald and got to see their almost finished house.  So nice and wonderful to see them and catch up!

Spent Easter at mom's and baskets magically arrived for the kids.  They were disappointed at the lack of an egg hunt, so at the last minute it seems that our real colored eggs were dispersed around the house along with some cash.  Nice!

In May, Zack and I agreed that he would take some time off of Tae Kwon Do to see what his commitment level really was.  It has seemed to me to be not much more than a high-priced play date.  We made a plan to attend as many HS park days where he could meet up with his TKD friends and see if that would do instead.  The jury is still out and we've extended the break through June and I'm guessing through the summer.

I requested a flowering tree for Mother's Day and here are Katie and Zack with the newly planted pear tree.  Maybe a partridge will show up in Dec...




Katie enjoyed a big service unit encampment with her troop and, although it rained again, the weather was MUCH better than the last trip.  The ticks were worse and we did quite a few checks afterward.

The ticks have been unbelievable this year.  The dog brings one in on his fur at least once a week.  So we are trying to be vigilant about checking for them.

Katie and Zack turned 13!  Crazy!  Two teens in the house.  We had a family celebration and went out to Mike's American for dinner.  They will both have parties later.

We had a nice, wonderful, unscheduled Memorial Day.  Did some yard work, hung around, tried a new restaurant.  Lovely.

Have tried to make an effort to under schedule June.  Mixed results so far.  Pete had a big, late-night gig last night with The Jet Age.  Zack had his birthday party today and now has his two best buds over for the night.  Am hoping I can sleep through their party.

And so, almost half of 2011 has sped by.  I hope to keep up better for the second half of the year, so check back some time.

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New Adventures

After our unexpected trip to SLC, we got home and wanted to catch the last of the Cherry Blossoms around DC. We brought the kids National Parks passports and they were able to collect quite a few stamps around the Mall. Not many blossoms left, but we did find this pretty tree. Some day I hope to get there during the peak. Somehow we always seem to miss it.


Here's Katie's progress with her braces. This was mid-April. She now has springs and screws and things are looking great! I can't believe how fast her teeth have moved.


Some time, we went with Katie's GS troop to see a landfill and recycling center. This is the top of one of the capped piles. It apparently is the highest point in the area and has a really lovely view--as long as the wind off the open pile is blowing away from it.

We went on a field trip to ride a horse trail another day (sketchy on the dates here).

Zack had a good time after working out nerves for his first time on a horse but wasn't interested in the discount riding lessons they offered us.


Katie, however, was thrilled to be able to ride again. She took lessons for about a month, I think. I didn't want to continue into the summer, since we are gone so much of it, plus, this particular stable is not clean at all and is pretty stinky even on the coolest of days. I can't imagine how it is in July!


On a whim, we went to the Crime and Punishment Museum on a Groupon. At first it didn't look like much, but we actually had a great time and stayed over two hours looking at everything. the kids were much more interested in it than I thought they would be.


May brought the brick-laying for Dad. It's in a nice spot near the Chapel on the Green. Some tears and some laughs which is, I think, how he would have wanted it. Mom and I picked out a couple of tunes from movies to play on the carillon at the beginning and the end and that seemed to fit dad as well. It was a nice ceremony and reception, which mom held at the house and it gave me, at least, some closure on everything. It was also just before the kids' birthday, so the whole family (except Jonathan) was there to celebrate that as well, which was nice.


We stayed for a few days after and took our first trip of the season to the beach. It was a great day to be there, since school wasn't out yet. Bittersweet, especially when the kids started in on a sand castle. Dad would have been right down there with them and mom and I missed him a lot. Still, it was a nice day and a good stay with mom.



Katie even found a collection of critters.



Katie's GS troop went camping at long last. The leaders arranged for a group called Ancestral Knowledge to come in a take the girls on a hike and set up a fire. They are a great group and I'd love to do something with them again. The next day we stopped by Port Tobacco to take a tour of their archaeological dig. The girls got to wash off some artifacts.

It was a nice ending to the GS year. Katie has decided to try a troop that has many more older girls and was also attending their meetings by invitation and was invited to go on their camp out as well. So off she went Kayaking with that troop!



In a stroke of master-planning I scheduled a camping trip for Katie and me for the very day after we got back from the GS trip. Pete and Zack were attending the BS Camporee. Katie and I took off for Jamestown and Williamsburg. We spent our first day setting up our campsite and then went to stroll the streets of Williamsburg. Since it was so late in the day, we opted to stroll around without tickets, which you only need to enter the historic buildings.


The next day we went to Jamestown, where Katie was enamored with one of the settlers who showed her how to carve bone into tools. She helped out for quite a while-he was pretty cute ;-)

Katie met a nice couple of girls at the campsite and ran around with them in the evenings. There was also a giant slide that she enjoyed--see the video below.

I also snapped an early morning shot of Katie sleeping. Just thought she looked so lovely.


~~~
Somewhere in the following weeks, I came down with vertigo so now have a relationship with an ENT practice. Still haven't figured out exactly what's going on, but we're working on it. We have discovered that I have a chronic sinus infection which might be contributing to the dizziness. But maybe not. In any case, it looks like surgery some time in Sept/Oct. What fun!
~~~


Here's Katie accepting a gift from a Neanderthal at the origins exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History. A great new exhibit. Pete's parents and my mom were in town for Zack's Black Belt Ceremony, so we all hit the museum together.

Here's Zack checking out his bone structure against Australopithecus.


And the big ceremony! We were all bursting with pride as Zack received his Black Belt.


They even spelled his name right!

The very next day, Zack left for BS sleep away camp for a week. Katie started art day camp that Monday, which she did for two weeks. I'll need to post photos of her work in a future post. She did some really nice pieces.

So, I had a week to myself! Tried to hook up with friends but most couldn't get the time free, so I spent a good deal of time loafing around. Ahhhhh!

I don't seems to have pictures from the day, but we also spent a lovely 4th of July at Chez Mart. We had a terrific time with them and the Ebbins, chowing, swimming, playing kick ball (!) and watching the fireworks. It had been quite a while since the families had gotten together and it was a very fun time.

And it wouldn't be summer without a trip to grandma's and hitting the beach! Can't believe how much more crowded the beach becomes each year. We are not used to sharing it!

The rain this morning helped thin the crowds, but when the thunder struck, we also cleared off. Nice background for photos though.


Katie's latest castle.


Zack hanging out on the shore.


And now it's August--already?!--and we are having a few weeks of our typical schedule of TKD/Piano/Art (when the teacher gets back from vaycay) and some extra girl outings for Katie, so she can meet a few more girls now that her best friend is spending more time in VT than in VA these days.

Hope you are enjoying the waning days of summer wherever you are.

Next up for us: Disney World!

Catching up before hitting the Road

Haven't been very motivated to update the blog lately, but thought it would be a good idea before beginning to send updates on our road trip.

A note about the trip--we will fly out to San Francisco on 8/29 and from there go to:
Monterrey, Big Sur and San Luis Obispo
Anaheim, Los Angeles
San Diego
Palm Desert
Joshua Tree NP
Grand Canyon NP
Meteor Canyon
Petrified Forest NP
Albuquerque
Roswell, Carlsbad Caverns
Dallas/Ft Worth
Austin
San Antonio
Houston
New Orleans
Atlanta
and then flying home

But now, let's travel back to June. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A fairly mellow month after all the travel in May. We hit park days, wrapped up Boy Scout and Girl Scout activities, and hung around doing nothing. Zack took his TKD belt test and is now just one test away from becoming a Black Belt. He was slotted to take the test in October, but since we will be gone for all of Sept, Master Yun is holding off so Zack will have some time to ramp up to it.

Zack attended Boy Scout Camp. Last year, he psyched himself up to go but it was canceled at the very last minute. This year, he was again nervous but had a great time, earned two merit badges and earned his tenderfoot rank. He had been considering quitting scouts before going to camp, but is now reconsidering. Since he missed a lot of summer meetings due to our travels and will also miss the Sept meetings, he agreed to return to the troop when we get back and to then decide.

We had a quiet 4th of July as Zack arrived home from camp that morning. Just set off a few fireworks and lit some sparklers. We made s'mores on the grill as a treat.

Pete was able to take a couple of days off work so we could have two full days at Hershey Park this summer. We hadn't gone in a few years and so had never seen the water park. It was terrific! Katie went on her first big roller coaster--the Comet--and loved it! Zack and Pete went on all the thrill rides, while Katie and I spent time on the less intense rides.


Zack just off "The Claw"


Katie gets a Kiss

The next weekend, we were off to LI for a not-surprise birthday party for Carrie. It was nice to see everyone and the weather was great. The traffic was, as usual, awful.

Home for a week and then off to Gma and Gpa's in NC to hit the beach! The weather cooperated fro the most part. We also took a day to take a ferry to the Aquarium at Ft Fisher and spend some time at Broadway on the Beach, first to see a magic show courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa and then the kids and I went back to play mini golf at Dragon's Lair. Katie and Zack have loved the dragon since they were toddlers--although it seems to get smaller every year ;-)


Zack at the beach


Katie looking for critters


At Dragon's Lair

August has sadly turned out to be all about doctors. 5 people in our family are dealing with medical issues and it has been pretty stressful. A planned trip back to NC for my dad's birthday turned into welcoming him back home from emergency surgery. He is on the mend and I am very grateful for that.

Also, my medical issues have turned out to be basically minor, although there will be a few more Dr. visits when we get back in Oct.

And there goes summer!

Killer May

Every weekend this month has been booked with something. Every. Weekend.

I feel like I am going to explode if I don't get some down time. The clutter in the house is making my head cluttered and I can't wait until we are back from Boston on Monday and I can get cracking on some projects.

So. what have we been doing....

The first weekend of the month, our dishwasher died and we spent the weekend researching new ones. We ended up with a Bosch and so far really like it.

I started working on a project in late February and the event was this month. So, we fell out of site for most of April and the start of May. This year the event was in Baltimore. I didn't need to travel but I sent the kids to my mom's to spend the week. Sadly, it rained most of the time they were there so they didn't get much beach time. They did get plenty of TV time.

My folks were good enough to come get the kids the second weekend in May. So that weekend (Mother's Day) we hosted my folks. We drove to Woodbridge for brunch on Sunday and then they headed south with the kids and Pete and I headed north.

I worked Mon-Wed, was sick as a dog and slept all day Thursday, and Friday headed down to NC to hang with the folks and pick up the kids. Happily, it was nice on Sunday and Monday and we spent the mornings at the beach. One day, a large turtle crossed a neighbor's driveway and we all went to take a look. Katie tried to feed it some lettuce but it was more interested in getting away than eating.


At the beach


Katie tries to feed a turtle

Back home on Tuesday.

That gave me a couple of days to prepare for Katie and Zack's 11th birthday on Friday. Katie's GS troop was taking a camping trip Fri-Sun, but at the last minute she decided she didn't want to sleep in a tent on her birthday, so we delayed going until Saturday morning. It was a gorgeous day and I had been tasked with leading the girls in a hike to do some badge work. We had a great time, made even nicer by the fact that the camp is only 25 minutes from my house. I left that evening to go home and sleep in my own bed!

Girl Scouts has been a pretty bad experience this year for Katie. No program and no real leadership. Mostly a lot of girls from age 6-13 running around for two hours. Katie was refusing to go to meetings and almost decided against the camping trip. However, the trip was much more organized (thanks Brenda and Chris!) and Katie had a great time. We were looking at other troops but will now keep this one in the mix and wait to see who leads next year before deciding. It's nice to have choices though.


Camping Katie

In the meantime, Zack is making noises about quitting Boy Scouts. That's fine, but he liked Cub Scouts a lot and seemed excited about being a Boy Scout. He's also not being very specific about why he wants to quit. I called a friend who is one of the asst. leaders to check-in about how things were going--to see if there was teasing, or other signs that things were getting unpleasant. So far no reports of that kind of issue.

We told Zack he needs to go to BS camp (it's paid for already and he earned half the fee by selling so much popcorn) and then he could decide about scouts for next season. He did skip the canoe trip planned for his birthday weekend, which I think was disappointing to Pete!

The kids' birthday was nice. We let Katie pierce her ears and Pete was able to meet us after work to be there for the big event. This was two years earlier than she expected--I always told her she could get them done at 13--but she's been taking very good care of the brace on her teeth, so I felt she could take care that the holes didn't get infected.


Just pierced!

Zack wanted a low-key birthday celebration, so just had two friends over for burgers and dogs and a sleepover. Katie didn't plan anything because of the camp out. The boys went to to play Laser tag the next day--I'm always tied up when there's a chance to play and I never get to go with them :-(


Checking out some of the new Heroscape castle set

And here we are, just heading into the last weekend of May, packing to go to Boston. My in-laws are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary (wow!) and are having a big party. Should be a nice event but wish I wasn't so sick of traveling! We also need to fly :-p -- not my favorite thing.

In June, I hope to get some projects done, take some hikes and hang around and do some nothing. It would be nice if the rain moved on for a while too...