the big boys learn to swim in the middle of winter

it's january and i am motivated to teach the boys to swim NOW!

the city next door is having a triathlon at the end of february and they have a 7-8yr old category! i was already planning on tri-ing, but now the boys can too - IF they can swim!

so the boys and i are heading over to the local military base (where the race will be and where the pool is) to learn to swim and be swimming well for the race which is only 4 weeks away!

the boys have taken swim lessons, but never had any motivation to really swim well until now. they have seen me do a sprint-triathlon before and i told them then that i hoped one day we could do them together. although we'll compete in different races, they are eager to tri! :)

january parenting conference

every january, exploring homeschooling, a local ministry to families who are homeschooling or thinking about it, hosts a friday-saturday event to encourage parents.

this year, i was so excited to hear that the Quines (Cornerstone Curriculum) were coming to speak on "Discipling Your Children in the 21st Century".

it was a blessing to listen to their encouragement and hear their success stories (their 8 children are grown).

i first met David Quine at the CHEA convention a few years ago. I was impacted by his discernment and ability to help me understand the classical model of education with a Biblical worldview. we really enjoy all of their curriculum and i look forward to using their resources for older students.

golf week!

the 3 oldest had an opportunity to attend a golf class every day this week. they had a blast learning more, improving their skills, and spending time with friends. at the end of the week, in the putting tournament, all three won medals! jojo & ky took gold for the younger boys' and younger girls' groups and kik took bronze for the younger boys' group. a friend they had invited took silver in the younger boys' group so that was really fun for all of them. congratulations grubb kids on your fantastic efforts and improvement in golf this week.

as you can see in the picture, sy spent his week becoming familiar with the course as well. (he's climbing the tree behind the sign!) :)

we're home!

we traveled over 4700 miles in the past 3 weeks!
williams AZ to cypress CA - the last 434 miles

williams is beautiful. snow everywhere. fun for kids to play.

scott had to work a bit this morning so i took the kids for a walk. we saw the grand canyon train take off. we walked to a couple churches, but their services were not until later. so we just enjoyed the town's christmas tree and the music playing nearby and the kids played on the ice on the street - trying to crack it.

scott picked us up after a bit. actually, he called me to let me know he was done, but my phone was on silent. we were passing some "federal officers" (that's what their badges said) and one asked, "what's that beeping noise?" kik answered, "oh. that's just my mom's phone." - and it was - and i hadn't noticed :) typical me.

scott had actually sent my phone a message to beep at me - despite it being on silent - how? beyond that, he was tracking me down using the GPS in my phone to find me! and drove up moments later. a little too weird for me, but it did get us on the road. (now my husband can find out where i am on gps at all times - hmmm...)

the drive home was pretty uneventful. we stopped for lunch at cracker barrel because we hadn't been there the whole trip and we don't have them in california.

we were almost home - only 90 minutes away - and it started snowing! how bizarre.

now we're home. it will be good to have non-traveling time, but i will miss traveling. until the next adventure...

new year's day - amarillo TX to williams AZ

640 miles, but first...

mmm... incredible breakfast 2 days in a row! - fun to have a break from our traditional la quinta breakfast. here, we have eggs, sausage, potatoes, biscuits & gravy, and today - cinnamon rolls - yum!

after breakfast, the 3 oldest shores kids came to swim one last time before we leave.

an unplanned encounter with the texas highway patrol. scott got to sit in the patrolman's car while he issued his warning - lucky him! our kids were all jealous.

originally, we'd planned to do a couple museums in albuquerque, but because it's new year's day, everything is closed. :( so sad. (and they have a nuclear science museum i'm sure the kids were going to be really excited about.) anyhow. after the 4 hour drive to albuquerque, we stopped to... get gas... then we kept on driving. gas was also challenging today as in both amarillo and albuquerque, we'd planned to get gas at sam's club and costco - neither of which are open on new year's day. but our good friend gasbuddy.com found us alternate cheap gas and we were on our way.

we drove on through new mexico and into arizona. watching the thermometer in our car drop below zero degrees farenheit. (we'd already seen it go below 0 celcius and even had a chat about degrees kelvin - that's kevin with an "l").

denny's offered kids eat free again and on saturdays and in the middle of (nowhere) gallup NM, it's slim pickins - but we enjoy denny's, so we stopped there for dinner. afterwards, the kids played in the snow and slid on the ice in the parking lot. then we jumped back in the car and pushed on. we were planning to drive until we got tired. unfortunately we got tired in williams AZ - a little pricey for hoteling. but we found comfortable lodgings for a deal - as i had grabbed a travel magazine at a random gas station in NM. (thanks for the idea mom).

and that's amarillo to williams. - almost home!