veteran's day

grandpa came over and brought shawnie. we had a little lesson about the history of the day. she said, "this is like school". i told her that although she had the day off, my kids did not - i always school on the holidays!

but the lesson was only a few minutes at the table. then we baked treats, did veteran's day puzzles, and visited their great-grandpa's grave. he served in wwII and at our local cemetary the boy scouts mark every veteran's grave with an american flag for the day. it was amazing to see the sea of flags, to know that all those men had served, and to appreciate the freedoms that their service affords us.

soccer visitors!

grandma & grandpa made the trek from arizona once more to watch a final soccer match. they came in and just blessed our family for the weekend. it was really special.

then on saturday, some friends of ours and theirs came down to spend time! (and watch the game). it has been a few years since i've seen virginia, who discipled/mentored me while i was in college. she was a blessing in my life when i was being crazy. but she also impacted my diet by introducing me to a variety of salads and toppings. i told the kids they have her to thank for some of their favorite salad toppings like raisins and corn (among many others!)

her husband is a truck driver who i've been waiting (a few years) to ask questions about trucking. those burning questions within me about the scales and truck stops have now been answered! (really) thanks, don.

hiking adventure in the angeles national forest

we set out in the car for a new mountain to climb. we are always going somewhere new to hike - as if the first time we went to a huge mountain or forest area, we saw it all and have to find a new location the next time. in any case, we're having fun doing it.

so on the 2nd we hiked in the angeles national forest.

as it goes with our family, these trips are spur of the moment and i don't always ask my husband where we're going. so we got in the car with the kids and a diaper, wipes, a pack of graham crackers and 6 apples. we took off up the freeway about 10am and arrived in the forest about 2 hours later. we realized half way up that we needed a pass to park in said national forest so we stopped to purchase one at the ranger station. i was shocked that they did not have a credit card machine in their little hut! it was less shocking that we had no cash. i asked if we could park on private property without the pass and the ranger said yes, but indicated we may be shot by an unhappy propertyowner. sounded like an adventure to me! (but really i was thinking that i knew of a camp where we could probably park).

both scott & i have been to angeles crest christian camp many times, but neither of us in the last 10 years. it would be an adventure just finding it, but when we did we parked, took our graham crackers and hiked for a couple hours.

we showed the kids the facilities, climbed out into the wilderness a ways, identified animal droppings, all the fun stuff.

we returned to the car, had the apples for "snack" and played in the tree house. a quick drive down the mountain, a stop at subway (where they accept plastic) for lunch/dinner (at 4pm) and we were on our way home! the kids were amazingly well behaved for being starved! we all enjoyed our time together being in the less-touched parts of God's creation.

i'm pollinating and the red boots

kiki got ky all dressed up the other day in this outfit. she ran outside and said, "look mommy!" as she ran to various parts of our garden and paused for a moment before moving to the next spot. when i asked what she was doing, kiki said "she's a butterfly", and ky said, "i'm pollinating!" they're so fun!

another memory, as another child uses a "hand-me-down".
these boots originally came on paddington bear that my husband received from england when he was a little boy. ky was the first to remove them from the stuffed animal to wear them & now it's sy's turn.

4-5-6 and panther

cute photo - (the boys think ky is 4 now.)

this is the neighborhood cat, "panther". he's been around for about 5 months and allows my kids to pick him up by his tail (jojo & kiki) and drag him by his tail (ky & sy) and sometimes be nice to him too. it's been fun to have a pet i'm not really responsible for. :)

beach day

one perk of homeschooling - going to the beach on a perfect beach day when everyone else is in school!

we went to belmont shore with 2 other families and saw nobody but an occasional jogger all day. we had our own personal life guard for a portion of the day! the kids enjoyed building sandcastles, playing in the water (which was pleasantly warm), and searching for shells and other treasures. we, of course, talked briefly about the inter-tidal zone where our kids love to play and much marine life lives. it was a wonderful day!

at the end of the day, we brought home a new "pet" - a hermit crab in a bucket of sea water with sand at the bottom. we knew he wouldn't last, but it was a fun science project for a bit.

side note: the crab died late the next day and was fed to our hamster by my husband! (fortunately the hamster is still alive, unlike our fish he fed a cheerio to!)