Meeting Katie

I began following a blog about a year ago on the suggestion of a friend.
http://www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/
I was in such awe over this girl's amazing dedication to the work of Christ.  She is living out her faith in Uganda in a way I can't imagine.  I don't want to attempt to do her story justice so watch this...

I thought having read her blog and watched some of her YouTube videos that maybe I didn't need to go hear her speak last Monday night but I went anyway so that I could bring Jason and expose him to her world.  I am so glad I went!  There was something powerful in seeing her live and in person.  She's real.  She's a real girl, really living this life.  It's easy to distance yourself from a video or blog but seeing her and watching her talk about stepping out in faith and enjoying the ride...well changes are a'coming cuz God wants more from us.  We can do more.  We will do more.  And it's going to be great!  Thank you, Katie for your glowing example to me!

...not only did we get to see her but she signed my book and took a photo with Jason.  She is just so adorable!!!

Legoland's Beetle Bounce

If you watch this video three different times, you can see three very different experiences...

1.  Jason, the oldest, being goofy on what he considers a little kid ride.

2.  Jill in shock over the experience and petrified...shouldn't have had her go on this one, oops!

3.  Adam, the perfect age for this ride.  His giggle is contagious!  And can you hear it - My belly button tickles!  Cracks me up every time :)

Our Nature Studies

For science this year we are studying ecosystems.  This goes with our geography theme.  To go along with our studies, we're trying to get out into nature and observe actual ecosystems.  We're finding most habitats we study, or at least something close, are not far from our home.  And we're really enjoying this time of just getting into nature and walking around. 

We also take some time to just sit. 

I may read them a story, poem, or science lesson about where we are, and they draw a picture of something they see. 

I have loved this part.  I admit art is not my strong point.  Not only do I have trouble drawing, but I have little desire.  I don't want to pass this on to my children, especially the ones that are showing signs of really loving art!  This is one way I can incorporate art into our week without having to come up with arts and crafts projects because to be honest, those rarely happen around here.
Even Jill enjoys getting her nature journal out and coloring.

Our first visit was a local park with streams and waterfalls...

We also visited the Upper Newport Bay to see Coastal Shrubs as an example of a Chaparral ecosystem...

We visited a local arboretum to see desert plants (I realize we have real deserts, large deserts, world famous deserts a mere car ride away but it was a busy week and we weren't driving 3 hours round-trip to see a cactus.  We're saving the environment by saving gas :)

And our go-to nature walks when we have nothing specific to see are at the Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach.  We LOVE this place!

We hike.  We find lizards.  We hop over the creek. 

We have a snack.  We remember life in Georgia :)

Next we're heading to a conifer forest...more pics and drawings to come :)

Return to Swim Lessons

It's fall...time to start swim lessons!  We love our swim lessons.

They are cheap because as homeschoolers we can go during "off-hours." 
They have great coaches that the kids love and a kiddie pool for non-swimmers to play in when it's not their lesson time.  Do I sound like I'm selling it?  I kind of am because we need to keep interest up so they'll keep offering these great lessons all year!

Actually the main reason we returned this year even though we already have a pretty full schedule is that Jill is old enough to participate!  I'm so excited to get her swimming.  She has too much confidence around water for her to not be water-safe!  I was nervous how she'd do being not yet three with a new teacher in a small group setting...but she did really well.  She did everything he told her...I was so impressed. 
Check out her back float -

The two older kids are swimming on the "swim camp" side.  As Beth puts it - we do laps the whole time! 

She also commented - I felt like I was going to faint!  It was quite a workout for them and I couldn't be happier :)

Daddy's Work

Andrew's company just moved into a new office building, and we were invited to the Open House complete with a Korean lunch (Beth loved using chopsticks and actually seemed to get the hang of it!)

It was fun to see Daddy's cubicle and tour the office. 

The kids were impressed with all of Daddy's toys.  It seems he will never be bored at the office!

And now we can picture where he is all day (when he's in town!)

Post Office Field Trip

Field Trip Report: we went to the post office processing center today.  We saw all kinds of cool machines that make our mail move super fast round and round, up and down.  It was amazing how fast everything moved and impressive that more of our mail doesn't come all squished up!  Driving home Beth commented, "I didn't understand how that all makes the mail go where it's supposed to go."  Yes, it is a complex business, Beth, but even though Jill was super worried, I do believe our letters will make it to Grandma and Grandpa's house...let us know if you get our letter, 6 were sent out today.  The kids actually got to put them on the conveyor belt and watch the first stage of sorting.

I don't have pictures or cool videos of all our mail being sent off because you can't take pictures inside the processing center.  I guess I might end up with an incriminating photo of a letter from someone written to someone they shouldn't be writing to...I do appreciate that they are protecting our privacy.  But here's our group at the end of the tour:

**note the hats and coats and Devan sticking his new Post Office coloring book up his shirt...that is because it was POURING outside.  Yes, we Californians got a little taste of fall today :)  Jill asked to put on her rain jacket first thing this morning (she so rarely gets to wear it here in sunny So Cal :)  She still has her pj's on underneath!