Beach Vacation

You know it was a good vacation if you're ready to get back to work when it's over. Hello washing machine, my friend! Did you miss me? Are you ready to take on all the sand we brought home?

The first day was a bit chilly, windy, rainy...  But still, isn't this coastline gorgeous?

An adventurous little girl who shall not be named decided to enter the water up to her shoulders on that first cool day.  Yes, in her clothes.  On the way to an air-conditioned restaurant.  The waves were a little stronger than she anticipated, so wading turned into a full-body soaking.

The rest of the week warmed up nicely, and we had plenty of great beach and water time.  It's only fun if you're completely covered in sand, apparently.

I love this angle with the boat in the background. 

On Lake Michigan, you get the beautiful, soft sand without the undertow, jellyfish, sharks... 

And at this particular beach, there's a little stand that sells freshly-squeezed lemonade.  Perfect. 

There's Pada in the hat.  We had lovely calm water (after that first day).  My parents joined us for a few days, along with my sister-in-law and 2 sweet, little nephews. 

That's a snowman made out of sand.  Perhaps he's the sandman. 

I love the sunny sparkles on the waves and the sailboat in the distance.  This guy likes to charge at the waves, like surfing (sort of).

Cousin buddies.  It is so much fun to have this little dude and his big brother (who is only 2) around.  They're leaving for Hong Kong (their daddy's job is taking them there) in a couple months, so we're cherishing every moment we get with them. 

Near our rental house, the beach was a bit rocky, but very peaceful.  Mr. 6 y-o was undeterred by the rough terrain. 

Also on the private beach, we were able to see this snapper up close and personal. 

There he is again, heading up the beach to safer waters.  (See that green blob at the bottom? That's Mr. Snapping Turtle.)

Good times with family...

...and friends!  Our primary reason for traveling to this particular city was visiting our good friends from Pittsburgh, who were also on vacation.  Here we are picking blackberries.  I don't know what Miss Felic was up to in the foreground. 

Grandma and her haul of raspberries.  Yum.

Couldn't resist this photo-op. 

We made a little excursion to another nearby town for a shopping trip.  The baby in the stroller is turning one!!

Here's proof of his official first birthday.  He is such a sweet little guy.  And his mommy makes the coolest cakes. 

Something interesting must have washed ashore.  I like this shot because the lighthouse is visible in the background.  We chose the windiest day to walk the pier, and huge waves were crashing up and over the top.  Exciting, but not my smartest parenting move.  Fortunately, we all survived. 

What a great trip!!  Beautiful scenery is always enhanced by pleasant company. 

P.S. May I humbly request continued prayers for our friend Anna?  She begins chemotherapy on Monday.

A New Love

He's been asking about this for, I'd say, about 2 years. The timing finally seemed right.

After 2 classes, he is completely hooked.

We like the emphasis on discipline, self control, and respect.

He likes the yelling and kicking (and everything else about it, too.  Especially the uniform.)

This is somebody else's reaction.  Actually she was just trying to keep herself entertained by patting herself on the cheeks. 

Last night, as he was drifting off to sleep, I heard him whispering to himself, "Taekwondo...Taekwondo..." 

We're off on a week-long vacation tomorrow!!!  Can't wait.

{Please keep the prayers coming for our friend Anna.  Thank you!}

Please Pray

Please pray for a young lady named Anna. She and her family are good friends of ours. This week, a tumor was discovered on her femur, and she is having more tests today.

Thank you!!!

Monday Report

Our local ballet school/company is moving to a long-overdue, much-deserved new location, so I spent this afternoon with other parents, students, staff and friends of the ballet preparing for the transition (specifically, scraping 10-year-old gum off the inside of garbage cans - this was not glamorous work). After 50 years in the current location, the job of moving the organization is a big one. One of the tasks is cleaning out the costume shop by way of a rummage sale. Those of us working today got the first pick of well-used tutus. I came home to two very grateful little girls.

Aren't these pretty?

And when I got home, my kind husband had already prepared dinner, and we had our first outdoor meal in our new house!! We finally have a patio and a table on which to dine al fresca. What a pleasure.

Happy Monday!

Catching Up

It's been a busy few weeks, and I haven't been very good about posting pictures. So, please bear with me while I document some family memories.

First of all, I logged into my library account today, and it said, "user is delinquent."  I don't know what that means, but I'm pretty sure I've never been called that before.  Maybe that doesn't exactly count as a 'family memory.' 

More importantly, we visited Cincinnati for a big two-year-old birthday party!!! It was lots of fun, as you can see:

Here's the birthday boy!!!

Here's birthday boy's baby brother with 2 big cousins.  He looks a little nervous, me thinks.

Love this one of Grandma feeding that same sweet baby.

The next week, we had a nine-year-old birthday party for Ignace!  All he wanted to do was play baseball on a regular diamond.  So, we rounded up some amenable and loyal friends, and headed to the playing field.  Yes, it was almost unbearably hot, but still lots of fun. 

Here's an action shot (sort of).

... and another.

Some little sisters thought digging in baseline dirt should be part of the game.  Also, running bases in the correct order is optional.

Nine years old.  We'll have 2 of those in the house until Lucy's birthday in October.  Makes life interesting. 

Finally, here is this year's crop of 4H projects: a pretty apron (sewn herself with help from Grandma), a popcorn snack mix, a dinosaur diarama, and a painted rock.  Yes, Felicity officially entered the fair this year (but she was napping during the photography session).

She earned reserve grand champion in sewing and the fashion review.  Very exciting.

This was an entry in the foods division.  He made it himself.

A little hard to see, but there's a flying pterosaur and volcano in there.

I noticed that it may appear I'm describing my child as 'talented' on the label above with her project.  While I do believe she is just that, 'talented' is part of our 4H club name, the Talented Tigers. 

I'll conclude this lengthy post with team shots of the fierce players at Ignace's baseball game.  This was a serious competition, folks. 

The visiting opponents.

The Home team.

Two Days Down...

...178 to go, but who's counting? I don't really care how many days we formally put into 'school' as long as everybody's learning. However, Indiana's only requirement for homeschoolers is that they log at least 180 days. I can handle that.

So here we are, off again on our learning adventures. New school supplies are always fun.

These are the resources from which I'm gleaning ideas for our Dr. Seuss unit study. So far, it's a hit!!

A New School Year...

...is beginning today. 

I would not describe myself as totally prepared at this point, but the kids can start getting back into a groove anyway (me, too). 

This year, I'm trying a more relaxed approach.  We always end up in 'relaxed mode' anyway, so this time, we're just going to embrace it from the beginning. 

I truly believe the kids learn best when they have plenty of time to explore the world at their own paces, and I am more sane when we're less committed to a set curriculum.  A happy mommy is good for everyone. 

Lest anyone (particularly of a grandparently type) panic that I'm slacking off on the kids' educations, let me assure one and all that there will still be plenty of directed lessons in the 3 R's, science, history, art, etc.  We'll just also leave lots of room to get lost in tangeants as the kids' interests dictate. 

We're going to kick off the year with a unit study on Dr. Seuss.  Sounds fun, doesn't it?  I hope the smaller folks in this house agree. 

St. John the Baptist (patron of our little homeschool), pray for us!!!