New Toy!

 Here's Dan driving off towards home with it!

We've been wanting a new vehicle toy for some time and after the Christmas we had...we got it!! Yes, we drove all the way down to Laguna to pick it up and in hind sight we should have rented a trailer to bring it home, but it was SO worth it!

We decided on the Baja Bug because it is old enough not to need a smog check, runs on little gas, it's cheap, and well...it's just so cool looking! This one needs a little minor work, but we can use it as it is right now. The engine and transmission have had lots of work and it runs great. We had only one problem. It's not charging the battery as it runs, so when it got dark and the lights came on, it died on the freeway. Hmm...that's why they guy through in a set of jumper cables!

Dan was behind me on the freeway and in the left lane, no where near an exit when it died the first time. He got it on the shoulder and then called me. When I came back, the Highway Patrol was there giving the car a charge. That guy was super nice. We got it off at the next stop, but it died crossing the street and two people stopped to help Dan push it. I was praying he didn't have a heart attack pushing that thing! So we sat at a gas station charging it off our truck for a bit. Drove another piece and charged it again. Stopped at a Walmart that time and picked up a meter so Dan could see how much battery he had left. It's amazing how comforting a Walmart is to us. It was a huge nice one too. I was envious.

We stopped and charged up one more time before we got home. It was at the Whitewater rest stop we know and love. There was a pony asleep by the fence. I wanted to take a picture, but my phone doesn't work well at night. Dan called Mom from there so she would know we were almost home. He talked to Tom and told him about our plight. I'm sure he was working on fixing it in his mind.

The kids came running out when we got home. The boys are so excited! I think we will take it out to our favorite camping spot this weekend for a trial run. There are several spots we've been dying to get to but couldn't do it in our truck!

Christmas Is Over!

Oh man! It was, once again, the best Christmas ever!

Sword Play!

Where's Christmas?! I know! I'm getting caught up. Christmas will be discussed later!

The boys and I drove down to the OC for a class on how to make foam swords last week. Cool, huh? It was given through a school called "Celebration Education" that offers classes designed for homeschoolers by homeschoolers. Much fun was had by all! They made two swords and then had an all out war. I tried to take some pictures, but they were moving pretty fast.

After the "class", we stayed for our old park day and a Christmas Cookie Exchange. Then we headed to Great-Grandpa's house and took him out to dinner for his Birthday. That was my favorite part. I love my Grandpa and I love spending a little time with him and my boys. I didn't get a picture though! Grr...

Uncle Sam Magoo!

 I know! You probably haven't even thought of Mr. Magoo! This came up on my Netflix as a suggestion and the boys and I just finished watching it. Lately, I've been watching a documentary or biography on Netflix in the afternoon. It's a subversive attempt at getting the boys to watch something besides the Simpsons! Ha! Today I chose this instead. Mom's time on the TV! They were both sucked in and it was great. I love that they both know what parts of American History they are talking about before the show put a name to it. They knew all the historical characters and had comments about how accurate it was or not. The word "propaganda" came up, and we talked about using original sources if you really want to know what happened or what someone thought or did. There were also a few quotes at the end that have spurred us on to knowing more. They were from people I hadn't heard of or don't know much about.

Another great hour with my boys and now they ran off to play Halo at Grandma Anne's house. And I just saw one of the chickens chase a cottontail across the yard!! It's cold and wet out, but it didn't snow, so I'm sulking.

Finished St. Augustine Reading

This reading was only to Book IX, so I haven't finished the book. I'm following the reading plan written in "The Great Books" series.

This one took me awhile because of the language. It was bit harder to read, but once I got into it, it was amazing. I'm not reading to understand every paragraph fully. I'm reading right now just to get through the selection and glean what I can. The next time I read, I will get more. It is a great way to give yourself and education! I only read about an hour and a half a day, and slowly but surely the books open up their wisdom to me. I love it!

Rain!

The weather report says it will rain like crazy today. Oh, it better! There are clouds in the west, but no rain yet. Our big plans for driving down to Orange County for a foam sword making workshop and park day have been postponed to next week. Well, the class part has been postponed. I still have to drive down and pick up Nikki from her friends house. She spent the weekend there. The best laid plans...I guess.

Last night, the boys and I finished reading "Anne of Green Gables". You would think that they wouldn't enjoy a book as tame as that, but they loved it. Both of them want to read the next one right away. That book is just filled with awesome descriptions. I think that Tom especially loves the clever ways that Anne deals with her situations and feelings. He identifies with her over the top imagination. There are other books that I would like to read out loud, but I think the next Anne book is going to be first.

Oh Wow...that St. Augustine Again

You wouldn't think that a guy that wrote some 1600 years ago would have anything relevant to say to me, but wow! Here's the bit I found I had to share today:

"For a froward will was a lust made; and a lust served became a custom; and custom not resisted became necessity."

Everyone has desires and all of them are natural, not all of them serve us well. If we give into these "lusts"(and we're not talking just sexual here, people), we serve them and they become custom, normal, to us. How many feelings and desires do we give into that become a normal part of our lives and we feel that we must work around them because they have to be there? If your action does not serve you purpose in life you must give it up. Only things that make us better people and help us toward are goals as human beings should we keep in our lives.

Oh, the other thing was that he described giving up his carnal nature to serve God as waking up. It was glorious. Funny to hear someone so long ago describe something that we all feel today. You're all warm and comfortable and you want to wake up, in the back of your mind, but you don't want to make that final effort to jump up and get dressed. The transition from comfortable sleep to enjoyable waking is a pretty tough one. Much like the transition from inactivity to activity, from reading about a subject to acting on that subject. Crazy!

Karate Class & Christmas Trees!

Yep, the boys are still taking karate! There was a while there where they had to be encouraged to continue but now they are crazy about it. I never told them they had to go, just told them that from my experience I believed they needed to give it more time. Jake always wanted to go, but he didn't want to go if Tom gave up. Tom was growing weary of the other kids in the class. He thinks they should be more serious about learning and gets frustrated with them. We talked a lot about people and their styles. I also told him to have a bit of patience. Some of these kids don't really want to take karate, but have to because their parents think it's important. And all of them have been in school all day and are kind of burned out on focus by the end of the day. That seemed to help him and he's been getting along a lot better.

They want to get there a few minutes early on Tuesdays and Thursdays because theirs is the first class that day and they can practice together without younger kids running around crazy. When it's their turn to lead the class, they are so serious and full of authority. They watch all the kids as they do the basics and help them fix the things they are doing wrong. Jake is adorable with the younger kids. Yesterday they were sparring, but there were only the three little ones with them. Sensei took turns sparring with Tom and Jake and they took turns sparring with the little ones. It was so cute. They love sparring with their Sensei because he is bigger than them and can teach them a few things. I like watching them fight with the little ones because they let them get a few punches in and act like they get knocked down.

We got our Christmas tree at Home Depot this year. There were no little Christmas tree lots in town this year. It made me sad. The last time we bought a real tree at Home Depot in Anaheim, there was a place out in the parking lot and it gave the feel of a little tree lot, but this time they were in the back of the garden department. A guy came up and told us he would open any of them up for us, but we decided to play the lottery and pick one that was all wrapped up. We were there about 10 minutes and that includes looking for lights...which we didn't get because they were almost completely out. There were no pretty multi-colored ones! We brought that wrapped up tree home and Dan put it in the stand. It was perfect! Tom wondered how they get them all to grow perfectly triangular like that and I told him to look closely at the ends of the branches. They cheated!!

Yesterday, the boys put the lights on it, with much arguing about doing it wrong. Tom did the "Traditional Tree Skirt Dance" with much flair. And some of the ornaments are on. Maybe we will finish it today?

My new Kitchenaide Mixer came too! Dan got it for me for my birthday. I've been talking about it for years and he finally got it. Funny too. Saturday was my birthday and he took Nikki out to practice driving. They were gone for hours. When they got home, Dan said they drove all over town (two stores) looking for one. Wal-mart said they were out but had ONE on order. And Sears (which closes it's doors this week) said they would order one if we needed it. Ugg. So he came home and ordered me a bright red one with the BIG motor, so there! It's gorgeous. Like art on my counter top! I made cream cheese mints yesterday and we all made ourselves sick on them. Today, I'm going to make marshmallows and take them to park day!

What's wrong with this Segway?

Tom was just too much a Walmart yesterday! He had several things that he just HAD to get so we went on a SUNDAY! Actually, he deserved the trip. I asked the boys to get the Christmas decorations out of Grandma's shed and bring them up to the house and they did it...without a fight between them. Crazy huh? So there we were going through Walmart and Tom was the king of smart ass the whole way through. It was hilarious and reminded me of my brother. We stopped in the garden department to see how much trees were this year and he runs to the stack of dollies yelling "I've always wanted one of these!" He stands on it, leans forward, it goes no where. He tries to scoot if forward with momentum. It goes a couple inches. He does it several times. Another customer looks at him and he says "These segway things suck. I don't know what people see in them!" I just about fell over laughing. We then went to look at getting some new Christmas lights and proceeded to fake an arguement about whether or not we needed more lights. Tom being on the side that we had plenty. Me, I wanted more!! I'm fairly certain people thought we were insane.

Saturday was my birthday and my Dad and Step-Mom took us all out for lunch and to see a movie. We saw "The Muppets", which was awesome! I don't think I've laughed harder than that at a movie in a long time. It was hilarious!  I remember watching the TV shows at my Dad's house, eating spagetti! Good times!

We also stopped by the towns Craft Fair and I got some new soaps and cute Christmas Cookie earrings. Cuteness!

The Living Desert

The boys and I met Grandma and Grandpa B a The Living Desert yesterday morning. Every time I go there I remember how much I love coming. It's just a beautiful park and the people working there are very friendly. One guy recognized us this time!

Jake impressed one lady with his knowledge of bones. It was hilarious. They know the names of most of the bones in the human body because of karate. At one of the "discovery carts" they had a leopard leg and foot.

Grandma got them both a souvenir and we had a boat load of fun walking around the zoo. Next time we go, I'm going to spend more time just sitting and watching one animal. I always feel like we are rushing when we are there because there is so much to see, but I love watching the animals most. Jake said he could stand there and watch the giraffe all day.

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A Lesson from Anne of Green Gables

I think the boys learning something last night while we were reading Anne.

Marilla is shocked by Anne's behavior and the things she says. And sometimes it is right that she is. But in the back of her mind she thinks they are sweet, insightful, funny, or just. Her gut says they are funny, but her upbringing and society tell her it is wrong. She rebukes Anne for her behavior, but in the kindest way possible and Anne does her best to conform in her own way.

The boys said they knew someone like that, my Mom! They frequently say and do terrible things just to get a reaction from her and she, rightly, is appalled by their behavior. I think Tom realized that doing or saying it once is funny and childish, but it would be nice to attempt to reform when others are offended. They might take the offence more lightly if they knew you were trying your best to do better.

More St. Augustine!

I know! Twice in one day!

He had a friend, or really a student that he felt connected to, that he noticed following down a path that would lead to ruin. He wanted to spare his friend from some of the mistakes he made, but didn't know how. While teaching him one day, his friend heard the words and took them as a rebuke and learned much. St. Augustine did not intend to preach to him, but God spoke to his boy through him.

How many times have I had the same thing happen to me through messages, articles, and my Bible? I wasn't looking for a lesson or help, but they came to me at just the right time. A word of help that I didn't even know I needed. These are the times I know God is there helping me through life. I LOVE those moments!

STILL Reading St. Augustine's "Confessions"

I have a confession of my own this morning. I tend to gloss over this book while I'm reading, my mind wanders. There are great insights in this book, but I know I'm missing most of them because I just read right through and I have no idea what it said at times.

Here's an interesting bit I read today. "For I kept my heart from assenting to anything, fearing to fall headlong; but by hanging in suspense I was the worse killed. For I wished to be as assured of the things I saw not as I was that seven and three are ten." "But as it happens that one who has tried a bad physician fears to trust himself with a good one, so was it with the health of my soul, which could not be healed but by believing, and, lest it should believe falsehoods, refused to be cured; resisting Thy hands, Who has prepared the medicines of faith, and hast applied them to the diseases of the whole world."

He's talking hear about returning to his Mother's Catholic faith. He continues on about the things he feels he does know for certain without actually seeing; history mostly. He has faith in those who wrote the books and trusts what they say. Same goes with the Bible and what it says. I'm having hard time putting it into words. I have faith in God because of the works He has done in my life. I have faith in the Bible because God has not failed me in other respects. I understand that humans have interpreted what God said and did and wrote it down. I also understand that my English Bible has been rewritten and re-translated, so there probably is some loss there somewhere. But I believe, from my personal experience with God, that what is in there is useful and "inspired" by God. It has been left there for a reason. Just as I believe that God does not need my help in directing peoples lives, He does not need mans help in keeping His Word straight in a book.

And the reading continues....

I'm also reading Ron Paul's book, "50 Issues". Wowness! If you are ever interested in learning more about what being a Libertarian is all about...READ IT! It's awesome, concise, and really makes you re-think many of our governments policies.

Calico Ghost Town!

Yesterday, I got the boys out of bed before noon! Ha! Tom is my sleeper. I think he is making up for his lack of napping when he was little. Jake is usually up before 9am, but Tom, it could be any time between 9 and noon. I got them up early because I wanted to make a breakfast and I didn't want to make it twice. I know! I'm so selfish!

During breakfast, we decided we should do something fun together, so we decided to go to Calico! Yay! We haven't been out there in about five years and recently the boys had heard more about the Haunted Shack at Knott's and seen the video on YouTube of the Mystery Shack, so they've been wanting to go. Nikki at first said she was going to stay home, something about getting school work done, whatever! We made her feel bad and she came with us.

The first thing we did was go to the Mystery Shack and the Sheriff gave us a tour. Luckily, we were the only ones on the tour because all the kids gave him a hard time. We also checked out Maggie's Mine and the girl at the entrance showed us a magic trick guessing numbers. She said we looked like a family that has a lot of fun. She was right! We are! Then we went on the train, had some sarsaparilla at the Saloon, and did some shopping. We stopped at the woodworks shop and the lady there was really nice. She stood there and showed Tom through a couple of her wooden puzzles. She asked him the dreaded question, "What's your favorite subject in school?". I do my ultimate best not to jump in and talk for him when I hear these questions. I stand back and listen to see what he says. He went into the explanation that we homeschool and we don't do "subjects", we learn from life. Nikki jumped into help. She was impressed. I told her that we don't separate into subjects, so they aren't used to the question. But I told Tom that he explained very well. He's thinking of better answers all the time. I love it. We got a few puzzles for cousins' Christmas presents and one for ourselves. She gave the boys one to share with their Uncle on Thanksgiving.

We got a "Jaw Harp". Dan says it's a "Jews Harp". Tom was playing it on the way home in the truck. When we got home, Tom looked it up online and found some interesting stuff. It's an Asian instrument! The Turkish word for it sounds like "Jew" so that could be why people call it that. And Tom was thrilled because of course they would have an Asian instrument in the old west because the Chinese were there! Ahh, I love it when a plan comes together.

On the way home, we stopped in Barstow (ick) and had dinner at Popeye's (yay!). We used to eat there all the time when we lived in Anaheim, but there isn't one nearby us now. It was a serious treat. Man I love those biscuits!

It was such a great day. We were all beat when we got home. Tom wrote it all down in he journal. Jake had to get an hour of him computer game in before bed. And Nikki disappeared into her room.

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Anne of Green Gables

I finished "Anne of Green Gables" by LM Montgomery earlier this week for my Classic Moms class at Abigail Adams Academy. I didn't take notes while I was reading like I usually do, but I put arrows next to bits that I thought were thought provoking and kept that page turned down. Yesterday, I went through the book and wrote out my thoughts about those bits in the hopes that I will remember them better. I'm terrible about reading a book and then completely forgetting all the details.

I wasn't excited about reading this book when I saw it on the list, I have to admit. It looked like a girly, feel-good book that wouldn't give me much but warm fuzzies about it. It WAS that, but so much more. When I was a kid, I used to watch the TV show and I loved it. The TV did well capturing the characters as they are portrayed in the book, but I wonder if the lessons or morals in the book are in the show. I'd have to go back and watch it again.

It's hard to pick a favorite character, but I'd have to say mine is Marilla. An "old maid" turned adoptive mother of a highly imaginative little girl quite by accident, she changes throughout the book and I grew to love her so much. I can't imagine what kind of shock it would be for someone like her to raise this kind of a child that isn't even her own. She probably has ideas about how children are raised up proper but those change as your children grow and you have experiences of your own, not just ones you've heard or read about. Mrs. Lynde tells Marilla's brother, Matthew, just that. Raising kids isn't like mathematics. There is no formula to follow and it's constantly changing for each child and each family.

One of my favorite quotes from Anne is that she has grown but she hasn't changed really on the inside, "I'm only just pruned down and branched out.", she says. Jesus used this analogy as well and I've always loved it. If you let a tree or vine grow wild without pruning, it never bears good fruit. It may have it's good years, but you have to prune it (or train it) to get it to really show its colors.

Another one is toward the end when Anne's future has changed a bit. She used to see her future laid out before her straight and she could see all that was going to happen, but now things are different. Her future isn't ruined and she has no reason to break down and sink into inactive depression about it. Her future road now has "a bend in it" and she knows it's out there but she's unsure of what will happen. It makes life exciting for someone like her. When she was an orphan going from home to home, there was a bend there too, and around the bend was Green Gables and her wonderful adoptive parents. So what could be around the bend for her this time? I already know because I love the books so much, I've already read the next one! Ha!

I'm going to read this one to the boys because I know they will love her as much as I do!

Karate

Drove down to town for the boys' karate class and there was a sign on the window that he was home sick so there was no class tonight. Grrr. The boys were mad because he always tells us to call if we aren't coming to class.

It was weird too because of the time change. On Wednesday, class starts at 5:30PM. It was really dark and we felt like we were late. I love the gradual change of the seasons but the silly time change is so sudden, it makes me grumpy. Ha!

This Is Halloween!

I love Halloween! We left Monday morning at 10AM to head down the highway to Orange County. We just HAD to see our old friends and I'm glad we went because I met some new ones. Yay!

On the way there we stopped at Michael's for yarn (got a new sweater I need to start ASAP) and some candles for pumpkins. Then we stopped at Dorling's Fruit Stand for pumpkins...and candy. :)

The park was the best! Not many people were there at our old homeschool park day, but enough to make it fun. I met a new family that I just totally love! And I got chat with a few old friends while the boys wore themselves out and Nikki relaxed with some of her buddies. She had been down there all weekend making the rounds of her friends houses.

We went to Poppy's house next and carved pumpkins, ate pizza, and trick o treated. Fun stuff. The costumes were a big hit in the neighborhood. Nikki took a neighbor girl (friend of Poppy's) around for candy. She moved here from China last year! And my cousin and her family joined us and the kids got a boat load of candy. The kids loved answering the door at Poppy's just as much as trick o treating themselves. It was a race to the door every time the bell rang!

At 9PM we headed home and talked about the great day all the way home. I'm glad we went. It was totally worth it!

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so all I have if phone pictures this time. But they are still cute.

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Awesome Friday!

Boy did we have an awesome day yesterday! I didn't think we would have such a smooth ride for a Friday but it sure ended up well.

Chili (our little beagle mix dog) caught at rabbit in the back yard and quickly brought it in the house first thing in the morning. It was squealing and I told her to drop it and she did. It made a bee line for the sliding glass door which was closed and knocked itself senseless on the glass. I picked up away from the dogs and took it outside. The cat followed in the hopes that he could play with it too. It came around but was very still and had a bloody nose. I thought he might make it but then he kicked a couple times and went limp. Dead. So sad sweet little bunny. The dogs and the cat were adamant about playing with it, so I put it on the front porch until the boys brought the trash cans up from the road later. An hour later, when the boys went to get the trash cans, it was gone! I have no idea what became of it. If Chili got out of the back yard (which she often does) she would have played with it and brought it in the house. The cat is about as big as the rabbit, so he would not have been able to drag it very far and we would have seen it. It was definitely dead, so it did not wake up and run off. So the only thing I could think is that a coyote came up and got it but that would be one very brave coyote and I was in the kitchen most of the time and I think I would have seen a coyote walk up to the front porch. Weird. We think it is now and UNdead bunny and plotting revenge. Ahh!!!

Dan was supposed to drop off Nikki in town so she could go with her mother at 11AM. He ended up with drama at work and couldn't leave so I offered to take her. But then I remembered that it was park day and I promised to bring cookies (which I had even made yet). I put the cookies in the oven, washed the dishes while they baked, got my stuff for park day together and we were ready to go. And I didn't have an anxiety attack attempting it!

We got the mail on the way into town. I was hoping there was a slip for a box since I ordered some books last week and there was. Yay! Dropped off Nikki to her mother and went to the book store in town. Ever since we read "Carry on, Mr. Bowditch!" Tom has wanted to learn another language. I figured we'd go into town and see if the used book store had any foreign language dictionaries. It would be cool to have a few around the house in case we needed to look up words. We found the perfect Spanish one called "Look and Learn Spanish". It teaches you vocabulary and grammar at the same time with pictures and sentences. Tom spent an hour at the park learning several useful phrases. They didn't have any other languages with that book, but I found some online that I've added to my wishlist.

After the book store, we stopped at the post office for my box. I ordered "Anne of Green Gables" and "Pride and Prejudice" for my Classic Moms class. I also got a "Soma Cube" puzzle. I read about that in that John Holt book. At the park, we spent a lot of time trying to put it back together. One of the girls at the park built other things with it. It's a very cool toy.


Before




After



Park day was great. We stayed until 4:30! Park day is what saves homeschooling parents from insanity. I love my Friday because it is the time I get to sit and talk to my friends. The kids are starting to love park days again. They have made some friends and spend the whole day warring against each other with swords, or making up games to play on the swings. Yesterday Jake and Tom sat on the top of the playground and sang the whole Yellow Submarine album to the other kids.

We ran into some Mormon Missionaries on the way to the truck and that ended up in an awesome theology discussion on the way home. They were really nice guys.

When we got home, Dad agreed that the evening needed burgers so we went down for a batch of Tom's Place burgers, fries, and shakes to-go.

Ended the evening with the season premiere of "Gold Rush" and hit the hay. Good times!

Tom Woods Got Me Thinking

I didn't mean to, but I spent 45 minutes this morning listening to Tom Woods speak. I've read a few of his books and follow his Facebook page. I'm a big fan of his work, but I've never heard him speak before. He was talking to his local Libertarian group and even if you don't swing that way you should listen to this video. He spoke a bit about getting your voice out there an it really got me thinking about putting my thoughts together. Not to convince anyone that reads my blog of my views but to clarify my views for myself. He mentions having a YouTube channel. Even if no one watches what you put out there, you have spent the time putting ideas together and you've practiced speaking your views out loud. The same with a blog. I don't think Facebook status would count though. One or two lines about your feelings isn't going to get you anywhere. But sitting down with yourself, writing out your ideas, and attempting to present them to others has a great benefit to a person. This jibes with the Thomas Jefferson Education ideas that I've been rolling around in my head for years as well.

So the final thought here, since my son just came in looking for breakfast, is that you might be hearing more philosophy from me here but don't think I'm trying to convince you to think my way. I'm arranging thoughts in an "out loud" way so that they make more sense to me. I'd love to hear people's thoughts about what I'm writing though. I'm still learning debate and I love discussion!

Letterbox at Big Morongo

This shall be the late summer picture of this tree. We're going to go back in a couple weeks and take another picture. We went to a quick walk at the Big Morongo Canyon Preserve to look for the Letterbox we left there in the spring. Unfortunately, it has gone missing. We have to replace it. It was a nice walk though. There were clouds and it looked like it might rain and by the time we left it was! Tom cracks me up. He wants to come back another time so that he can sit still and wait for critters. We had fun stopping and waiting whenever he hear something rustle.

This sign was fun! Ever since we read "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch", we've been interested in languages and how they are different. We figured out most of these. It was fun to notice the languages that are really similar and really different.



We're Back!

That was a nice weekend! Old Dale is one of our favorite places and we've been going there for years. Dan used to go there with his Dad and brothers. This time we were out there for two nights. Highlights?

No one has found our Letterbox at our "monument" on the hill out there. It's been summer though, so that's pretty typical. No one hikes out there in the summer. We have a running conversation with one man that comes out there fairly regular. The last time he was there he said he was going to Afghanistan.

We found the Geocache that we stumbled across last spring. We left a bird whistle and some .22 bullets in it.

We played a lot of Mad Libs, which is always fun. It's actually pretty hard to think of completely random words, so many of our end up having desert, gun, and camping words in them.

The boys sat and listened to Dad read a book about the history of paper money for over an hour. Crazy.

We watched the stars move across the sky and talked about the moon.

We played with fire.

We had several skeet shooting competitions. Dad ultimately won with 4 hits in row. Tom held second place with three. I had two. I did start to get the hang of it though. Jake likes the shotgun now that he is getting a little bigger and able to hold it better. He's also starting to better thrower as well.

I got to play with the new Glock a bit and actually hit targets that I aimed at. It got much easier when I began to relax and be stressed about the sound, recoil, or dropping it. Practice makes for a relaxed shooter, for sure. I can load it and shoot it without worrying too much about doing something wrong.

Jake thought of a funny joke. "If a duckling is a baby duck, what is a dumpling?" We will giggle about that whenever we hear those words again!

Tom continues to be an amazing shot. I'm always in awe about how confident he is about the guns and how to use them. Next to Dad, he is the most knowledgeable and ready to help when Jake and I have a problem.

Nikki didn't go with us this time because shooting is death by boredom to her, so she chose to stay home and hang out with Grandma. They did some practice driving while we were gone.

It was a much needed weekend together and I always love being out there, but now I REALLY want to go on a long trip in the RV!

Good Morning Old Dale!

This has to be our most favorite camping spot in the world. Man I love mornings here!

Boondocker Coffee Pot

First use of the drip coffee maker!

We love this thing! It isn't a percolator, it's drip coffee without electricity. Heat up the water, pour it in the top, drips through the grounds and viola! Grandma and Grandpa B brought it to us and little did they know how wonderful it would be for us. Good coffee while camping, just can't be beat!

Two Books Finished

Last night, I finished reading "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham to the boys. I read it for my Classics Mom class and thought I just had to read it to the boys. It's such a great story. They loved it! What I like about the book is that it describes and explains a lot of sailing terms, not so much that it's annoying and can't enjoy the story, but enough so you understand what's happening even if you don't know that much about boats. It also mentions historical dates and events in enough detail to think "Oh! That's when this story is!". I love that the boys have to run out to the dining room table and find all the places that Mr. Bowditch sailed to and figure out how long it took them to get there and back. Tom was fascinated that the guy could learn languages with a dictionary of the language and a Bible. I'm thinking we may need a few Foreign Language to English dictionaries around this house.

The book I finished yesterday was "How Children Learn" by John Holt. I've read a couple of his other books and just love them. I was excited to have this on my reading list for my Classic Mom class too. This is what I got out of this book.

Trust and Love are key elements in raising children. I don't say "educating children" even though his books are an attempt to change the education system we have. The last chapter in this one gives me the sense that he felt he failed that attempt and in some cases made it worse in that people took his ideas and applied them in ways that he never dreamed possible, without the trust and love.

We need to trust, have faith, that children are naturally curious about the world around them. They do see what the world is doing and attempt to do the same. They will correct mistakes when they see them and they will find those mistakes on their own, in their own time.

We need to love them for what they are and what they are trying to become, not what we believe they should or could be.

I would HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone, whether you are a parent or not, homeschooling or not. It's just a wonderfully inspiring book that will make you look at all children in a way that makes them much more fun.

Here's my favorite part at the end.

"All that energy and foolishness, all that curiosity, questions, talk, all those fierce passions, inconsolable sorrows, immoderate joys, seem to many a nuisance to be endured, if not a disease to be cured. To me they are a national asset, a treasure beyond price, more necessary to our health and our very survival than any oil or uranium or - name what you will." John Holt - "How Children Learn"

Picnic!

We drove to Whitewater Preserve for a picnic with Grandpa and Grandma B this afternoon. It was a perfect day for it too. We walked up the trails a bit and played in the river. It was hot enough to enjoy being wet but not too hot to hike. I love that place! We planted a new Letterbox there. Go check it out. It's at http://www.atlasquest.com/!

A Gorgeous Morning!

Had to share the greatness of such a beautiful morning! My chickens are ready for breakfast!

Birthday Party!

I'm not sure why, but this picture of my precious son made me tear up. Maybe because he looks so big or the smile he has on his face. It's typical Tom, though, and it was just magical that I captured it by accident. He's surrounded by his family and that means so much to him. The day after the party he was "sad" (a usual evening occurrence at our house) because he "didn't know our family". He likes hearing stories about other aunts and uncles and the crazy things that happened to us as kids. He said he loves parties because he gets to see his extended family but he doesn't get to spend time with them and really know them because we don't have them often enough. It must be hard living with all that brain! :)

Tom shared his birthday party with his cousins Carson and TJ this year. It was a blast, seriously! Between all the kids and crazy family, we had the quad and the go-kart going all over the property. It was a perfect day weather-wise, not to hot, not to cold. The whole family seemed to be enjoying each other. I got to spend some quiet time with my cousin and her family, which was very special. And I love being able to see many of my friends and family getting to know each other. There were several family members missing (you know who you are) and they were sorely missed and should make more effort to join us.

Tom is realizing that little kids get a lot more toys than big kids but that's ok because he got money. He's saving up for a dirt bike. His favorite uncle got him a replica Russian "Potato Masher"! That, and several new orange shirts made him very happy. Cousin Mike pinned them in Grandma's house after dark and there was much screaming and running back to the house under airsoft gunfire. Our chickens and their eggs were a big hit with the little ones. Grandma and Grandpa B brought Trick or Treats and glow sticks which were much needed that evening. And my Mom got to spend the night in our "guest house", otherwise known as the RV. We stayed up late at the campfire in the back yard watching the stars until the nearly full moon came out and chased them away.

It was a great day!

Who Do I Want to Become

I'm writing this for my Classic Moms class at Abigail Adams Academy and it's a tough one.


I made the mistake of reading other people's papers before writing mine. They are all so good. Insightful is the word I'm thinking of, and inspiring. Coincidentally, that is what I hope to become! I already know who I am and that that person will evolve and grow as I get older, hopefully in a positive way. But my hope, and what I'm working towards with this class and my other studies, is that I will become more insightful in my life and inspiring to others that know me.

But just now I thought, “Who am I right now?”

Michelle Ann Huelle and that name stands for a unique person that is a combination of “what's”.

To others I am a daughter, grand-daughter, cousin, aunt, mom, wife, and a multitude of other family names. I've been an employee and a boss.

I'm a woman, an American, and a Californian. I'm a person who tries to know more about the world around herself.

In the past, I've been a student, painter, stage-hand, lighting designer, set-designer, college student, laser technician, sales clerk, electronics technician, sound board operator, and scheduler. I've also been a girlfriend, and EX, and someones love interest. I've been someones little girl and the love of someones life.

My life is centered on being wife and mother right now, with the added excitement of autodidact at this time. I'm the house cleaner, cook, and therapist. I'm the one who kisses bruises and holds hands with sick kids. I'm a teacher and helper to my kids. I'm the friend and lover of my husband.

What do I want to become? A mentor, a mother-in-law, and some day a grandma. I want to become a scholar. I want to be joyful in everything I do and I want to be someone that people can see the love of God in.
 
And, by the way, the Cactus Wrens are very busy collecting nesting material outside my window. It's very distracting when I'm trying to be creative. :))

Started St. Augustine's Confessions

This is the next reading in "The Great Books" series and it's pretty hard reading for me, a lot of thee's and thou's. But I'm reading slowly and getting what I can.

The first part really spoke to my heart yesterday. "For who can call on Thee, not knowing Thee?" There was more that spoke to this but he says anyone can call of God because we are a part of Him and our soul reaches out for Him without ever hearing of Him from human mouths.

"Thou lovest, without passion; art jealous, without anxiety..." He goes on and on with this. God asks for our love but does not need it. God is everywhere and can tell the world about Himself, He does not need humans but wants us. Why do we, as a people, continue to make fake false gods and religions? Or try to put Him into a form He is not? No one thing can hold Him. He is so much more than one book, people, or church.

The part I read today was fun. He talks about when he was an infant, but he says really he is describing other infants that he has seen, since he can't remember his own infancy.

Socratic Questioning

You know something that really bugs me? When I find out that I have more to learn. Sounds funny doesn't it? But my list gets longer and longer every day and I start to think I'm going to lose my mind. I wish I had started this learning stuff earlier in my life!

This is what I found today, Socratic Questioning.
http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/the-role-of-socratic-questioning-in-thinking-teaching-learning/522
The idea that questions fuel learning, not answers. Answers are the end of learning. Our modern classrooms are full of the answers in the form of textbooks that outline what the questions and answers are for us. The thing that came to my mind while reading the article is my resent delve into studying the Torah and what it means to Christians. I've been a bit disappointed that the book is only leading me to more questions and now I'm busy trying to find those answers. That is the conditioning I've received from our modern education system and I'm only now starting to ask the questions that might lead me to a greater understanding of our world. The conditioning is that a teacher asks the questions and the student reads a textbook and regurgitates the answers that were given, not the questions that have arisen from the reading and the discussion that follows between people that are on a similar quest for knowledge.

So here I am again having to think! :)

Sprint Car Races!

When we went to the Demolition Derby a few weeks ago, one of the bigger races was cancelled so they gave us free tickets to the next race. That's the one we went to last night. Here they are are gettting ready to start.
The race was awesome! I'm amazed at how fast those little cars go around the dirt track. Tom and I love the races. We could sit there all night! The rest of the family likes going but could probably take it or leave it. I like the dirt they throw up into the stands on the corners and they way they go sideways around the curve and blast off into the straights. I have to admit though, I like the demo derby better. More crashes!! :)

This is what I found the boys doing during one of the races. I had to record them doing it since Jake was making one his famous cutesy faces. I'm sure some day I will be able to blackmail them both with this!

Fighting for Principles

While reading "The Life of George Washington" by Washington Irving, I came across an interesting point. Washington was defending his stance on the current tax on tea. Before the colonies declared independence, their argument was not that the taxes were too high or "burdensome", but that they were wrong. It was the principle they were fighting about. And they were willing to stop all trade, risk being killed, even war to stand on principle. How many times today have we heard one side, Democrat or Republican, go on about how horrible it is that the other side is holding up legislation due to ideology or principle? We hear that people aren't going to get their welfare checks if we don't set aside our principles and come to a compromise. That would be fine when both sides have similar principles but need to compromise on details. Amazing that our forefathers, our founders, could see that a principle is something you fight/die for not compromise on. The taxes that the King of England continued to impose were only a few cents but both sides were willing to go to battle over the thing. The King was willing to fight to the death for the idea that he was absolute ruler and could do as he saw fit. And the Colonies were willing to die for the idea that man must be governed with consent. Neither could compromise their principles and should not have unless they decided to agree with the other sides point of view.

Today, are we willing to fight, die, or even lose friends for the ideals that we hold dear?

Tovaas Day at Disneyland

Yes! We spent the weekend at the Happiest Place on Earth with my Dad, Step-Mom, and Brother and his family. And it was a blast! I can't remember the last time I had that much fun at Disneyland. It might have helped that we haven't been in over a year and we were used to going every week. And staying at the Grand California Hotel may have had  something to do with it. But I think that it was mostly because we spent the time together with our family and we are one fun bunch!

The Grand Californian was beautiful. We've walked through it many times on the way home from California Adventure when we lived across the street, but we've never stayed there. The only complaint I had was the 1gpm shower heads. Sheesh! The hotel room had bunk beds for the kids and they loved them and they left chocolate coins for us when they turned down the beds.

We arrived Friday night and had dinner at Tortilla Joe's with the whole family. Nikki and the boys walked around Downtown Disney and met us back at the hotel for a swim. The pool has big water slides! Carson was getting tired and laying a lounge chair, so I put a towel on him and tucked him in. We had to do that several times. :))

As guests of the hotel, we got to get into the park an hour before it officially opened. I've been there as a cast member a million times for Magic Mornings, but never as a guest! We got on the Monorail at 7AM and headed straight for the new Star Tours (which was awesome). We went on Space Mountain next. It was decorated for Halloween with projections of some scary monster thing. We weren't impressed except for the very beginning of it and a part before a drop that looked good. Then we had breakfast with Minnie and Friends at Plaza Inn (another first for us) and Chip kept trying to steal everyone's chocolate milk. We had fun harassing characters.

The rest of the day was filled with lots of rides, snacks, and walking...lots of walking. I'm still recovering from all the walking! We would split up, get together, go on a ride, get a snack, split up again. It was great. It never got hot cause it was pretty cloudy all day. And we got trapped in a huge crowd before the fireworks. There was something going on in Tomorrowland that involved the fire department. That kinda scared us. Nikki and I had cream cheese filled pretzels and now we're having withdrawls from the deliciousness. We got to see Fantasmic. And then we went around and went on all the dark rides in Fantasyland just before the park closed at Midnight. 17 Hours! I can't believe we made it! A little balking from Jake at around 10PM, but some coke and a pretzel cured that. Tom started the crying about missing Disneyland already after Fantasmic, but he's ok now. I didn't have to carry anyone out of the park.

We staggered back to our hotel room and fell into bed at 1AM. The next morning we were up at 7am and out in the lobby saying our goodbye's at 9. I hope we can do it again sometime. It was the best weekend ever!

Cold?

It was dark this morning when I got up and not because the sun hadn't come up. There were big black clouds. Lightning and thunder and then rain. Rain! And it was cool outside. It stayed that way all day. In the afternoon, it started to let some sun through but then it clouded up again. We have the windows closed and the fans off for the first time in months. I'm sure it will warm up again over September but it is weird that Fall hit us so suddenly.

The boys and I watched "Cheaper By the Dozen", the one with Steve Martin. They were shocked. We just read the book a month or so ago and they loved it. I couldn't read the last chapter without choking up every other sentence. The movie was only the same by the fact that they had twelve kids. That's all. Not even the names were the same. Tom thought the kids were brats and that they should appreciate how hard their Dad was working to give them a bigger house and new clothes (in the movie), which made his Dad smile. The movie was funny, don't get me wrong, but it didn't have the moral message or bright outlook on life that the book had.

I'm reading "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch". I just got it in the mail this afternoon and I have a discussion online about it on Thursday afternoon, so I'm zooming through it. It is a wonderful book. I'm so going to read it to the boys when we are done with "Tom Sawyer". They will love it.

It Ended Up a Great Day

My headache wasn't as bad this morning but was still there. It still is while I write this but I haven't had any ibuprofen since this morning and it's just a fuzzy pain. Hopefully, tomorrow it will be completely gone.

I woke up this morning to a light rain. I was laying there hoping to sleep longer but couldn't get back to sleep. When I came into the livingroom, I realized that it WAS late. The clouds were covering the morning sun and it looked dark out. I sat on the porch and listened to the rain for a bit while my coffee brewed. There is nothing like rain in the desert. The smell is just amazing and you can hear the rainfall approaching. It pitters from far away and moves across the desert. It sounds like the earth is breathing a sigh of relief.

Jake got up, got dressed, and went to Grandma's house to play XBOX 360. That's where the day went downhill. Grandma lives next door and got an XBOX 360 on Saturday. She also got them Halo 3, which they have been wanting forever. So now Grandma's house has way better toys than home and Mom's jealous of the time spent over there. I feel like I'm just here to cook and clean and hand out chores. I can't explain it really. All I can say is that I hate it. Tom got up while I was in the shower and left before I even got to say good morning. If they are over there all day long, how am I supposed to lure them into doing something besides playing that damn game? How am I supposed to model the behavior I want to see in them, if they are never home? Ugg... I guess it will pass after awhile, but it doesn't look good right now. I didn't want the new game system. We already have three at our house. It's a perpetual time and money sucker and it makes me crazy.

Dan had today off and he wanted to do something fun so we took the kids to the Palm Springs Air Museum. The boys love World War II stuff and they loved showing the place to Dad. Afterwards, we went out to dinner at Islands! Yay! And we stopped at Michael's to get some yarn for my next project. It was a perfect afternoon.

When we got home, it was still raining and 74 degrees has never felt so good! The boys ran to Grandma's...grrr...and there was an awesome double rainbow. It was so amazingly bright!

And here's a bonus picture of Tom coming in a the quad in a cloud of dust yesterday!



The Stars!

Last night, I couldn't sleep. I've had a migraine since Friday afternoon and spent most of Saturday sleeping. Of course, when night came, I could sleep no more and couldn't even read since it hurt my eyes. So I lay there, dozing off now and again. I heard the cat meow outside the window and went to let him inside. He didn't run right in the door so I stepped outside to see if he was on the roof again. I looked up. I stopped in my tracks in awe. It was about 4am. I had never seen so many stars over my roof. We have star gazed in the evening before bed, but this was something else. Amazing. It was like the usual groups of stars you can see in the desert but then someone dusted the whole sky with tiny pricks of light. It was absolutely beautiful. At that moment, I thanked God for the experience, picked up the cat, and went inside. I'm still in awe of it so many hours of daylight later.

A Discovery!

Last night, Tom came running in with a novelty pen that we had gotten at Yellowstone National Park a few years ago. It has a couple glass bulbs at the end filled with blue liquid. When you hold one bulb between you fingers the liquid boils up into the other bulb. Dan explained what was happening and how it worked to them when we bought it but they just looked at him dazed. Last night though, Tom came running in with it exclaiming with excitement that he figured it out. The glass bulbs are a vacuum and water boils at a super low temperature in a vacuum so all it takes in the heat from your fingers to make it boil. It's glass because it has to hold the pressure of the world out and plastic probably wouldn't be able to do that. He had always been irritated that it was glass and breakable. Now, where did he learn that?! Last week, I got an awesome book called "Physics for Entertainment". It's a book of short and entertaining stories explaining physics concepts. It isn't a book you would study, just an interesting book to have laying around to peruse when you have a few minutes to kill. I was doing that one afternoon and was laughing at one of the stories and told it to the boys. The information had been rolling around in their heads for days and when and example came up in real life, they put the story with the example and VIOLA! They had learned something.

Crazy isn't it?! See, this "unschooling" thing can be a lot harder than people think. We have a lot of learning to do so that reading, writing, and discussing is something that is natural in our home. They learn about the world around them because we are all actively in it on a twenty-four hour basis. We are reading, watching, experiencing all the time. And we actually talk to each other. I think that is the biggest key. So many families I see around town just aren't talking to their kids. When we are out, I actually take down notes of things to look up and understand more fully later in front of my kids. And now they are doing it too. I don't make them take notes. I model the behavior I think I want them emulate. We can't know the answers to everything, but we can attempt to get more information. So when we are out and about, the zoo, the museum, the grocery store, out to dinner with a tv on in the corner, if there is something we don't understand, we ask questions. And if the questions can't be answered, we make a note to look it up on the internet later or ask someone about it. An example, we were watching an old movie that took place on an aircraft carrier. In the background, there were people on the deck with different colored shirts. We were curious what that was all about. Uncle John was in the Navy, maybe he knows. The next time we see him, it's the first thing the boys ask about, which launches into an discussion about life on an aircraft carrier from someone who has been there. Pretty cool. Those stories were later translated and asked about of a retired Navy guy at the Air Museum in Palm Springs who was in World War II. They guy was impressed about how much they understood and the questions they had for him, especially since they stood there and talked for over an hour.

Anyway, had to write about the process around here. I know many of my family members are concerned about how we learn since we don't do school. Bottom line, it's simple but I lot harder to achieve than just reading through textbooks and filling in multiple choice tests.

Oh my goodness!

I love it when I'm reading about one thing and it applies to other things. Just now, I was reading "A Year Through the Torah" by John J. Parsons and I read this, "Most of us, I'm afraid, don't want to be free. It's so much easier for us to regard ourselves as pleasing to God on the basis of some litany of rules that we are following." Wow! Ain't that the truth?! Here, he's referring to the reason so many people throughout time have added "religion" to the scriptures and relied on following those man-made rules instead of their own hearts and faith in God. That's mind-blowing in and of itself, but I think that's the same reason people refuse freedom in the secular world as well. Think of homeschooling. Taking responsibility for your own children is a huge task with many life long consequences. I can't blame anyone but myself for how my children turn out. Oh, wait, I could blame them though. :)) Since they ultimately have the freedom to make their own choices, their lives are their own. They have no one to blame but themselves as well. Now, that's a hard pill to swallow. We have chosen freedom. We have chosen to live our lives by God's Will, not our own. I pray daily that the right information will cross my path, that God will provide for us throughout our lives in every way, and the things (or information) that we don't get are apparently not needed in God's eyes.

And this goes for government as well. The small government that people like me promote, is too small to take care of your every need. You must provide for yourself, which means that you may fail. There is no one but you to blame when things go wrong. It means that we, as a people, must educate ourselves about the world and our history. It means that we are responsible and it's a boat load of work and not always safe. Ahh...I'm having a hard time putting this into word coherently. Writing is not my strong point. But I've got the basic idea down "on paper" and I'll write more about it later. Back to the book, but first more coffee!

No Jury Duty!

I never get Jury Duty. :(  I get a letter every year. I call in the night before and they don't need me. Strange that I want to go and never get the chance. It happened again tonight.

No rain today. The black clouds with lighting come in and thunder by but go a couple miles north of us and we sit and swelter in the sun. My friends house hot a boatload of rain yesterday. She got hail and a rushing river for a road and she only lives 10 minutes north of us!

Speaking of that friend, Tom and Jake spent the night over there last night for their friends birthday party. It's the first time they've spent the night at someone elses house besides Grandma. Jake was excited to go but Tom was a bit nervous. I left him my cell phone though and told him to call if he wanted to come home but he didn't. When we picked them up this morning they were out on the quad and go-cart with their friend's Dad. They said they had the best breakfast feast ever and stayed up until 12:30AM! Both were happy they had stayed and want their friend to stay at their house for Tom's birthday.

Let's see...not much else. Oh! There was a big Tarantula on the window in the living room last night! Dan had the light on near a window and there were lots of bugs flying around. I think he was waiting for one to come closer. There was a small scorpion too. Ick! We stood there watching them for a long time to see if we could watch them eat something but I guess they didn't want to have an audience.

Last week the boys were debating whether or not they would continue with karate classes next month. Jake wants to. He likes the class even though it is hot in there. He wants to get yellow belt. Tom doesn't exactly like the class. He doesn't communicate well with the teacher and says that he just doesn't like people. This has come up before quite a few times. Tom doesn't like to do things in groups, large or small. Communicating with other kids can be hard for him and when adults don't take him seriously he get offended. It's hard to explain. He is one of those kids who is smart, knows it, and is eager to show others how smart he is. He comes off as a bit of an ass. He's young. Jake, on the other hand, tends to be low key around others. He's not a show off and listens more than he talks. He would rather be around much younger kids who idolize him. Tom would rather be around older kids. Anyway, the point is that we were talking about continuing the class and it's a "no brainer" for Jake. Tom has decided that putting up with people is just what he will have to do to get the prize (attaining yellow belt) he wants. It's fun talking about options with them and watching them grow and mature. If karate just wasn't their thing and they had no interest in moving up, they'd quit. It is hard to get up and go out every evening for class. It's hot and the lure of one more game or quad ride is pretty strong, but they make that decision for themselves. I think it's good for them to get the hour of exercise and put up with the learning speed of others for a bit every day, especially since they want to move up in rank. But I would like to save the cost of the class, too. So either way they choose is fine with me. I'm just proud that they get the chance to think these things through and make these simpler decisions in preparation for the bigger ones in the future.

The Great California Shake Out!

The big one is coming!! No really, it is! The boys and I went to the High Desert Nature Center today and listened to a woman from the San Bernardino Museum tell us about earthquakes, preparedness, and the Shake Out. She really loves geology! I wish the lecture were less about the Shake Out and more about earthquakes but she made it pretty exciting. There was a lot of stuff we already knew, but some things I hadn't thought about.

One of which is how a large earthquake could effect the whole coast. There was quite a bit of research put into what could realistically happen. These are just educated guesses as to what might have happened in the past and what could happen in the future. That's my only problem with these geologists. What they are pointing out and showing us is mostly just a guess and they present it as if what they see is like a recording of what actually happened. They are looking at clues from thousands of years ago and then telling the story as if there could be no mistake or misunderstanding. I just feel it cheapens the research and wish they would give several different scenarios that may have happened instead of just one history. But the geology is fascinating and her enthusiasm about the subject was infectious. The best was that it was a lecture for adults, not geared toward children, so she didn't dumb it down. The boys were very interested for the first 45 minutes but started to lose it toward the end. Tom had some questions about earthquakes at the end and it was fun to watch him asking.

The other thing that made me think was our emergency preparedness. We've been working on this and have basic supplies ready at home. We have the camper stocked, a "bug-out box" in the truck, and food, water, and medicine around the house. I think telling people that we have emergency supplies in case there is an earthquake would be a great way to get people thinking about preparing their own homes. People just don't think about that kind of thing and they should. There are threats other than earthquakes, but out here they are pretty likely and a larger one could stop our water supply or shut off our electricity for days. In the desert, that could be life threatening. We've done a lot of the little things. When a soda bottle or juice container is empty, I wash it out, fill it with water, and write a date on it. Every months I water the plants with the ones that are six months old and refill them. I also buy two or three more than I need when I'm at the grocery store of things that won't spoil, spam, soup, chili, pasta, etc. Just a little at a time and it doesn't cost much. Besides, it's stuff we use all the time so it doesn't just sit there and spoil. And I've got things like fire extinguishers, propane lamps, gas, etc. in the garage if we need them. All of this will make life easier for us all if something happens to knock out water, electricity, or transportation for awhile and it doesn't cost a lot or go to waste.

Here are some links to what we did today and how you can begin to be prepared at your house.
The Great Shake Out

The Survival Mom

Food Storage Made Easy

A Hot One

It was 108 degrees on my front porch this morning...in the shade. Yuck! I can't complain though. It's been a pretty nice summer so far. I guess we will have to put up with a little extreme heat. It figures though that the motor went out on the swamp cooler yesterday. Dan fixed it though and it's running fine now.

My happy thought for the day is that I love it when my boys drop what they are doing and come running when I ask for help with housework. They may not have a list of things to do every day or do anything on their own really, but if I ask for a hand they are always cheerful with the help they give. Gotta love 'em.

The boys went to the movies with Grandma Ann today to see the new Planet of the Apes. They said it was awesome, except for the previews. There was a preview for Paranormal 3. They said it was a preview that you have to close your eyes, plug your ears, and sing a happy song over. While they were gone, I played Crash on the Wii! I was sitting there zooming through levels and noticed a bunny hop by outside the window. When I looked to see where he was going I noticed three more under the bushes. We have the water run off from the swamp coolers down there and they were all laying around in the wet sand. I watched them stretch up high to get some green and pull it down. They scratched a bit in the sand to uncover the cool and then stretch out on their bellies. It was adorable!

I went out to water my garden today and found a dead snake there. He got in there somehow and I guess he couldn't get out and died of the heat during the day. Poor guy. He had a black head and a long pink tail. Just little. I guess I'll check the garden in the AM as well as the evening so it doesn't happen again. I hate it when animals die because of my garden. I don't mind the boys killing squirrels but a snake getting stuck bothers me. Even if he was so dumb he couldn't get out. Survival of the fittest, I guess.

Computer Time

Tom and Jake have been working on making movies with Xtra Normal all day. Jake made one that was a conversation between Lincoln and Washington. It is pretty darn funny.

idk just check it out
by: monkeyhead03

Tom's hasn't been published yet. He's still working on it.

Tom had Nikki make him a "Math Quiz" this morning and he spent a good amount of time solving the ten problems she gave him. I think he likes the challenge!

Ice Cream

We made ice cream today! Real kind! Dan got us an ice cream machine at "The Mart of Wal" because it was on clearance. $20! Sweet! So now our freezer is stocked up with the best ice cream ever.

We were reading a bit of a book called "Mathemeticians Are People, Too" today. We read about LeGrange, which led us to the metric system, which led us to dividing and mulitplying by 10's and 100's, which led us to fractions. The white board got a lot of use today. Did you know that a "meter" is one ten millionth of the length from the north pole to the equator? That's just nuts!

The boys are talking about not doing karate next month. They are just not big fans of the sport and don't feel that it is worth the money. Tom really wants to play football. Jake says he always gets hurt when he plays football so he doesn't like that idea.

Mad Libs still rocks, by the way. We've been doing Star Wars and Indy Jones ones for the past few days. Hilarious! And I have to keep going back to the instructions because I can't remember what an adverb is.

It wasn't my imagination!

Last night I thought I heard the bass of someone's party nearby. It reminded me of Anaheim and I thought we were done with that. Grr... I finally fell asleep but it took a long time. Then today, I'm folding laundry, and I hear it again. I turn the fan off to hear it better to find out what the noise is and it stops. It's the swamp cooler on the roof! I told Dan about it and he and the boys went up on the roof to check it out. Sure enough, the belt is loose and there is a nut missing. Ha! It wasn't my imagination or a wild party AND it's fixable! Yay!

The earth has tilted enough back towards winter that the sun does not blind me though the window in the evening. I love how much I notice the changing of the seasons here. I told Dan that I want one of those bad-ass weather stations for my birthday. You know, the one that has the wind speed, rain gauge, maybe even hooks up to the computer to keep track of things. It would be so cool!

Oh! They came in. The swamp cooler is fixed! Coolness...literally. :))

Giving up a Book

We started reading "The Green Hill of Nendrum" by J.S. Andrews a few weeks ago. The cover drew us in and the description seemed promising, but reading it out loud became tedious. We got about 40 pages into it and finally gave up. I'm not sure why we weren't liking it exactly. Maybe because we couldn't relate to the story of a sea-faring boy from Ireland. But we couldn't see slogging through a book that just wasn't catching us. We've moved on to "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NHIM". I love that movie!

The boys went out to Old Dale to shoot the new gun with Dan this morning, even in this heat. We watched "Apocolapse Now". Bad idea, now I'm bummered. And now they are taking turns riding the quad around the driveway. Too hot for me though!

I'm inside writing this and then I'm going back to my knitting. I bought all of the yarn in the color I needed from Wal-mart a couple weeks ago and started a project. I knew I would need more but it wasn't any special yarn, so I figured they would get more soon. It's been two weeks and the spot is still empty. I should have known. The store out here is notorious for empty shelves. Grr...

Yo Yo Tom

Here is an awesome video of Tom and his yo-yo tricks. Jake is in the foreground because Tom is pretending that I'm taking Jake's picture so that he doesn't feel watched. That is when he messes up...more. Too bad I don't have a head cam because before I got the camera Tom says, "I can do round the world with my eyes closed!" then throws the yo-yo out and around and into his head and fell dead. That would have been an America's Funniest Video winner for sure!

My Tetrahedron Kite

Like it?!

Got a New Book!

Or really, a few good books. Who can get just one?! They arrived in the mail yesterday. I ordered "Physics for Entertainment" by Yakov Perelman and I'm loving it. Lots of cool stuff explained in a fun way. Yesterday he explained why you can't just drop a brick from a plane with a note on it and have it land on your friends house. The boys quickly told me that's why they have these cool sights on bombers. And there was another one about jumping up and the earth rotating under you. It won't work that way! Something about you cannot change the laws of physics man! :)) The boys swear that the train does move under you and you land in another place because they've tried it but I say they didn't jump straight up but rather back or forward a little.

The other books were more "Fudge" books, the ones by Judy Blume. Tom and Jake love those and they didn't have two of them at the bookstore the last time we were there. It's funny to watch them read those and joke about them together. I remember them from when I was a kid.

Today I built a Tetrahedron kite. I showed the boys what I was doing. They were interested in the shapes but not so much with the tying and glueing. It was a bit time consuming and fine motor skilled for them. But they were interested in trying to fly it. It wouldn't go up though. Maybe some fine tuning by Dad and some stronger wind will get it going later. We shall see. I got the directions here - http://gw011.k12.sd.us/buildingkite.htm

Let's see, what else. Grocery store. Laundry. Cleaned the bathroom. What Dan likes to call my "regular chores". It makes me happy when the boys see laundry folded on my bed and they put it away.

It's hot. I'm tired of hot. Summer is boring. Can't wait for it to cool off and we can go out to park days again and enjoy people's company for a change!

Big Day!

It was huge! There are few instances when our family finds getting up at the crack of dawn a good idea, but this was one of them. The boys flew with the Young Eagles today! They were having an event today at Big Bear City Airport so we got there at 8:30AM to sign up. It was a gorgeous day and perfect for flying. We signed up and went outside to wait. There were lots of kids there already but we only had to wait an hour before they called the boys names. Dan and I were both a bit nervous as we watched them get into an airplane and taxi down the runway with Tom next to the pilot! They flew for about half an hour out over the desert and over the lake. They both got a chance to be co-pilot and loved every minute of it. They looked like they were going to explode coming up the ramp to get back to us. The pilot gave them both a picture and a certificate and a logbook so they can keep track of thier flight time. Tom said he didn't notice they were up in the air until he looked out and saw the building below! Jake loved flying and said it was pretty bumpy up there at times. They both can't wait to do it again. Maybe we will have a couple pilots in the family!



After the flight, Dan took us all out for burgers at "Get the Burger", our favorite place. The boys told us all about the flight, what they could see from up there and again how much they loved it. Tom wonders how the Young Eagles make money doing this, since it's free and run by volunteers. Jake doesn't care as long as he gets to try it again. He says it was one of the best days of his life.

We visited the Big Bear Historical Museum before we headed down the mountain since it was only 11AM. The place is only open on the weekends in the summer and we rarely come up on weekends. We loved it! And highly recommend anyone go. The people there are the nicest and they have lots of old west stuff to look at. The Blacksmith and the guy helping the kids pan for "gold" were the greatest. It's cheap and lots of fun.





Now the kids are all taking turns riding the quad around the neighborhood before it gets dark. I just heard a loud squealing with laughter and a lot of dirt flying so it looks like Dan is having a bit of fun showing off for them. All of them have been driving it around the driveway. Tom LOVES driving anything!

I'm sure all of us will sleep well tonight!