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!