Education at Disneyland

Tom used the bike lock with combo to lock up the stroller at ESPN Zone. He takes this part of our journey very seriously. I walk and they ride in the big bike stroller so that I can actually get some exercise and they aren't exhausted by the time we get to the park. Then we lock up the stroller (I call it a cart) and walk the rest of the time we are there. Usually we take the Monorail in but it is closed for "refurbishment at this time".

Jake fell on the way into the gate and scratched his arm. He wanted me to take a picture of it, so here it is.

                       

 Tom wanted to try to get on the Pirate's (we have been to the park several times since it reopened but haven't been able to get on it yet). He asked for a map and used it to find where we were and then where we needed to get off the train and get to the ride. It was closed when we got there, again! So we went on Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain.

 

Tom was laughing about how Jake must be an alien because he likes these rides and isn't scared at all and he is younger than him. Jake rides up front by himself, doesn't even flinch a bit. Tom rides next to me in the back with his fingers in his ears cowering behind me most of the time. But he does want to go on the ride!

Then we had lunch. We talked about the food groups again and identified them in our lunch and made some good choices like water and carrots instead of soda and french fries. I told Tom that they should say that their kids meals came with duck food (aka french fries) We saw the ships sailing by on the Rivers of America while we ate. We talked about the American flag on the Columbia, why it had a circle of 13 stars and when and where ships like that were used. We saw the Mark Twain and decided to go on that later.

We went on Winnie the Pooh. We walked over and Pirate's was still closed. We went over to the Mark Twain just in time and asked to ride in the wheel house. The boys drove the ship and pulled the whistles. We talked about paddle boats and how they run and when, why they blow the whistles. 

 

    

On the way to the next ride we stopped to watch the fiddle player. Then we went on Thunder Mountain. Waiting in line talked about the gold rush. How many people in your group turned into a discussion about how many people could sit the seat.

Then we walked out toward Main Street. The fireman's band started playing while we were there, so we stopped to watch, talked about brass bands, why they call it that, and what kind of music they play. Walked out of the park to Jamba Juice and got a smoothie for the walk home.

I would call it a good day and a wonderful use of our annual passes. I'm tired though and I don't think I have the energy to make dinner. But I did get some much needed exercise!

Irvine Regional Park

One of our favorite places to go it Irvine Park in Orange. We got married there and I bring the boys all the time especially in the winter when it is cooler. I feel like it is an oasis. You can't see anything outside the park and I feel like I am in the wilderness just a little bit. I've learned (the hard way) to always feed these two boys before we do any kind of adventuring at all. So we had McDonald's for lunch today in front of the little zoo. The only animals we could see besides the turkey vultures were these goats. It was pretty hot today and we did get there late in the day. Jake and Tom love to feed the goats. This one really liked Jake! Not much of the river this time of year! I told the boys we should come back each month and take another picture from that same spot and see the changes. In the spring time this place is filled with water! Tom and Jake pretending to be scared in the wild. They are so crazy. Actually, this is the first time we have went for a walk on the wilder side of the park without both of them begging to go back every few minutes. It was a pretty good adventure. We saw ravens, woodpeckers, squirrels, rabbits, huge ants, peacocks, lizards, and ducks. And THAT was outside the zoo. At the zoo we talked about the birds we saw and how they all eat. There were owls, hawks, vultures, and a bald eagle. See the theme here? Well, they were the only beasts we could see today darn it! They all eat meat and were pretty happy to show the boys their hooked bills. Then when we saw the crows and woodpeckers they could really tell the difference. Those birds were not meat eaters. Ahh, science!

Nikki's Latest Work

Inspired by her brother's, Nikki's latest masterpiece.

Enjoy!

Chapter One

Once there was a berry. He was about your age. His name was Uncleberry. Uncleberry lived in a garden. He had lots of berry friends to play with. One day, Uncleberry found some chalk! He wanted to play with the chalk. So he walked over to his friends, Boysenberry, Girlsenberry, and Raspberry. He was sure they would like to play with it too.

But Uncleberry’s friends looked sad. When he asked them why, Boysenberry said, “YOU are DIFFERENT, Uncleberry! I mean, nobody’s ever heard of a berry called Uncleberry!” Puzzled, poor Uncleberry turned to Raspberry. “That’s because you are a FREAK!” Raspberry yelled. “You don’t belong here, and you never will until you can prove you’re normal!” Now Uncleberry wasn’t confused anymore. Uncleberry was mad. Uncleberry was very mad.

Have you ever seen a berry get mad? Well let me tell you: it is NOT a pretty sight. First the berry heats up until it’s burning hot. Then it starts screaming, and then spinning around in circles very, very fast, like a figure skater on a sugar rush. And then, if the berry is hopelessly angry, it steams up and-here’s the awful part-it turns into a FRUIT SMOOTHIE! Fruit smoothies, as you probably know, are horrifying concoctions made up of the flesh of innocent fruits whose only crime was getting too angry. And Uncleberry was VERY angry.

But luckily for Uncleberry, Uncleberry had always been told by his elder berries that he should always control his emotions, and never get very angry. So Uncleberry took a deep breath and ran away as fast as he could. He ran and he ran, until he realized that since he was a berry with absolutely no arms or legs whatsoever he in fact couldn’t run, and it would defy logic to do so. “I can’t defy logic,” Uncleberry said to himself. “Only a truly twisted and evil berry would ever do that!” So he stopped.

Suddenly, he noticed another berry running. He realized it was Girlsenberry, his only friend who hadn’t yelled at him in the past 5 minutes. So he called out, “Hey, that’s defying logic, you know that right?” Girlsenberry, was a little irritated (“I was hopping, not running, there is a difference!”) but nonetheless she stopped right next to Uncleberry.

“Listen,” she panted,” You…are...destined…for…great…things!” Uncleberry was confused. Now that Girlsenberry had caught her breath, she began to explain more clearly. “Uncleberry, there is a prophecy: once every thousand years, someone is born-or grown-who is destined to save the galaxy from the evil Sith! And that someone is you!” 

 

Now Uncleberry was even more confused. “Wait, Girlsenberry, who’s the Sith? And why do you think that I’m the one to stop them?” Girlsenberry almost smiled, until she realized that berries couldn’t smile any more than they could run, and that she was probably really irritating whoever made that stupid rule about not defying logic, and then she quit smiling. “I don’t think; I know. Haven’t you ever noticed how, you know, different you are from other berries? And, haven’t you noticed how strange things happen to you sometimes? When you’re scared, maybe? Or angry?” 

 

“You’re crazy,” Uncleberry retorted, but Girlsenberry was quick to back up her theory. “Remember that one time, when you were being chased by the bully berries at the park?” 

 

“Yeah, but what does that have to do with”

“And you jumped so high that you landed in the top of a tree?”

“Well, I don’t know about”

“And how about 5 minutes ago, when you ran away from Raspberry and Boysenberry? Doesn’t that defy logic? And we all know that nobody can defy logic, so”

“But weren’t you doing the same thing?”

Girlsenberry was exasperated. “I was hopping, which berries can do without defying logic, not running! I already told you that!” Then she noticed that she was starting to heat up, and, not wanting to become a fiber-rich cold beverage, started to slow down. “Listen, Uncleberry,” she began. “Within you, you have the power of the Force. You have to get a starship flight to Coruscant, and ask the Jedi Council to teach you the ways of the Force so you can become a Jedi. Then you will go on a mission to stop the Sith from taking over the galaxy.” Uncleberry was stunned. “But-but-how do I get a starship flight to Coruscant?” Uncleberry stammered. “And, come to think of it, how do you even know all this stuff?” 

 

Girlsenberry stood erect. “The flight will come later,” Girlsenberry said in a grand, yet brisk sort of way that Uncleberry hadn’t heard before. “As for your next question, well, my name is not really Girlsenberry.” Uncleberry stared, then flinched, then stared at her some more. “My name,” Girlsenberry said slowly, “is Jedi Master Girlsenberry.”

Nikki is "homeschooled" during the times she is released from her sentence of 12 long years of public school in Huntington Beach. And, I believe, an incredibly talented writer!

?!What?!

Tom is sitting on the couch reading a book about American symbols. I had planned on reading the book to the boys this week. Each page has a description of a symbol like the Liberty Bell and why it is important to our country. I knew some day I would find my children reading important things all on their own without my prompting but I didn't realize it would be so soon!

Finished reading "Oliver Twist"

I realized, after the first quarter of the book, that I have never seen the movie past that point. For some reason I always get distracted by that point and never get to finish. So the ending was a surprise. Half-way through the book I thought that if one more rotten thing happened to that boy I wasn't going to finish it!

I guess that is all I have to say about it though. I really did love it and spent many late nights reading this week. I just had to get to the next chapter to see what was going to happen.

Today's excitement...or complete lack thereof.

I woke up with a sore throat and a fever this morning! Yuck! So I went back to bed. I did actually get up and shower and go to the grocery store though. I've been lazing around all day.

The boys helped Dad trim back the avocado tree in the back yard. It had overgrown the house again and was in dire need of work. It was funny though to go out there and see Dan up on a ladder trimming branches and Tom and Jake under neath with their helmets on cutting them up to fit in the trash can.

Other than that it has been pretty uneventful. They both have played lots of video games and I have sat around watching them and asking when it was my turn.

A response to...

"I'm not patient enough to homeschool my children."

I really believe that people that say this don't understand homeschooling. They probably think that we re-create school at home complete with a black board and 5 hours a day sitting at a desk "learning". I don't have patience for that either! We don't "do school" at home, we learn in a natural way. The same way an adult would if they wanted to know something or had to have a specific skill to complete a task. Now, mind you, my boys are very young, so they aren't gathering information on a topic on the internet or skimming through reference books at the library. Right now, they are fully engulfed in learning about the world around them. They are just little guys so they are only concerned with their immediate surroundings and the city they live in. Relationships with friends and family are their primary educational experiences right now. They are learning to read, write, and cipher. Other than that, well, we just live. We go to parks with our friends, birthday parties, museums, aquariums, beaches, amusement parks, libraries, shows, concerts, and anything else we can find to do around here. Luckily we live in an area where you can do pretty much anything year around and there are plenty of places to go. I know that I have seen more of Southern California since I had my boys than I have in my whole life! I am learning more too. I'm learning things I didn't have a chance to learn in high school and college; History, Civics, Literature, just to name a few.

To top it all off, I am NOT a patient person. I am a lot more patient with other people's kids than my own. I find myself having a panic attack just trying to get my boys out of the car in the afternoon or trying to get them to brush their teeth in a timely manner! So those are things I am working on as well.

It is ok if they are behind their peers at school. We are on a different schedule and "curriculum". We have different goals that we have set up for ourselves without aid from a "study" or a government agency that knows exactly how children all grow up. We are a family of perpetual learners and thinkers. Some of us are falling into this lifestyle a little late (namely me) and hopefully our boys will have their entire young lives to explore and be ready to be adults when their time comes. I will leave that up to God and his infinite wisdom. I cannot see that far into the future.