Brooke had the wonderful oportunity to go to Hawaii with her friend Stevi and her family. It is hard to let go of your daughter and send her off. She had a great time. No this wasn't a hotel or condo event, but at someone's private home on the Big Island. A little deap sea fishing on a private boat. Some swimming in lava heated waters, of course swimming and snorkeling in the clear water. She has always heard me complain about the murky waters of So. Cal. Now she is complaining about the local beaches. Like mother, like daughter...........HA! We all know that isn't true. She is a good kid. I am happy she had this opportunity. At the same time I was sure glad she got home just in time to help babysit the grandkiddos. Thank you Lassley Family for giving my daughter a wonderful experience.

While she was off in Hawaii, we called on Grammy to watch Jason and Faith so we could go to the CHEA convention. This is an annual convention for home schooling. Two days of alone time for us, while I have a chance to be rejuvinated in the teaching department. Lorin has gone a few times with me now, and he even said he was looking forward to next year. Oh, he has come so far!!! He even heard bits of info I have tried to share with him regarding the original design for public school, seems he only hears that from me, but hearing it from Voddie Baucham is a bit more impactful. Thnx Voddie!

Mammoth

As some of you know, Mammoth is my favorite vacation of the year. We tease and say it is a part of our prenuptial agreement. The other part had to do with my phone bills to Montana when we first got married. Those were before the days of flat rate phone bills. HA! Poor guy, oh the bills! Anyway, we have been going now for 15 years. I think we have missed only two of those. We have been going so regularly to the same area that we have now made friends with 4 families that do the same thing. Now it is a treat to get together with them each year also. Although, this year we only met up with two of them.

For the last two years we have brought Brooke's friend Stevi. She is a treat to have with us! We usually do the same routine, fish, hike, campfire, mountain bike down Mammoth Mountain, zip lines and rock climbing, gondola rides, oh yes there is the parade, and fireworks. In past years we have searched out the volcanoes and did some "home schooling", we have gone to Bowdie, Mono Lake, Yosemite, 4 wheeling and oh so much more.

This year the highlight was probably the fishing, we borrowed some kayaks and were able to fish in the middle of Twin Lakes rather than only from the edges. Lorin, Brooke and Stevi all caught several. We had 2 great fish dinners.Other highlights were; Jason got his first pocketknife, and yes he cut himself. Faith, well, she was making friends with the squirrels and butterflies. As for me, hey I was in the mountains and it was cool,who needs more than that.

We are starting a co-op for History, Literature, and Science this year. I found it very interesting to realize how much easier it is to see God in such a beautiful place as the Sierras, (don't get me wrong, I am still loyal to the Bob Marshall in Montana) than it is to see Him in the city. Yes, I know that people in the Temecula Valley don't see it as a big city, but it is.
There is so much to wonder considering God's handiwork. As the focus of our school year will be Biblical Worldview, I felt especially drawn to look around me while we were in Mammoth. I am feeling pretty motivated for the new year to start.

To sum up this year, it was fun to see Brooke and Stevi as they are maturing, the Independence they were able to have because they are such good kids. It was great to see Jason enjoying an area I so love, especially when I know he really is only about motors and wheels and speed. I am seeing that Faith will probably always be Faith. We really like to visit her world, it seems so pristine as she flits, and twirls and listens to the fish.

I am already looking forward to next year, even though Lorin once again said on our way home, maybe we should do something different next year.

Summer Activities

I thought I would start off by letting you know what we have been up to so far this summer.
Most importantly Brooke and Jason finished school on time. WHOO HOO! Of course there is always a little summer reading. Summer meant that Faith was able to start Summer School. Ok, really, she is excited, she is always so patient to get her time to do school. So many times we simply can't give her the time she is needing. So we made a deal that she could "Do school" this summer. We are working on her reading skills and of course catching up on all those books we couldn't fit in to read aloud to her.
Our first activity was a trip to the river. We went to Laughlin via Las Vegas so Lorin could do an inspection. We decided to make a stop at the Hoover Dam. A fun year end field trip, don't you think?
We then went to Laughlin and stayed at the Avi. The Shields family met us there. We spent some time on the beach at the hotel and we also went down river to Lake Havasu always a pretty ride.



Faith has had a busy time. Along with summer school, she has been taking swim lessons. She swam on her own for the first time the day before we headed to Mammoth. She is starting up again tomorrow. Hopefully she will take off from there! She also was in her first Ballet Performance. To think, I have a kiddo wearing a tutu.........How did that happen??? We will post some performance pics when they arrive from the studio....... no flash photos from the parents. She did a great job! I wasn't sure how she was going to do on stage in front of everyone, she definitely surprised us.

Starting our Family Blog

I have been using Facebook for a couple of months now, and realize how much fun it is catching up with everyone. I also realized that many people who sign up as "FRIENDS" are not really interested in our family, and probably do not want to be hit with my daily non sense. At the same time, there are some who enjoy catching up. Rather than sorting through what and how much to post, I realized the "Blogging" idea may be more fun. I also hope to use this for a family journal as I understand there are ways to have if print and bound. Scrapbooking at it's best I would say. Pray for me, I hope the Blog will be a blessing to those who check in on our family.