Upstate New York

Chris had a four day weekend for Labor Day so we decided to head to upstate New York to see our dear friends, the Rays. We met them when we lived in Hawaii and Greg and Chris worked together at Pearl Harbor. They have lived in some pretty amazing places and we try to visit them whenever we can. It was a seven hour drive, but worth every minute because we had a wonderful time visiting them in Ithaca. 

We arrived late Friday night, so early Saturday morning Greg took the boys to their chicken coop to get the eggs for breakfast. They were amazed. And of course now, they want chickens in our backyard. 

After breakfast we headed out to see some waterfalls. They are amazing and flow down from the Fingerlakes.  They were huge and so beautiful. 

On Sunday morning, Greg took the boys out on their sailboat and Kari and I spent the morning together. All four boys loved driving the sailboat and being out on the water. 

We had such a sweet weekend with our friends. The four of us always have such an amazing time when we are together. We loved that we have stayed close with them through the years. Looking forward to them coming down to see us in D.C. soon!

A New School Year

 After a fun and busy summer we are ready to jump back into school. Well, maybe not jump, but we are starting back. 

Abram will begin fourth grade and Jack and Luke are in first grade. So crazy! We have found an amazing Classical Conversations community to be apart of and this year that meets every Tuesday.  Abram also starts the Essentials program (intensive grammar and writing program) this year and will continue for three more years. 

My sweet boys... I love spending this time with them. 

They love putting these shirts on every year. They laugh at how big they are and I know in no time they will be the perfect size for them.  I pointed out to Abram that it isn't nearly as big as it was four years ago when he put it on for the first time when he started kindergarten. 

They had a school supply scavenger hunt and at the end they found these notes I wrote them and their favorite candy. 

And we are off...  Jack and Luke do their seat work at the dining room table because I sit with them and Abram works at our school counter since most of his work is done more independently. 

I won't turn this into a blog about why homeschooling is so wonderful, but I can say without a doubt this is where God wants us and I truly love spending this time with my boys that God has gifted me with. Chris and I love being able to choose their curriculum, answer questions they might have and point them to the Word and just pour into them during the day.  I often struggle with worry and doubt when it comes to homeschooling my boys. I had great grades in high school and college but I often tell Chris, I was given academics not an education. There is a lot I don't know and I don't feel qualified sometimes. But I serve a God who is qualified and He wouldn't call me to this without helping me along the way. I depend on Him daily. I try to tell my boys when I am stumped or when I don't know an answer, I'm not perfect. God doesn't need us to be perfect, He needs us to be willing. 

Here's the curriculum Abram is using this year:

Classical Conversations

Essentials of the English Language (EEL)

Institute of Excellence in Writing (IEW)

Math U See

Story of the World

Draw the World

Not Consumed (devotional)

Prescripts (cursive copywork)

xtramath and typing.com (independent work on the iPad to practice typing and math facts)

And Jack and Luke's curriculum:

Classical Conversations

Math U See

Story of the World

All About Reading

Reading Eggs, Fast Phonics and Math Seeds 

And for our extra curricular activities this fall we have chosen:

Choir (Sunday Mornings at our church)

Year round swim (Sunday evenings)

Trail Life (Monday evenings)

Soccer (Wednesday afternoon)

Violin (Abram only)

We are so excited to see what happens this year and what God is going to do in the hearts of our boys. He has blessed us so well! 

Something New and a New Tradition

 We are always encouraging our boys to take adventures and try something new... this summer we ALL did. Way back in January we decided to sign up for Family Camp at White Sulphur Springs (in Pennsylvania) that is put on by Officers of Christian Fellowship (OCF). We have only heard wonderful things about it, but we have always been to far away. We were only familiar with the one in Colorado Springs, but when we moved here our friend told us there was also one in Pennsylvania. When we looked it up we realized it was only 3 hours away. When we were researching it, it sounded just perfect for our family. Activities for our boys, couple seminars for me and Chris, family activities in the afternoons and evenings and (my favorite part), no cooking for a solid week. We signed up!!

We signed up for the first week in June, but a few weeks before we were supposed to go, we were notified our week was cancelled because some staff members got covid. We were completely bummed. But then we realized we could reschedule and everything was good again. We were finally able to go the last week in July.  Now, even though we knew this would be good for our family, Chris and I were a bit nervous. Would we get along with the other families? Would our boys be bored? Will they eat the meals or starve all week? This was all running through our heads on our drive up there.  BUT, within about 2 hours of being there, all our nerves were calmed and we knew it was going to be the best week ever. 

Our boys loved every minute... they made sweet friends, loved all the adventures, ate the meals and we all slept so good every night. And Chris and I got to know some really amazing couples and loved spending time with our boys without the stress of chores or work at home. We quickly decided on our way back to Alexandria, that we would go every summer. God is so good. Here's some pictures from our week...

This sign welcomed us to WSS. I just love the top. It says Home and its pointing up (towards heaven).

Our lodge for the week. It was just perfect. 

Chris and I spent a lot of hours rocking on the back porch while our boys played. 

Oh, and playing chess every evening before dinner. 

Here's some pictures from our amazing adventures. We were never bored. 

Abram zip lining 

Preparing to zip line and climb the rock wall. 

Abram scaling the wall. 

Jack and Luke learned how to take care of horses. 

And they also rode them!

For my boys who are afraid of dogs, this was a big deal for them! 

Also, many hours were spent swimming in the pond in the afternoons. 

Hayride for the kids to get smores! 

Such an amazing group we spent the week with. 

Rope course

Abram even rode a horse, too! 

Abram and his friend, Caleb. They were inseparable. 

Boys! 

And Jack and Luke made friends with Joy. They were so sweet to watch together all week. 

Bonfire on the last night 

And this next picture is why we will go back next year... Just look at that smile. When you see this smile on Abram you know he is genuinely happy!! He doesn't show it a lot, but when he does, it is a big deal! 

We also got a free day while we were at camp, so we took the opportunity to tour the Flight 93 memorial. It was only about 30 minutes away from camp. We are so glad we went. We learned so much about the brave men and women on that flight. We loved that the boys were able to experience it after we studied September 11 this year. 

A Visit to Amish Country

 So, ever since we arrived in Virginia, we have heard people talk about the amazing Sight and Sound Theatre in Lancaster.  We had a free weekend and tickets were available so we decided to make a quick trip. And we also have some sweet friends who we haven't seen since we lived in Hawaii the first time, so it sounded like a great idea. Of course Lancaster is also known as Amish Country. It was a great learning experience for the boys to see how differently people can live. 

Our first stop was at the Central Market. It is the longest running farmers market in the country.  We of course had to try the famous Shoo Fly Pie. It was delicious! Chris and Abram enjoyed sampling all the beef jerky. Its their favorite. 

Then we toured an Amish house and learned all about their way of live. Even though this place was set up for tourist, it was very informative and the boys had a fun time exploring. 

That evening we went to see our play... it was absolutely amazing! Every year they do a different story and this year it was Queen Esther. We spent the week before reading the story in the Bible, so the boys loved seeing it come to life. It was a 2.5 hour play and the boys loved every minute of it. It was so grand, with elaborate sets, live animals and singing. We can't wait to go back next year when they do David. 

We took a drive around town on Sunday morning before we met our friends... we saw buggies and horses parked outside of a church (pretty neat sight) and we drove through some of their covered bridges. Lancaster is such a beautiful town and so very interesting! 

We met up with our friends, the Burrs, at a park on Sunday afternoon. We met David and Erin in Hawaii before any of us had kids and now between us we have seven. It was so great to spend the afternoon with them and let the kids play while we caught up!

Our final stop was at the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery because who doesn't love a fresh pretzel? We learned the history of the pretzel, how it is made and we even got to practice making them with our dough. Such a fun stop! 

We are so glad we made the trip this weekend... between the play, pretzels, seeing our friends and learning about the Amish we packed a lot in and enjoyed a fun weekend adventure!