Scouting fun this weekend

This past weekend Devin and I went on our first boyscout campout. It consisted of camping and canoeing. We had a great time and yet I just watched in amazement as the realization of how big he is scares me yet makes me so proud of him!! I let Devin take charge of his experience. He put up the tent and prepared our site by himself. We then went on a 10 mile canoe trip. I generally like to be in control but I relinquished that to him and let him sit in the steering position of the canoe. Needless to say it took him about 1/4 of a mile to understand steering and then he was amazing. I don't think we visited one river bank after that (although the last mile we saw a couple because he sent me into the trees on purpose for a laugh) (He never went into the trees...I made the mistake of screaming one time and he decided it was hilarious to hear me scream) Devin earned his caoeing merit badge. He had to be tested alone on the strokes as well as submerging the canoe and turning it back over with no water in it. This was not a gimme..they do not hand it out unless you prove yourself. Needless to say he did phenomenal...never even complained about the 70 degree water he had to get into to flip the canoe. It was a great weekend with Devin. I don't get much time alone with him. I was so proud of him with the boys and with his willingness to serve others!! Just made me want to cry!!!! (But I didn't) Anyway....have a great week....until next time!!!

Boy scout campout

The Holiday season is Lurking!!

Well, this past week my boys had a real treat! We went to the Biltmore and the chef from France led a group of us in the decorating of gingerbread houses. The boys have asked me to do gingerbread houses the last couple of years but it never seems to end up high on the baking list during the holiday season. (probably because I do not love gingerbread!) So, we had an opportunity to do it this way and I decided to sign us up. The kids had a great time and I was happy that I prioritized this request on my list for them this year. OF course the big question now is "When can we eat them????" I am thinking we may do one afternoon of gingerbread frenzy and be done with it!! The thought of having open sugar on display for very long seems like a big temptation for the boys as well as any bugs!!! Until next time!!!

JACKPOT!!!

Trick or Treat

Well, Friday was the big night of Trick or Treat. Of course this is a controversial night for many people but we have let the kids enjoy trick or treating from the beginning and they do look forward to it for the clean fun that they have with it. This year we went with friends and neighbors so the kids had a great time. They wanted to visit every last house in the subdivision but there had to be a limit!! The dressup plans had changed a few times over the last 90 days but they finally made decisions they were happy with. Nicholas and his bud Jaxon had to keep pace with the older kids...their little legs were so tired by the end of the night but they hung in there. There have already been references made to possibilities for next year's costumes....as for me I am looking forward to some of my favorites...Thanksgiving and Christmas!!! Until next time!!!

October 31st

Visiting the Hackney's on their boat

Last week we spent a delightful few hours down at the marina in Bradenton with our friends the Hackney's. They own a boat that their family lives on part of the time. I had really no idea what to expect, but fell in love with the tranquility of the water and sense of family I felt from being with them. It was neat to just kind of escape life for a few hours and visit with them. The kids had fun fishing, attempting to catch crabs, and learning all of the ways to climb on the boat. I always love spending time with my friend Tanya so I much enjoyed that as well. The kids and I agreed as we left the marina that it must be nice to be able to go down there for half of every week to get away!!

A day with the Hackney's

Dissection and Fun!!

Today, being Friday, we went to MOSI and took part in the dissection of a shark and squid. The shark was a group effort, the squid was an individual effort. It was very cool once you got past the smell!! Devin volunteered for the task of removing the liver from the shark. Preston did not get a task on the shark but he had NO PROBLEM cutting apart his squid and inspecting it. Devin has said in the past he may be interested in becoming a doctor someday...Preston may follow in his footsteps!....Mitchell (my Mr. tenderhearted observed the dissection but I am not sure he even touched either creature) probably least likely to go into a career that involves cutting things open. He loves animals. This evening Devin came running in to tell me that two stray dogs were messing with our dog Cesar. (Mitchell had him on a walk) As I ran outside, I see Mitchell coming down the sidewalk with Cesar in his arms and the two stray dogs walking next to Mitchell. (The stray dogs were not ferocious but Mitchell was all about protecting our dog!!) It was so sweet!!! Needless to say, it does not surprise me he did not cut up the sea life today!! I am as caught up as I am going to get...so until next week!!!

Museum of Science and Industry

Stone Mountain

We had a great time at Stone Mountain. The weather was a tad bit cooler and the view was beautiful. We had a great time hiking around, going to the top of the mountain in one of those cable cars, and enjoying some family time. John took Devin and Preston one morning and hiked to the top of the mountain (not really Nicholas friendly). They had a great time and took some great photos. The photo of Preston "saving" Devin on the mountain cracks me up because there is a similar scene in the movie Lion King between Scar and Mufasa which Preston re-enacts with his stuffed animals quite a bit. Preston LOVES that scene...so he got to be Scar in the photo...but unlike Scar he saved his brother!!! All in good fun of course!!!

Stone Mountain Fun

Cub Scouts

I am going to try and catch up on many posts tonight. I am quite a bit behind on sharing what we have been up to. Cub scouts/boy scouts is a new activity we have added to our schedule this year. The boys are really enjoying it. I will say with two in cub scouts and one in boy scouts there are ALOT of activities. The slide show below was the first official scout activity we attended. It was a rocket launch made out of 2 liter bottles. John was the brain behind the boys creations. I believe they decorated more than anything. (thank goodness for dads!!) (this would not have been a strong activity for me...I believe my dad "HELPED" with most of these types of activities in physics class in high school...once again thank goodness for dads) Anyway, they did great. We did not win any awards this year BUT...daddy and grandpa were taking notes for next year!!!!

Cub Scout rocket launch

GEORGIA

Well, I thought I would finally update. Perhaps I have been putting it off because we took a few hundred photos on two different cameras so I knew it would be time consuming! We spent a week in Georgia last week and it was GREAT!! A small change in temperature, visiting with close friends, no work for John and time in the great outdoors made for a memorable week. We stayed with a close friend of mine from high school and her family. We went to a real "fall festival", admired the changing leaves, and just hung out and had a great time. It was bittersweet as would be expected. It reminded us how much we miss having them in Florida but it is a great place to get away. So, we already decided when we hope to go back to our "adopted" vacation home in Georgia!!

After leaving the Zonts family, we went to Stone Mountain and had some great family fun. The slide show I will post tomorrow depicts that portion of our trip. So for now I will sign off and hope to update tomorrow!

Until then..

Tracy

Georgia Vacation Stop 1

Still studying the ancients

As you can see below...we are knee deep in ancient history. This week we made ziggurats and Joseph's Coat of Many Colors. The painting of the "coats" went rather smoothly. I was surprised that the boys did not end up with alot more paint on them. But it was a great day to work outside and of course they could not resist a bit of "fencing" practice as you will see in one photo of the slide prsentation. Or maybe it is mine and Melanie's way of justifying letting the boys play with sticks "safely" (if there is such a thing!) To say the least Preston had a great time and asks every day if it is one of the days we do our history projects with "The Palms." It is a much anticipated event twice a week. Until next time!!

History is so fun!!

Oh how we miss you all!!

This week we had the pleasure of visiting friends. The Jones family was our weekly playdate until they moved down the peninsula last year. We had a great time with them at the park and beach last week. We sure do look forward to their next visit or our opportunity to go down and check out Miami!!

Park day with the Jones Family

Cuneiform (writing on clay tablets performed in ancient times) Modernized!!!

This week we were studying ancient forms of writing. The Palm boys and Preston had a great time "printing" their names and then adding many embellishments of their own. Our other history excitement is that our "Nile River" project from last week is sprouting grass ...so it worked!! It may be dead by the next time I post however, Preston has a watering fetish. Flooding has been a problem this week!!

So true

Just another beautiful Saturday outdoors

Making the Nile River with The Palm Boys was Great Fun

History re-created

We are having the wonderful pleasure of doing our history and science projects with our homeschooling neighbors and great friends,The Palms. They have four boys like us so we just find it amazing to live in the same neighborhood, homeschool and have four boys. Needless to say it is quite a blessing in more than one way to our family. In the photos below, the boys are to be pretending they are nomads (which is what we are studying in ancient history) and building a hut in which to live. They were supposed to use anything they could find to create this. (rocks, sticks, leaves etc) Anyway, as you can see from the photos, they incorporated some modern day items as well such as a fence and bungee cord. We gave them an "A" for effort and had quite a good laugh to say the least!!

Modern day NOMADS

Hurricane Ike affecting our nomads from afar

Rebuilding the hut

PEE WEE Football

Well, Preston is playing flag football and it is the cutest thing. From the bulky jersey to the big ol mouth piece it just cracks me up!! His team is the Giants. Football is a first for us. We have done most other "boy" sports but we decided to give this a try at the urging of a good friend. She had experienced it up north and said it was so fun...we agree after two weeks however, we are missing the northern weather to further enhance that football feeling! Preston, is getting the hang of the game. He scored a touchdown the first game (probably by accident) but now anything less is disappointing. However, we do look forward to flag football Saturdays!! Enjoy the cute slideshow below

FLAG FOOTBALL