Just Dreaming

Cama Beach

I can hardly believe it has been a month since I last blogged!  I was waiting for life to slow down once school ended but it has just been non-stop action for the entire month of June.  I don't even know where to start and I have so many things to blog about (all of them SOOO exciting I assure you).

We just arrived home yesterday from an exciting 2 day trek to Cama Beach. 

Cama Beach originally opened in 1934 as a family friendly fishing resort.  It was closed in 1989 and was later sold to the state park's department.  A couple of years ago it was refurbished and re-opened as as a charming, inexpensive place to take your family.  The cabins are simple, functional and toasty warm at night when the cool evening breezes hit.  We loved getting away from all the noise (tv, radio, internet) that seems to distract us from each other.  We just could hang out, relax and enjoy the beauty that you can only find in the Pacific Northwest.

We had such a great time and I really enjoyed that the entire place was just filled with families.  It had such a welcoming and fun feel to it for everyone. People chatted, kids played and we all kind of relished the summer camp feel of it.  

 

Did I mention the crab?

July 1st at 7:00am was opening day of crabbing season.

We crabbed.

We ate.

We crabbed.

We ate.

We had so much fun!

We caught 16 crabs that were legal and we have devoured them all in the last few days. 

I want to go back!

warm weather brings

Peaceful late afternoon naps while Gershwin plays in the background. 

(our Gershwin piano music CD never leaves our CD player)

Sleepy Ella (who has outgrown naps), tuckered out by the sun.

Ski to Sea Jr.

 

Avery participated in Ski to Sea Jr. for the first time this year with his hippie school.  He did the soccer leg and had an awesome time competing.  He was so nervous the day of the race that when the time finally came to do his part of the relay race, it was a great relief to him. 

I can vividly remember that feeling from my own childhood.  It's so different watching your own child go through those feelings though.  It's hard not to try talking him out of it.  But, the feelings are valid and no amount of talking erases the excitement and nervousness of doing something new.  As a parent I have to step back and let him do it on his own...... with a hug.

Here is a video of the end of his leg of the race - he is in the brown shirt towards the back right of the screen.

For all of my family and friends not in Bellingham, the Ski to Sea Jr race is a hugely popular kids relay race held at Lake Padden.  The teams have six members and there are 5 parts to the race: an obstacle course, running, bicycling, soccer and a three-legged race.  Here is an article on the race:

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/255/story/912998.html

The kids race leads up to the big Ski to Sea Race which happens the following weekend.  The Ski to Sea race is an 90 mile relay race that starts on the top of Mount Baker and ends in Bellingham Bay.  With parades and festivals, it's kind of a party around here for a couple of weeks.

Recycling Monsters

Recycling Monsters made from cardboard salvaged from the recycling bin, plastic silverware and some paint:

 

I love what happens when kids have extra time.  The boys did this entirely on their own while I was cleaning the kitchen this morning.

I think my chiropractor is trying to kill me and other nonsensical madness.

It all started on Mother’s Day. 

It was a lovely day of eating delicious food and hanging out with family. 

I woke up in the morning to some great cards from the kids and some wonderful gifts from David.  He was so thoughtful and got me a new watch, a gift certificate to a local spa, an iTunes gift card, a gorgeous outdoor flower basket, and a very sweet card.  I know I have said it before but he is 10x nicer than I am (I make it up by being 10x as snarky as he is – I figure it all equals out).

I spent the morning cleaning the house so it was “presentable” and comfortable.  I then made some yummy new dishes to go with our Salmon Dinner including Tomato and Sweet Corn Risotto, and Strawberry and Arugula salad with Hazelnut Dressing (made with spinach instead of arugula so my kids “might” eat it). 

And then began the week of fun:

Monday:

Woke up to a morning backache.  I am kind of used to a morning backache.  It happens…a lot.  As the morning progressed the pain got worse and worse.  I had to lift my left leg into the car with my hands to drive the kids to school. 

Picked up kids at 1:00 -  can barely walk into the school to get them – try frantically to wave from my van but they don’t see me.

Call the chiropractor.

2:45 go to the chiropractor.  Tell him I have exactly 10 minutes and he needs to fix me….NOW.

Realize that I am kind of a cranky patient.  Smirk when he says things like “long time no see” and “well it looks like all the work we did before has stuck”.  (He wanted me to come in 2 x a week for who knows how long, I got tired of going in and stopped).

3:00 go up to Lake Padden for Avery’s Ski to Sea Jr Practice.  Survived an hour in the freezing cold, saying things to Ella like “no Ella, I can’t walk over there” and “no Ella, I can’t climb up that”. 

Went home to an ice pack, a cup of coffee and a favorite movie:  Indiana Jones:  The Last Crusade.

Tuesday:

Drag myself out of the house to drive the kids to preschool and piano lessons.

Go to Chiropractor.  See a new Chiropractor that I have never seen before.  He cranks on my poor back and neck.  Feel worse.  He “prescribes” Omega 3 Fish Oils for the pain.  Thanks SO much for that.

Have a dentist appt.  Tell the dentist I don't think I can sit in the chair, ask him to check me standing up.  Need 3 crowns - only $3000 SWEET!

Wednesday:

Other people drive my kids around.  Feel thankful that Dave’s parents are retired and don’t mind driving the kids around.

I decided to go to swim lessons with the kids at the YMCA. 

Feeling really worried about getting in and out of my bathing suit – tell Dave to stay by his cell phone “just in case”. 

Ella and I stay in the 90 degree kid’s pool and I stretch, kick and slowly swim.  It feels so nice to be in warm water!

Make it back out to my car even though I am in a lot of pain.  Hit the car behind me as I am trying to pull out because I can’t concentrate (hmmm I don’t think the fish oils worked) and I didn’t even see there was a car behind me.

Thursday:

Called the doctor and made an appointment for Friday.

Went to Chiropractor.  He seemed incensed that I made an appointment with my Doctor even though I didn’t feel any better. 

He did some sort of pressure point thing on my back that made me want to cry.

Friday:

Woke up with bruises all over my back from the pressure point thing.

Went to see doctor and he diagnosed me with a pulled muscle in my back.

He gave me muscle relaxants for the nighttime and had me continue with my regular over the counter pain relievers during the day at a higher dose.

Felt a little better.

And the good news is that I am feeling much better but I am being really careful about what I am doing.  The irritating thing is that I don’t know how I hurt it.  I did nothing to bring on my week of fun and I went to bed on Mothers day feeling fine.

In other relevant news, I am now a little afraid of my Chiropractor.

Ella's Video Debut

We finally have a video camera that works!!  I am so excited to being able to video tape the kids and it's super easy to post short videos from our new tiny Flip Mino Camcorder to my blog.

Here is one of my favorite songs that Ella sings around the house.  Everyone has been under strict orders NOT to correct her until we had it documented on video. 

Ella's ABC song:

Science Center Camp-In

They have a really neat program at the Pacific Science Center where they have groups of kids (we went with our scout group) stay the night, explore the science center, attend workshops and also watch a laser light show.  Dave took the boys and even though Connor was a bit under the weather (he was at the tail end of a cold - and coughing up a storm) they both had a blast.  They actually slept on the floor of the science center with 583 other people - how cool is that?

Holding up a meteor:

 

Posing and looking cool.

 

Connor during the candy chemistry workshop.  Basically this was cotton candy melting in his mouth.

I can't imagine why kids would love candy chemistry so much?

 

Good times were had by all.

(although Dave needed a 3 hour nap when they finally arrived home the next day)

humble pie, please

I have been meaning to update on school.  We have been extra busy for the last few weeks because on top of everything else we are doing, I decided we needed private swim lessons for the boys twice a week to get ready for this summer (and summer camps!)

The boys attended the hippie school 3 days last week.  Why the strange title for this post?  It is always humbling to ask for help.  To see that things aren't working and to seek out a solution.  I was continuing in a pattern of behavior that was driving me (and probably my friends) a little crazy.  It went a little like this: decide something is not working  ::  try something new :: have it not work :: freak out that I am ruining my kids education :: talk to my friends who reassure me :: go back to how I was originally doing it :: decide something is not working :: and so on and so forth.  

I really wasn't sure how this would be the solution to my problems.  I felt very nervous about getting help, about admitting that I could use help. 

It really would be no different than the boys taking classes somewhere but it does change my scope of responsibilities and we get to utilize the expertise of a teacher for ideas, strategies and any issues that come up.    

I was impressed on the first day that they showed Avery how to map out his ideas, come up with an intro and a conclusion and to write a paragraph on something he was interested in.  I never have done this at home (slightly embarrassing confession here) or did I think that he would do it for me without much fighting.  We have done journaling, copy work and writing prompts at home but truth be told writing is not my strong area.  They also showed him some math tricks (that I didn't know). 

We have decided to have the kids go 3 mornings a week to this school for the rest of the year.  It is only about 6 weeks but by then we can really look and see if this is working and if it will work for next year too.  I am still going to be homeschooling for most subjects and on their days away from school but I feel good about getting a second opinion on where we are at.  I have already learned a few tips from the teachers there and I am excited to incorporate them into our time at home every week.

I am greatly encouraged and excited about the entire thing, and I feel like I am doing what is best for the boys and that is the MOST important thing!

on school

I think teaching is fun.  I love to teach classes and hang out with kids.  Ask questions, laugh at the answers.  I find it very entertaining.  I have discovered though after 5 years of homeschooling that I am not good at teaching everything.  There are areas that I feel I do a good job in and there are areas that I am lacking in.  In fact, I find teaching every subject to my kids overwhelming. 

I have always found it overwhelming.

I have worked on scheduling, adding chores, charts, etc etc etc.  I just can't seem to get to a place where things are comfortable and I am not feeling stressed.  Part of the reason I love homeschooling is the lure of doing lots of fun stuff with my kids.  The problem is that after spending so much time and energy working on the basics with them I have no energy for the fun stuff.  I need recess but recess never comes because of lunch, taking care of the animals, cleaning the house and just keeping up with life in general.  I am having a hard time enjoying my kids and am feeling sort of cranky about the whole thing. 

Side-note:  I am not complaining here - I am so thankful to be able to be home with my kids and to even get the opportunity to home-school them.  I am just letting you all in a little bit to my struggles.

A few weeks ago Dave and I were discussing some options for next year. 

We discussed sending the kids to school (gasp!)

I decided to go on a fact finding mission.  I would visit four schools in the area just to get a better idea of what options are out there for my kids.

We visited an awesome private school.  Great academics, small classes and really nice kids.  They did projects I always wished I had the time and patience to do.  The drawback ..... super expensive.

We visited a Montessori school.  I wanted to like this school but it felt weird.  I like the idea behind it and the teachers were nice but I couldn't' grasp what the heck they were doing.  The kids worked very independently going from project to project but I couldn't understand how they knew what they needed to do.  Then there was the downstairs room of big kids.  I tried to observe but when I saw that the teacher was explaining how 2/4 equals a blue triangle over a black triangle .... well.... I kind of wanted to run for the hills.  So I did.

I plan on visiting the local public school as well.  I have never actually checked out the school and it being a fact-finding mission and all I wanted to get as much information as possible.  There is much I am not comfortable with public schools though so I don't really look at this as much of a possibility.

Those three options are full time as well.  We would have to give up many of our activities like piano, book-club, Japanese and scouts to go to full-time school.  I would also miss my kids ..  a lot! 

So here we are at option number four.  We found a small school in Fairhaven on a couple of acres that does home-school support.  They actually do half-days or full days as many days of the week that you want to do. It is a really neat set up with small multi-aged classrooms in an old converted farmhouse.

It is a small hippie school. 

I LOVE hippie schools.

Dave says it is a yuppie school (because of the lack of dreadlocks and paisleys).

We are looking into having the boys go three mornings a week from 9-1.  They would be doing math and literacy there at the school and then having lunch and recess (the best part!)  I would be doing everything else at home with them.  They could continue everything they are doing now but would have more structure to their days.  I am sure they would get more done and we would get a better idea on where they are and what they need to work on.  And I would have more time to plan, less pressure, more space in my head and perhaps a bit more balance in my life.

Avery is thrilled - a schedule?  (do you know he tries to put me on a schedule... but I always rebel - I HATE schedules)

Connor doesn't like change although he does like the teacher and the idea of being around other kids and of course the all-important recess.

Sounds good doesn't it?

They are going on Monday to try it out.

Class Pictures

One thing I certainly miss with homeschooling is class pictures.  I just love class pictures.  You have the cute kids, the obnoxious kids, the making silly faces kids, the scared looking kids etc etc etc.  You can just scan those faces over and over again.

I do get pictures from the preschools the kids have attended though and I was very excited when the princess brought home her first class picture this week  *sigh*  how did she get so big?

 

Our little beauty is the on the bottom right.