Sunday, September 28, 2014

Must I?

The title space tells me to "POST TITLE" and I don't feel like thinking of a clever title. Not that I usually do...... 


Last day to swim at the local pool. 
We got there early and had to hang out in the woods. 


 Phoebe's soap beard. She's obsessed with beards. 
I don't know why.


 Phoebe and I went to an A Cappella night at church. She's the only one of the family who was interested in going, so we had a fun little night together. There were a variety of groups: soulful, harmonious, quartet, choir. Very enjoyable!



 Phoebe's fingers frame my face nicely. Good picture taking, honey.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Good Times

Harrison's first time on an airplane this past week. 

"Will the sun burn up the airplane?" 
"No, son."
"Good, 'cause I don't want to die."

"Will we fly to the end of the world?"
"No, son."
"Good, 'cause I don't want to die."

"We're going down!" (what he shouted as we were landing)

"They broke the wings!" (flaps up for drag for the landing)


(*A reminder that you can click on a picture to see it up close*)

He says Phoebe taught him this. It's a peace wave.


We're just arriving in Orlando. 
The guys are renting vehicles for the crew of 14.


You forget how much water Florida has if you've been living in a dry land. The kids loved the fountains. And I think one of them may have removed some wishing-well money.
Tsk, tsk. Whose child is that anyway?

This was the most vibrant rainbow I've ever seen. 
And we could see it from end to end while we were on the ferry.

I hope George doesn't mind that I practiced selfies with him in the background.



 Our old neighbors came to see us from Jacksonville. What a sweet treat! And Mrs. Peggy and Just Janet came to see us also. Hopefully someone got a good picture of them ~ all of mine were blurry.

This was a picture taken 6 years ago with the same crew (and some extra neighbors thrown in). Phoebe has the Nuk in her mouth, Jonathan is behind her and Liz behind him. Harrison wasn't born yet. Samuel and David are in the red jeep hanging off both sides. Kids change so much!


Elizabeth baked a cake for the friend occasion. This called for a blender being stowed away in our carry-on luggage. A blender. We brought a blender to Disney.

And some more sweet friends gave Phillip and I Thursday to ourselves: Mr. Gerald and Mrs. Elaine and Mrs. Ann. Here we are at Rainforest Cafe for supper.

 Our last day and I finally got a few pictures with the family who made it all possible. We sure appreciate their friendship.

 Bubbles while we wait. There wasn't a ton of waiting though. September is supposed to be a slow time of year for Disney, so it was nice to not have long lines. I think the longest we waited in a line was maybe 30 minutes and that was for only a couple rides.

Star Tours was my favorite!!! I rode it 6 times. 
Harrison's fave: Teacups.
Phoebe's fave: Star Tours.
Jonathan's fave: Space Mountain.
Elizabeth's: Star Tours and Soarin'. 

And Jonathan was impressive. He started out on the small roller coasters and kept moving up till he did even the scariest one (I think ~ he may have skipped one of them because Dad wasn't there to talk him into it.)  His dad encouraged him to keep trying and he would and he discovered he like them. Elizabeth and I kept our feet firmly planted on the ground, however. No roller coasters for us!


The littles at "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" play area.


And on our way back home. I told Alisa when we were all slung out at the airport waiting for a plane that it looked like we were coming back from a mission trip. Everyone's tired and worn and just wants to go home.

I guess Harrison did learn that from Phoebe.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Cabbage White Butterflies I


We're working with another homeschool family this year for a couple hours on Wednesdays to do some extras with the kids. Alisa works on writing and grammar and I work on some science experiments and nature study. We've used "Physics Lab in the Home" and, for the next 8 weeks, we'll be working on raising Cabbage White Butterflies. Mr. Matt (a science teacher friend) gave me lots of information and resources on how to do this, so I thought we'd blog our way through the butterfly experiment so he can see the pictures.

This is the butterfly home made of cardboard circles and netting. 
Plans found at Butterfly School

We thought of several ways we could draw the 14-inch diameter circle. 
WikiHow was helpful in this area: http://www.wikihow.com/Draw-a-Circle. 


The kids get to be the Illustrator, Recorder, or Photographer for the day.




Harrison and Emily are both four and kind of wander in and out and all about.


Too cool for school.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Kid Selfies


The kids tried their hand at selfies. 




And then non-selfies.