August Schmaugust!

I’m not real thrilled that it is August. This is the month that school is supposed to start at LAKE Academy… our homeschool.  I am at the lake currently (Lake Tahoe) and I am slightly getting inspired to start thinking about getting ready to begin maybe planning some of our curriculum, being that we are studying a few national parks this year that are also in California with huge redwood trees like the ones I am staring at out the window.  I am the most unready of all 11 of my previous Augusts.  And I am almost okay with that.  Almost.

Guilt tried to consume me last night in the 27 seconds between my head hitting the pillow and when I was actually asleep.  But it was only 27 seconds of guilt and I had the presence of mind to ask God to rid my brain of said guilt.  He did… with sleep.  Today, in the wake of realizing that it is August THIRD, I did break out the coil-bound notebook that does have 2 1/3 pages of notes.  Those two-and-one-third pages are ALL I have planned so far for 10 months of study with my three pupils…. and it’s in outline form, so I do have a bit of work to do.  Only 137 1/3 blank pages awaiting my attention. One thing I have learned in my 11 years of homeschool planning, is that IF I plan all ten months before we start, we will NOT finish what I have purposefully painstakingly planned.  If I plan a few months or units at a time, I am FAR more inspired to be creative in small chunks throughout the year, knowing that we WILL finish what is planned.

Our upcoming school-year will consist of the study of seven national parks on the western side of the United States.  We plan to do between four and six weeks of study at home and then CAMP for a week at each of the parks.  THAT is my kind of homeschooling.  We are schooling with another family who is also close to normal, so it will all be just fine. Yes, it will be two wild-n-crazy homeschool moms camping with eight children ranging in age from 7 to 17.  Awesome!  She is a science geek and I am a history nerd, so most subjects will be covered with some art thrown in for good measure.  Geology.  Astronomy.  History.  Conservation.  Botany.  Dendrochronology.  Eco systems. Nature Journaling.  Art.  Oh yeah.  This is the type of homeschooling that I have only dreamed of for 11 years.  Please stay tuned to see if it’s all I think it’s cracked up to be.

G R A D U A T I O N ! ! !

We did it!  We successfully got one whole child through homeschooling.  This is a monumental achievement for a homeschool mom.  We wonder all along if this day will ever come.  We hope and pray that we aren’t wrecking the kids by doing this ourselves.  And that right there is the key…. I never felt like I was doing this by myself.  It was me, and my terribly supportive husband, my co-op mamas, our support group, the state organization (Arizona Families for Home Education) and mostly God, who called us to this way of life and education 12 long years ago.

I have no regrets for choosing homeschooling.  All the sacrifices and tears have been worth it…. every little bit.  I do have a few regrets involving course choices and follow through, which we all encounter our first time.  I have learned from my mistakes and have already made corrections for guinea pig #2 who just finished his first year of high school.

I liken the homeschool journey similarly to childbirth.  The painful memories diminish as the joys grow each day.  Truly my happy homeschool experiences outweigh the horrible ones 100 to 1, for which I am stupendously thankful.  Our family is close and we love each other.  We love being together.  We love playing games together and they don’t end in yelling matches or wrestling fights.  We even love vacationing together.  Secretly, the kids even love learning together, but they try to keep this under raps.

The great news is that I am still looking forward to planning next year!  I still love homeschooling.  I love being with my kids.  I love learning and teaching.  However, it is with great relief in my ever-loving-heart that I have exactly 81 days of NOT homeschooling ahead of me.  They will be busy days of summer movies, packing and planning for college for our graduate, swim parties, a 9-year-old birthday celebration, a marriage retreat, a relaxing vacation to the beach and then Tahoe, the homeschool convention and a visit to friends in Kansas and Colorado.  I have waited for THIS DAY…. June 4, 2012 for a Loooooooong time.  It arrived.  I am beyond elated.  :o)

The Countdown has Begun!

As I sat writing all the family birthdays in my new Greece calendar, filled with cerulean seas, cobalt domes and whitewashed walls, I realized that the countdown to nights away from home has begun!  It’s 15!  I know some people have to travel for work, and they don’t love it, but I work/live/breathe/sleep/teach in the same four walls day in and day out.  No mistaking it, I love it… but time away from home brings joy to my globetrotting soul.  I have imagined that the perfect job for me would be to travel the world and write reviews of far off lands for future vacationers.

There is a night coming this month… only one night.. but still, I look forward to it with my hubby.  The first of March there are four glorious days marked on the calendar for Scrapping in the Pines with my girlfriends.  It is supposedly a scrapbooking retreat… but less and less scrapbooking is accomplished as the years go by.  It should probably be renamed Being Lazy in the Pines….   THAT is a true holiday….. no kids, no cooking, no bedtime, no cleaning, no agenda (other than posted mealtimes)… no wonder it calls my name every six months!  Last September we watched 8 or 9 movies!  Couch Potatoes unite!  It was sublime.

Rick and I endured one of those time-share sales pitches to “win” a free cruise… with some strings attached, of course.  But the strings are cheap cheap cheap for the eight-day trip.  I like bunk beds!  We are awaiting to see if it will be the Western Caribbean in March or Alaska in June.  I’m REALLY hoping for white beaches and not white whales…. but alas, it is also my husband’s 25th wedding anniversary… so I was the nice wife (not the crabby wife) and let him choose one destination.  He’s a true Canadian with ice in his veins.

Our annual trip to Lake Tahoe has moved to August this year…. which is fantastic for us living in Phoenix, right next door to hell in the summer.  And our son, who is cycling again after the broken arm the week before Christmas, has a couple of races that may require over-night stays… can you see how high my hand is raised to volunteer to escort him???  I feel some mother-son bonding around the corner.  I’ll wear whatever t-shirt they want me to!

So, school drudgery is laid to rest each time I peer at the highlighted days in my purse daytimer.  By the end of February the kids will be wondering why I keep taking the daytimer into the bathroom so often.  It’s my own version of Calgon.

(Steve) Austin = Bionic Man

Once again, my motherly buttons have burst and are scattered all over the floor.  My 14-year-old son never ceases to amaze me with his drive, determination and athletic ability.  This past Tuesday Austin and his dad rode around Lake Tahoe…. 72 miles of hills… including a 1200 ft. incline.  Not my idea of a good time, AT ALL.  But hey, if it floats their boats, more power to ‘em.  BUT, get this,…… one day of pain and agony was not enough.  Austin wanted to beat the five-hour time with his father slowing him down, so he rode around the lake a second time on Thursday.  His father drove the pace car and handed out granola bars when needed.  Austin shaved more than an hour off his time.  No big surprise!  Three hours and 56 minutes. 

As his mother, I’m so proud of his incredible perseverance…. WAY more drive than my husband or I have….. or ever did have!  We don’t actually know where this drive originated from.  Maybe it goes back to Austin’s 1/4 Native Indian heritage WAY back when they had to run after buffalo or moose or some other wild animal…. for days on end.  But that was for survival, not thrills-a-minute.  I don’t get it.

Here are some more photos for your viewing pleasure.  :o)

There we are.  The proud parents.  See!  There’s no buttons left on our shirts.

Vacations are Underrated!

Every year we come to Lake Tahoe during the summer…. it is honestly a little slice of heaven on earth.  The temperature is particularly inviting because we abide in Phoenix…. the Valley of the Sun.  I happened upon the weather at home today and it was a blistering 114.  It was a balmy 76 here at the lake… with a light breeze… and slightly cloudy skies that randomly hid the sun from view. It is sublime.

As a homeschool mom, you would assume that my life is somewhat lackadaisical with relaxed schedules and leisure time at hand.  Not so.  Imagine the pressure of your four children’s education resting solely on your shoulders.  It’s A LOT to think about…. and more so than not, why I completely appreciate our time in Tahoe.  I do not bring one iota of school with us. OK, that was a lie.  I did bring two audio books from our literature list next year.  OK, AND a small reader.  After being away from our home for approximately 35 minutes, I realized that the audio books were useless because we no longer possess a functioning portable CD player.  My driving shift started at 2:30 a.m. ….. when I was not afforded the luxury of using the car stereo for my American History literature choices…. simply because four other people wanted to sleep at 2:30 am.  How selfish.

The 1850s novel I’m reading purely for pleasure has been cracked open but once during the past three days on the lake.  How have I been busily spending my time, you ask? Relaxed in the sand I stared in a catatonic state at the crystal blue water for several hours.  Perched on the couch I gazed at the aqueous goodness beyond the patio doors for long periods of time.  Parked at the kitchen table I played game after game after game after game. Today we all walked into town.  TWO whole miles one way… uphill… in the snow (well, it would be snowing in January, but we are here in June.)

Somehow the cerulean water calms my spirit.  Surprisingly, breathing is easier up at 7,500 feet due to lack of stress.  This scenery allows me to collect myself and ease off of the pressures of home.  Vacations are WAY underrated in my humble opinion.

Tahoe Day 8: Hiking

Fallen Leaf Lake, just east of Emerald Bay, has a flat and easily hiked trail that leads from campsite 78 to the lake.  It wasn’t until 4:00 pm that we arrived… it was a bit further than it looked on the map.  Personally, I don’t think the map was drawn by anyone who understands perspective or proportions.  Anyway, despite the 45 minute drive, the scenery was spectacular.

There were two paths that diverged in the woods from which to choose, and yes, we quoted the Robert Frost poem.  Being a lover of safety rules and caution, we took the one most traveled… AND marked with orange and blue plastic streamers so we couldn’t get lost unless we really tried.

No matter where we go, or what we do together, there is always much laughter and frivolity… especially with these three giggly girls. Can you guess which one is a forest ranger?

With seven kids between our two families, we do much switching and swapping of children when traveling together.  We had the boys the first half of the day and then Austin moved to the other car, or so I thought.  The last time I saw him, he was heading to the bathroom (term used lightly) at the Fallen Leaf campground with his father.  I only witnessed his father’s return, but was informed the my eldest son did indeed trade vehicles.  Forty-five minutes later, we are in the Safeway parking lot in Tahoe City and I watch the other car drive by and I don’t see Austin.  As any good mother, I was sure that we had left him back at the campground.  I texted my friend to ask if they had Austin.  It didn’t go through.  Patiently I sat in the van awaiting my husband’s return from the grocery store…. to inform him that we are horrible, no good, very bad parents and left our 13-year-old son FORTY-FIVE miles back, and didn’t notice until now.  Then Austin came out of the store with his dad and all was well.  I’m still an OK mom, who has only left one child one time in the McDonald’s playland… but that was YEARS ago.  Don’t judge me.  It’s not like I drove away.  A kind lady came out of Micky D’s holding his 2-year-old hand and asking if he was mine.  I said yes, and tried to convince her that I would have figured it out when I did up all the car seats.  See!  Only once in 16.5 years.

“A Bear… Over There!”

This was half of our excitement last night here at Lake Tahoe.  I’ve seen bears on sheets, towels, mugs, rugs, paintings and every gimmicky trinket you can buy at souvenir shops in Tahoe…. but never in the YARD!  Eleven of us were gathered around the dinner table when one of the children pointed out the back door and yelled, “There’s a bear!” Sure enough.  Walking along the top of the six-foot fence that separates this yard from Leonard Nimoy’s yard was a black bear… although not the bear in the blurry photo above.  The bear on the fence looked to be a bit bigger than a cub…. maybe 200 pounds of black fluff.  All cuddly and huggable!  We all ran for cameras and headed for windows facing the back fence.  Sadly, for the photo-op, the bear jumped into Nimoy’s yard and we couldn’t see it any more.

However, another photo opportunity was available out the front door!  Yes, the bear above was captured on Kodak… about 30 feet from our van.  This bear, my Native Indian husband estimated, weighed about 600 pounds.  (Hopefully, mentioning his Native status will add some credibility to his weight guess…. not that he’s ever weighed a black bear, or any bear for that matter.)  Possibly she was the mama of the backyard bear.  Who knows?

There was another couple out in the front road also watching the bear roam through the brush leading to the next door park.  I told the children to stay inside the gated front yard while their father ventured out to get photo proof.  The female stranger said to me in a kind voice, “The bear won’t hurt you.”  WHAT?  She has obviously not watched Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom.  I have.  My children were not venturing out for a closer peak.  This was not the zoo.  I think she may have thought she was at the zoo, minus the protective barriers.  Yes, the bears at the zoo are this close.  But there are FENCES and MOATS in between us and the wild animals, not flat, clear ground easily and rapidly covered by a charging black bear.  Good grief.

Tahoe Traveling Tidbits

Somehow Crosby road trips never go down without a hitch… and I’m not talking about the trailer hitch.  What was supposed to be a 14 hour road trip turned into a 17 hour saga.  Of course, you are privy to the nitty-gritty details right here on MSJ! Lucky you.

Somewhere north of Coso Junction and south of Bartlett on Highway 395 in the interior of the great state of California we stopped for fuel and when I hopped out of the car, curious if I could still feel my feet, I heard a hissing noise.  Even though I needed to desperately visit the restroom, I silently investigated the sound until I determined that it was coming from the front left tire.  Not good.  No, not good at all.  I informed Captain, My Captain, and went inside.  My husband did indeed solve the problem somewhat temporarily with Fix-A-Flat …. and tire repair job in an aerosol can.  Amazing!  The hissing behind us, we ventured back onto the 395.

Sadly, a vibration began not long after the F-A-F was sprayed into the tire.  The vibrating increased until Bishop, CA.  We love Bishop, CA.  If you haven’t been there, you are missing not only the certified purest water in the nation, but an award-winning bakery with the Original Sheepherder Bread and a lovely park with a creek and baby duckies. We stop there every year… both directions.  It has remarkable views of the Sierra Nevadas to the west and another nameless mountain range to the east… and snow-covered peaks.  Lovely sight to behold.

A tire shop was needed… badly.  Rick decided to leave Larisa, Keeve, Trixie (the dog) and myself at the wonderful park and take Austin to go find a tire.  We didn’t really plan the park adventure very well.  We had no cell phone, no watch, no money, no knowledge of where Rick and Austin went, no food and we discovered later, no cardboard or sharpie pens to make signs that read “Stranded, Starving, Sad.”  We figured we could make a few bucks while we waited, but no.  We weren’t even prepared for that!  Larisa did have two water bottles, but at 91 degrees, they didn’t last long. 

At the park, we were resting peacefully (before the panic, the realization that we were indeed stranded, and the hunger set in) on a bench watching mothers and toddlers feed the ducks in a small lake.  The scene was right out of some romantic movie with Weeping Willow trees, a gazebo and everything, except I was on the park bench with my daughter, son, and our dog, not my lovable husband.  Anyway, Trixie was behaving quite nicely….. until a maintenance man drove by on a golf cart.  She took off like a shot, between my legs, under the bench and after the man.  Her leash is one of those retractable thin rope kind that only work on dogs less than 12 pounds.  Stupidly, I grabbed the rope and felt the burn on my pinky finger almost immediately, but not quite fast enough to let go and be free from rope burn.  Owwwie!  Stupid dog.  Now I was stranded and wounded.

We moved to the bakery patio on main street, hoping to see our van shortly… with a new tire.  The kind lady behind the counter, wearing the little Dutch white hat pinned to her hair, did fill our water bottles several times for us.  And there were samples put out every 20 minutes of sticky buns, chili cheese bread, the award-winning Sheepherder bread and shortbread cookies.  At least we wouldn’t go into a diabetic coma!  Well, come to find out.  It was while we were sitting at the bakery we realized the extent of our unpreparedness.  We did spy a cardboard box behind the store adjacent to the bakery that we could have used for a sign, but we still didn’t solve the no-sharpie pen problem.  We played “Name someone who has that car” for 90 minutes as each car drove by.  We named almost everyone we know, but in Bishop there are a LOT of truck drivers, so Pastor Dan and Regan won.

Eventually Rick did return and the tire with the hiss was not the vibrating problem at all.  The right front tire developed a bulge, probably because it was not receiving the same attention, love and care as the other front tire… so it caused the vibrating front end, hoping for some love.  So, two new tires later…. Rick came to save us and thankfully ended our bakery loitering situation.

See?  Crosby road trips are the BEST!

My Husband’s Cell Phone Photos

I’m not sure why it just happened.  I’m not sure how it happened.  I’m not even sure what happened.  But four years worth of pictures from my husband’s cell phone just appeared in our computer’s picture file.  It was an entertaining trip for me down memory lane.  A guy’s cell phone pictures really tell the heart of the man like no other.  Please try and stick it out to the end….  a photo montage of Rick’s most important moments, captured on his cell phone!  (Feel the excitement!)

First up, the plane he flies.  (You are being spared from the 47 pictures of clouds and props and other planes.)  Twin engine Turbo Commander.  “The belly dragger”.

Our youngest son in a pot.  (This is OLD… probably four years old. I haven’t shaved his head in years.)

Me on the phone.  I don’t know who added the words… I doubt it was Rick.

Ok, had to put one landing strip on here to represent all the others…..  I have no idea where this is.  And shouldn’t he be holding the yoke with both hands???

Rick’s mum at Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia.  Cool Picture!

A field of wild sunflowers.  (See!  He is a romantic at heart!)

At a Capitals vs. Coyotes game.  Alexander Ovechkin leaving the ice… Keeve is the brown headed kid on the left side.  He got to TOUCH Ovie!

And of course, Sidney Crosby holding up Lord Stanley’s cup in June…. the youngest captain in the history of the NHL to win the cup.  Made Rick proud…  obviously… he took a picture of the TV with his cell phone!

Rick’s favorite place.. on Earth, I think.  Lake Tahoe.  There were MANY pictures of the lake! 

And lastly, our three darling children in amongst the lupine at Lake Tahoe.  There were probably 10 of these… and THIS really is the best one.  Simultaneous smiles without squinty eyes are hard to come by with these three.

There you have it, folks.  Out of 293 pictures, these pretty well sum it up.  The life of a pilot, hockey playing/coaching, husband and dad.  In less than ten minutes too!  Not bad.

I’m Back in the BFZ Groove

I’ve envisioned a shabby chic denim and pink floral Bag for Zaza for many months.  I made the flap tonight.  So cute… if you like shabby chic and denim…. with cutesy heart buttons and yellow chenille rick-rack.  I also have a little girls size 2 denim skirt to make into a little princess’ bag for her treasures.  AND Darla, my friend who wants a denim bag, came over and picked out all the coordinating fabric for her bag…. last November, maybe December.  Anyway, I don’t have a blinkin’ thing to do these days, so I’m on a roll, baby.  AND I’m playing my “Learn Spanish in Your Car” CDs while I’m sewing.  Oh, I feel so productive even typing that….. now to remember the words in el español.

I didn’t comment much on our recent trip to Lake Tahoe, but there were, as per usual, entertaining stories that emerged.  My personal favorite came from garage saling, which we have continued the Saturday morning Tahoe tradition again this year.  Last year we came home to PHOENIX with such useful items as a snowboard, an orange butterfly quilt, a bee-bee gun, a $2 prom dress, a Beetles black wig, a purse shaped like a Chinese take-out box, butterfly sheets and a 1920 Singer sewing machine (minus the most important part to make it work).  I rolled my eyes as most of those purchases were made.  THIS year there was a higher level of eye rolling….. oh, Rick should be grounded from garage saling.  We came home with two pair of snowboarding boots (Rick and Larisa), an entry rug, a pink oriental little shirt (BFZ!), a green coat (Larisa), Vans tennis shoes, and Rick hit the jackpot:  a garage sale run by a sweet little widow who was selling her deceased husband’s clothing… ALL Rick’s sizes.  He got a really nice NEW pair of brown leather shoes.  No eye rolling there.  I kept pointing out other things to Rick like red plaid house slippers and white church shoes… with a matching belt.  He was satisfied with the brown shoes.

Anyway, Rick wore the shoes to church this morning and being the loving wife that I am, I pointed them out to one of his friends.  Of course I said they were a dead man’s shoes.  How could I pass that one up?

Back to the sewing machine y mis lecciones españolas. ¡Dios me ayuda!  (God, Help me!)