School Room

We are homeschooling our children this year, and decided that it would work best to dedicate one room for all our materials. We turned our smallest bedroom into the school area, and now have two kids in each of the other bedrooms. A few weeks in, and I am so glad I made the decision I did. Too much clutter just makes me crazy, but with four kids and a fairly small house it is a constant battle. I love having a space where we can put everything, and a door I can just close to leave the mess of unfinished work and projects behind us. Now the kids do branch out and do their reading and other independent work wherever they want. The school room is just where we do all of our group activities and where I work with the kids one on one. It's most important function is truly storage. I just love having all the space and everything in one place. We started off schooling this month and have just been taking it slow. This week for example is VBS at our church so that is where we are spending most of our time and energy. Next week should be another school week, and then I hope to fit in at least one more family trip this summer. The homeschool part of our day only takes about two hours, so that still leaves tons of time for swimming pool trips and all kinds of other summer fun.

Miss Beth...I love this kid :) She's a second grader this year


All three of my little students. The toddler tornado wanders in and out as well. Big guy Matthew will be in first grade this year. He is reading on his own and is a math superstar. Little Carrie is 4 1/2 and in pre-k. We decided to send her back to the preschool she went to last year, so she will be there three mornings a week, as well as doing fun homeschool things with us.


Our planets. The picture doesn't do them justice. They glow and are so cool! I think they are my favorite thing so far. I am enjoying this as much as the kids.

Lazy Summer Days

What a great spot for popsicles and a good book. I love the little flower bed Beth made for her favorite stuffed kitty Socks. I'll be so sad when she is too old to tote Socks around everywhere.

Bahama Mama

I can't believe it is mid July already. This summer is just flying right by. I really plan on getting back into blogging this fall. Stay tuned for posts about our new school room and plans for the 2012/23 school year. In the meantime I want to share a little about the once in a lifetime vacation we took in June. A week in The Bahamas with 80 members of our extended family. Talk about awesome! I really have to being with our misadventures even getting there. I may never fly again. I just don't see how people regularly travel this way. It was craziness!

We left Friday afternoon and were supposed to fly direct to Florida, spend the night there, then get on a shuttle flight with all our family to the resort in the Bahamas. We went to the airport, got through security with no issues, and got on the plane. The kids were being great, especially considering it was the first flight B and M could remember, and K and C's first flight ever. We prepared for take-off and went to the runway. All of a sudden the pilot came on and said that we were no longer cleared for take-off and would be sitting on the runway for an indefinite amount of time. It ended up being about 2.5 hours. No a/c and no working bathrooms. At that point we returned to the airport and waited five hours as our flight is delayed. Finally they told us to begin boarding again. And then all of a sudden they announced that the flight is canceled. We waited several more hours trying to get another flight, and think we got one for the next morning at 7am. We get home about 11pm, I sleep until 1am, then get a call saying we didn't get the tickets, and there are no other flights the next day.
Soo..Saturday. I spent most of the morning on the phone, and  finally get tickets going to Fort Lauderdale with a connection in Charlotte. We could no longer get six tickets together. I sat Beth and Matt with strangers, and had to beg people to switch seats with us so one of us could sit with Carrie and Katy. Both flights were delayed several hours and our "overnight" in Fort Lauderdale turned into 1am to 4am. The kids were wiped out.
The next morning we were due to fly to Nassau in the Bahamas, where we would then take a flight to our resort. The shuttle only runs once a week from Fort Lauderdale so we had missed that and must find our own flights. The Florida flight is delayed four hours and we missed our connection. We got off in Nassau with no cell service, no knowledge of the island, and no idea what to do. We booked a flight for the next day, then went to a hotel. Which we called the "cat pee hotel." Hardly cared at that point!
That brings us to Monday. Monday morning we reported back to the "airport." And I say airport loosely because it's not a thing like flying in the states. You just wait outside on the runway. Our plane wouldn't start. Seriously... So then we got a flight on the "Pineapple Express" which was about a million years old and sat 19 people. One person on each side of the aisle. Despite my frayed nerves the flight is totally fine and we arrived two days late with no more issues.

Fast forward to the trip home...our shuttle flight is four hours late. Out of our family of 85 almost everyone, including us, missed our connections. We were able to get new tickets for later in the evening. That flight is delayed four hours and we arrive home at 2am. At least we made it!
The worst part? These airlines take no responsibilty for their lack of service. For all of our troubles only one airline and flight helped us rebook and gave us a hotel voucher. Everything else was us paying massive fees....and it was totally their faults! Jet Blue was the best. Spirit Airlines was awful, and United Airways wasn't much better. I just don't get how some people manage to fly all the time. For us it was totally unreliable and very very expensive. I don't plan to fly again unless we are leaving the country like that...even across the country I will dry.
Anyway....all that aside, the trip was FANTASTIC. Totally worth it. My kids were so good and I was so proud of them. The location was beautiful, there were lots of fun things to do, and we got to see relatives we hadn't seen in many years. I'm so thankful we had this chance. We went swimming, boating, snorkling, on a lagoon tour, so many cool things. And all the food (yummy!) and drinks (hello bar!) were included. Here are a few of my million pictures I took. Such memories!

Getting down to the wire

Beth and Matt have just three days left of school! They have had a lot of fun the last week or so with end of the year activities. They both had field day, where I ran a water relay booth. Then they had their school carnival, where they got free tickets and a free lunch for doing 100% of their homework. I was able to bring the little girls to that one, and they had fun playing games as well. Yesterday Matt had his kindergarten picnic, and spent pretty much the whole day outside eating and playing. Beth has her first grade picnic today. After that, two more days, and that will be it! Where has this year gone? We arrived in DC just days before the kids started school in August, and it has been craziness ever since. We've decided to homeschool them next year, so this will be it for a while. I'm looking forward to taking a nice long summer break, and then we'll pick up with homeschooling in late August or Early September.

Beth the bookworm in her school uniform. Quite a bit shorter than it was in August!


Kiddos at the school carnival


Matt playing at the kindergarten picnic

Memorial Day Camping

What a great weekend we had! Camping was so much easier this year, now that our youngest is just under two. She can actually walk around and play on her own, and boy did she have a good time. Matt and Beth have gotten to be pretty good swimmers too, so that was really nice. Carrie bounces in between digging in the dirt with Katy, and going out on the lake with a floatie. I'm looking forward to many more trips to come.

Air Show

There are times when raising children on a military base is nothing short of awesome. What a great weekend we've had! All this took place right down the street from my home. We walked over to tour all the planes, but could see (and hear!) the air shows from our backyard as well.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game....

Beth is seven, and is playing baseball for the Rangers. Matt is six, and is playing t-ball for the Red Sox. Both kids had their first game today and did very well. It was a perfect baseball day...hot and sunny. I slathered the kids with sunscreen, packed lots of water, toys for the two little girls, and off we went. This was Beth's first baseball game, now that she's aged out of t-ball, and she scored a run! I was so proud of her. She looks so tiny in her pink batting helmet with the ponytail hole in the back. She is back to being a small fish in a big pond, as her new team is  ages 7-9. I have to say that is was very cool watching the game right on the edge of the Potomac River, with the Washington Monument and the Capital Building in the background. Not to mention the National Airport, with it's constant stream of aircraft taking off and landing. I guess there is something to be said for city life after all.