How We Roll!

Before it got so stinkin' hot out, we spent several mornings outside, swinging and reading our book.  The kids loved being read to this way.  It was actually easier for me because everyone was attentive and not wanting to be doing anything else.   Loving that "school" for us insn't confined to a classroom, but rather we try to learn wherever we are!  And that's how we roll!

The post in which I explain how I survived!

 Hi, I'm Jamie and I survived the climb up this!!  It's the Bunker Hill (actually called Breed's Hill) monument in Boston.  It was 294 steps of out of breathness, leg achiness and children pushiness.  But I did it!!  I went with just Noah and Abby.  Daddy (that lucky nut) was sitting with a sleeping Joshua in the car.  The kids were nothing if not mean about my slow ascent.  I mean come on, it's a lot of steps.  Once we hit 100, I made them stop every 25 for a quick breather!!  Abby told me going down I wasn't allowed to stop.  But I did.  It's hard going down too!! We did get a great view of the city from up there (even if it was rainy and foggy) although there was a huge drain in the center of the floor up at the top that scared me to death and I would not let the kids go near it!! (It dropped allllll the way down!!).  I had wiggly jello legs afterwards but I was glad we did it.  My legs however were furious!!  So much so that for the next few days if I wanted to even step up on a curb, I paid for it!!  So here's some pics of the view and the kids at the top.

Just to give more appreciation for how tall it is, I took this picture as we drove past on the highway.  It's tall!!

Boston Common

We have so many pictures from our trip to Boston and Philadelphia, that I'm not sure where to start, but here's some from our visit to Boston Common.  We actually went twice, which is why you'll notice that the kids change clothes!  I loved Noah and Abby in their tri corner hats!!   Of course we talked about how the British had set up camps here in the years right before the Revolutionary War and that cows had grazed there at one point as well.  And that all the people we'd learned about from that time had walked these actual grounds like Samuel Adams, John and Abigail Adams, George Washington, Paul Revere, John Hancock.  Super cool!!

 I have pictures of Noah wearing this exact same coat, running in this exact same park, after the exact same (type) of animal-squirrels!!  My boys!!  So cute!  Of course, Noah's pics aren't digital, so I can't put them on here unless I take them out of the scrapbook, scan them in and load them.  I'm not doing that tonight.  Maybe another day!!



"Whas Zat?"  Joshua asks.  It's a squirrel Joshy!!



 The duck statues were something we really wanted to see as well.  We saw them on our first trip to Boston back in 2001 when Noah was Joshy's age.  We've even had a book on our bookshelves for many years now called "I'm Going to Boston to Visit the Ducks!".  I couldn't wait to give Abby and Joshua their turn on the ducks and of course to see Noah on them again!!

He seems a bit apprehensive!!



Just a finger!!



Awww, so cute!!!

 Ps, if you're at all interested, I did a "week in review" style post right below this one.  Just keep scrolling!

Week in Review May 9-13 2011

I've been wanting to do sort of "week in review" posts lately, mainly because I'm soooo behind in my scrapbooking that I fear if I don't write down what happens in our lives, I may forget it!!  So, while I may not get to it every week, I'm going to start now!

In schooling this week, the kids finished week 29 in spelling (3 weeks to go until book is finished).  Both kids had math tests and both got A's.  Abby does however need some help understanding fractions.  I need to get some hands on materials to work on that with her.  She can answer the questions correctly, but she doesn't understand the why part of it.  Noah is doing a unit on fractions as well, working to reduce them to their lowest common factor, adding and subtracting them, deciding if they're equivalent, etc..  He seems to be understanding pretty well.  We finished unit 2 in science about heavenly bodies (stars, asteroids, comets and meteors) did a meteor experiment, created comet artworks and took a quiz.  I was pretty happy with the level of comprehension there.  We finished our first unit in our new history books.  We did creation through the flood.  The kids made their own game called Creation Memory and the pretended to be Adam naming all the animals which really showed their creativity!!  We also made fossils of the kids feet and handprints.  We read "Adam and His Kin".  What a fascinating book.  We also finished reading "Emily's Runaway Imagination" by Beverly Cleary.  A cute, fun book and taught us a little about life in Oregon in the early 1900's.  We are doing our first writing unit in our new English books.  Noah is writing a compare/contrast essay and Abby is writing instructions for a game.  That is going very well.  I'm really liking our choice for that so far.  We also finished our first unit in our new Bible study, where we memorized Psalm 109: 6-10 and learned the hymn I Sing the Mighty Power of God along with our other studies.  It was a good week.

Other business:  We went to a new park (new to us) on Wednesday.  It's called the Patricia Allyn park.  It's between Lebanon and Centerville.  It's fabulous (pictures to come at a later date).  I loved it there and I think it may be one we frequent!  Abby had piano on Tuesday.  Her teacher was so impressed that last week Abby wrote out the check for our May payment.  She thought it was so cute to be in her handwriting!  We had a great evening Monday as we grilled out hot dogs, ate outside, planted two new trees and just played for awhile.  Noah had KidzMin on Wednesday and we had small group on Thursday (B), a great talk about trusting God in our marriages.  Friday night Abby and I went to Grammy's church (Steve's Mom) for a mother and daughter tea.  We arrived late due to a traffic tie up, but it was a nice evening anyway. 

Oh and I had a fabulous Mother's Day last Sunday!  I received homemade cards that were worth at least $5 each!!  I also got  a new canister set for the kitchen, something I've wanted for awhile.  I was pampered, loved on and doted on.  My husband even gave me a really long back rub.  It was a great day!

I think that's the highlights for this week!

Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

When we drove to Boston last month, we decided it would be fun, and only an hour or so out of the way, to drive through Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania!  In that part of Pennsylvania, there are many radio stations that play polka music.  It was awesome!!  It reminded us so much of the Groundhog Day movie, so we played the music, and made the trip into town.  We found that they are very much proud of their groundhog legacy, and show their adoration for that little brown guy all over the town.!

When we first arrived, we stopped at the huge welcome sign!

 I loved the groundhog car wash!  So cute!

 They have statue groundhogs all over the town like this guy.  Sort of like how Cincinnati has flying pigs.  This was actually a Phil statue right outside his burrow where he lives the other 364 days of the year.

 He's in there hiding!

 Do you see him, he's in the bottom?

 In the park where his burrow is, there are some cannons.  Noah was being silly and I wanted to show you more of the statues in the background.

 And a wooden groundhog. 

We only stayed a little while.  Saw Phil, drove around town, Joshua napped.   But it was one of those spontaneous moments that I just love.  It was a lot of fun.  I'm glad we did it.