The First Weekend of Our Road Trip, Autumn 2011

We were on the road before the sun rose on the first day of Autumn.  Leaving the beach, we were dressed to keep warm, then hours later we found ourselves in the desert and so hot!  The first thing we wanted to do was to cool off when we reached our destination in Arizona.  It was a long car ride to Grandma and Grandpa's new home in Prescott Valley and we were so thankful there was a pool to jump into.  This was our first visit and a busy weekend it was.



We browsed around at the antique market set up on the grass in front of the court house .

My man, Garrett

Garrett showing Julia and James how to dial an "old fashion" telephone.

Hi Grandma and Grandpa!

Candle Making

 

First sign of fall in Prescott Valley.

 

Sedona, AZ

Slide Rock

Walking into slide rock park...

So slippery! 

Garrett sliding...

Dam holding back a little fishing pond in Prescott Valley...

Old water pumps at the pond...

And a little hike at the pond...

Julia found a heart shaped rock!

Julia and James having fun on their scooters at their Grandparent's home...

 

Third Day of School Pictures

"That the child should be taken daily, if possible, to scenes--moor or meadow, park, common, or shore--where he may find new things to examine, and so add to his store of real knowledge"   Charlotte Mason (Vol. 1, p. 177).

Our new school year began the day after Labor Day.  Daddy had the first day, the next two belonged to me, with Daddy ending the week.  The weather was the most beautiful of all the summer days.  After our morning routine and early lessons, we took a break out of doors to renew by breathing in the ocean air, romping in the waves, and running barefoot in the sand.  These pictures were taken on our third day of school. 

 

We are on the road now, living that quote above to add to our store of real knowledge.  We began our journey four days ago with our first days spent in Prescott Valley, in the new place Grandma and Grandpa(my man's parents)will call home. We have done some local exploring and lots of eating out!  After church yesterday, exploring the town square of Prescott, and a wonderful brunch, we went to the movie theater to see Dolphin Tale (see post below).  It was such a good movie!  I'll post some pictures of this weekend soon.  I'm off to bed now.  Tomorrow we are on the road for the day. 

 

Dolphin Tale

A family movie opening on September 23rd
I just read all about it here

(first pause MOZART on my playlist found on the right side)

Our Homeschool

"Books in the study, books in the drawing room, books in the cloakroom, books (two deep) in the great bookcase on the landing, books in a bedroom, books piled high as [a child's] shoulder in the cistern attic, books of all kinds..., books readable and unreadable, books suitable for a child and books most emphatically not."
From the childhood home of C.S. Lewis

My husband thinks we have too many books, I think we can always find room for more:)

Making final preparations for our new homeschool year, starting tomorrow.

Our weekly schedule:
(Now I must pencil in our plan for the week)

Cake Pops

We made CAKE POPS for Grandma's birthday. Happy Birthday MOM! Julia and James had fun making the pops, but most of the fun was the sampling I think:) A recipe can be found here.

Swim

End of summer swim lessons
last day 8/28/11

Julia and James love to swim and to give them more pool time we signed up for the last session of swim lessons, daily for two weeks. It was neat to see their improvement in such a short amount of time; they were having so much fun it was a bummer to see it end so soon. I want them to swim on through the year to grow and become strong swimmers, while not waiting for next summer to start anew. We look forward to lessons again, beginning when we arrive home from our road trip.