Summer Camp(S)!

This all started out so innocently.  The boys had such a great time at Westwood Farms Horseback Riding Camp last year we decided to have them do it again.  Then they wanted to stay the whole day.  That meant I would have to drive there twice, instead of hanging out, but Amber would get her nap... so we decided it would be okay. 

Then Lance and Matthew had done a three day baseball camp over Christmas that was offering a whole week over the summer.  That was hard to resist and it was conveniently the week before Horse Camp. 

Then I thought it seemed unfair that Jared was only attending one camp so I signed him up the week before Baseball Camp into a half-day Art Camp at the Orlando Museum of Art.  We had done many things with OMA in the past but leaving Jared alone would be new and a little stressful but it was art and only a half day I told myself.

So that's how I ended up with someone in camp for three straight weeks.  I congratulated myself on my planning thinking this would give me three weeks to do the stuff I needed to do before the new school year started....that was the error in my plan because for three weeks I was busy with kids at camp or those missing the kids at camp.  However, from the boys perspective it worked out great and really that's what it was all about anyway :-)

ART CAMP

Self-portrait

The first day we picked up Jared from camp he was so excited he couldn't contain himself.  He wanted to enthusiastically teach us and tell us all he had learned and experienced.  It was great to see!  He was a bit more sedate the rest of the week but no less excited.  By the end of camp he had some beautiful works of art to bring home and a greater appreciation for the art he sees.

Christ saying "It is Finished"

BASEBALL CAMP

Lance and Matthew had as much fun this summer as they had over the winter.  The Incinelli family really knows baseball and has a passion for teaching.  The camp went from 9am to 2pm in the sun so Lance was a bit more sedate/exhausted at the end of each day but no less enthusiastic.  I forgot to take any pics of them at camp but here's there Spring Ball pics I haven't posted yet.

HORSE CAMP

The boys absolutely loved being at camp.  In addition to riding, they cleaning the stalls, doing art, working out with Kyle, and helping out however they can.  They came home each day tired but with big smiles on their faces and stories about their day and their new friends.  Miss Janie and Miss Kassie had glowing reports each day on their behavior, which is always nice for a mother to hear.  The final day of camp they have a horse show to show off what they learned.  Lance won the Leadership Award and Jared won the award for Most Motivated.  It's no surprise they enjoyed camp, we alI like going to the "barn", as we call it, just to hang out, the atmosphere and the people are so awesome.  The barn is the only place we have found where the boys can learn some real old fashion responsibility in the city.  Learning to control a 1000+ animal is great for their self confidence and we think makes them more accomplished men.

Jared The Great Turns Eight!

Today was the big day he'd been counting down for all month.  He thought it would be a simple affair, as birthday's normally are around here.  However, we decided to throw him a surprise party after his swim lessons instead.

It was such a beautiful day, all the kids play great together and went back and forth between the pool and playground for a few hours.  Jared is such a friendly kid, making new friends where ever we go. It was a perfect end to an eventful year for our boy Jared.  Over this past year he has shown himself to be a young man who is quickly growing into a great man, who smiles in adversity.

His brother Lance wrote that Jared is "happy, loving, loud, silly...a super great brother....very special to me".  He clearly loves his brothers and sister very much. Amber has designated him her "huggy buddy".

His father wrote in his birthday card "I am very proud of you and admire the courage, bravery and strength you have shown in the past year".

Those two glowing reviews cover a lot of who Jared is but there is still more.

He's very intelligent and works diligently to successfully complete all his school work.  But he likes to have fun too and science experiments with dad are a favorite.  He told me the other day "I like experiments because something normal can turn into something unusual."  Very profound :-)

He has an inventor's mind. He likes to play with Legos/blocks(with intricate stories to go along with his creation), create art, play pretend, make new names/languages and has a basic desire to do everything differently.

In addition to swimming this year, he took up playing golf and riding...

But since Boston he has reached all new heights....

First time getting up in the tree.

His physical abilities have improved dramatically.  He does not tire quickly like he used to. He can swim, run, jump, and play with the best of them now. It's a great and humbling thing to see. We are looking forward to what adventures and great accomplishments happen in the next year for Jared!

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.  Numbers 6: 24-26

LOVE YOU JARED!!!!

2012-2013 Wrap Up

What an incredible year we had studying the ancients surrounding the old testament.  Lance in particular really enjoyed studying the Egyptians.  As my first time creating a history curricula, I would say it was a big success.  Another change was trying out the note-booking method with our Astronomy Curricula; that too was a big success and something we will take further in the coming year.  A final big change was having the Lance and Jared take a nationally standardized test in addition to our normal evaluations.  I was very pleased to see that they achieved top scores in Math and Reading Comprehension and scored average or above in all other subjects.  I cannot say I was surprised at the results, but it was a nice confirmation that their strengths and weaknesses lie exactly where I thought.  This knowledge gives me comfort that I am on target with what I thought was going well and what I think needs more concentration in the coming year.

In addition to ending our school year, May also brought our baseball season to an end.  Lance and Matthew played together on the Minor (10 & under) Rays.  As is their nature they had a great time; win or lose. Matthew plays first base and also pitches. Lance mostly plays catcher and they are both playing very well.

Titus is also looking forward to his future in baseball as a catcher.

Shenandoah Vacation - Final Days

We wrapped up our vacation with a visit from our friends.  They arrived at the resort shortly after we returned from Monticello and stayed in a Yert across from our cabin (they are more adventurous than us).  We did some swimming that night, talked and just hung out together.

The next day, Gary helped the boys all do some fishing, Chris took two out on the kayak and we went on a Pontoon ride around the lake.  Funny part was that we were all having so much fun we forgot to take many pictures.  That evening we went back to the pool, fed the horses again and tried to identify the constellations (that's the homeschooler in us).

The next day we all checked out and went our separate ways.  Our friends continued their 50 state tour, we headed back to the Amtrak and Auntie Susie headed for few days in the forest followed by a visit with family in Ohio.  So glad we finally made it to Shenandoah we will definitely be coming back.

Shenandoah Vacation - Monticello

We tried to alternate staying one day at the resort and driving around the next during our vacation.  Today was another driving day and the destination was the historic home of Thomas Jefferson - Monticello.

Bet this wasn't the picture you expected to see, it's not what we expected either but boy were we pleased.This is just part of the extensive gardens.  Since we walked up to the house from the visitors center instead of taking the shuttle we got to truly appreciate all the gardens.  As we explored each of the boys took a turn at taking pictures of each other and the gardens.

They have detailed garden tours where they explain all the incredible variety of plants on the estate.  I would love to take that tour some day, but this time we only did the house tour and explored the grounds ourself.

Lance's special six leaf clover.

The house tour was incredible and very child friendly.  Over 90% of the house furnishings are original and the stories told along the tour were fascinating.  What was really neat was that back at the visitors center (among many other adult museum exhibits), they have a kids museum.  The hands on museum includes many replicas of the things kids would like to touch on the house tour; including his copy machine, along with areas for acting out the life of the workers on the estate.

We will definitely being going back someday when the kids can appreciate all the exhibits, there was so much to see you could easily spend more than one day.

Shenandoah Vacation - Wagon Ride

After the rains of the previous day they trails were too slippery to go horseback riding but they were just right for a wagon ride around the resort.  Duke and Doc lead us around the resort while our guide Sam told us all about the history of the resort and the area.  We were amazed that big as the horses were they were not full grown and would gain another 1,000lbs.  Chris has always had a special fondness for draft horses and we would feed and visit these horses many times during our visit.

As you can see Titus wiggled his way to the co-pilot position.

After the wagon ride we ate lunch and played games at the cabin.  Then in the afternoon we went back to the marina, this time for the boys and I to take out a kayak. 

On our paddle we saw a huge snapping turtle eat a chicada off the surface of the water, baby bunnies run back to their home and more geese.  After the paddle the boys wanted to see how close they could get to the geese. Eventually they got too close and the daddy goose turned and chased them much to the amusement of the adults.

Shenandoah Vacation - Luray Caverns

We were glad we had spent the previous day exploring the resort because it called for rain all the next day.  I had heard about a place nearby called Luray Caverns but I don't think we would have made it had it not been for the rain.  So thankful for rain.

Not having been to an underground cavern before I had no idea what to expect.  They said the tour would take about an hour and we would wind through a mile long path that was up to 300 ft below ground in certain parts.  I had concerns about air quality and claustrophobia but both turned out to be unfounded.

We gathered as a group with a tour guide to explain the formation and history of the caverns but we shortly gave up trying to hear (there were too many people talking) and fell back to enjoy the peace and beauty of the caverns by ourselves.  It is impossible to explain how incredibly awe struck we all were by their beauty.

The admission to the cavern also included admission to a really neat "History of the Automobile" museum, a toy museum and the beginnings of a recreation of the town from the 1800s.  Here the boys patiently watched a blacksmith at his craft and since they were the only kids to stay for the whole presentation they the blacksmith gave them the decorative spoon he was making.  Then they found the town bell and over used it a bit, the kind people just told them if they kept ringing it would call the local bears down from the mountain :-)

It was a wonderful day, full of all kinds of new experiences and some fascinating thick fog on our way back to the cabin.

Shenandoah Vacation - Lewis Falls

After spending the previous day loafing around the resort we were ready to do some real hiking.  We headed out to the Shenandoah National Park.  I had done much research prior to our vacation to choose trails with interesting objectives that would be within our groups physical abilities.  All that is to say we chose the Lewis Falls Trail which is a 3.3 mile trail (if you do the whole thing or a lot shorter if you take the short cut we found in a travel book) to an 81 foot waterfall and back.  The shorter version was plenty for our group considering the elevation change.

We got a little lost finding the alternative trail head but that worked out for the best because we were able to use the restroom at the lodge and buy sweatshirts.  We forgot that things are often cooler at higher elevations and forgot to bring jackets (Ooops).  


When we did get there, we were amazed at the general quiet of the place.  We have hiked a lot in the Smokey Mountains and there's generally the hum of civilization at least the first few miles of a trail.  However, here there was very little traffic on the roads or in the air, it was awesome.

Shortly into our hike we found what looked like a mine entrance but was really a disguised door to a water pump, but the boys were interested in both.  Then we smelled a skunk but thankfully didn't see it.

Along the trail I was fascinated by the huge variety of fauna.  It seemed like someone had taken a lot of the "house plants" I knew and planted them along the trail.  I kept stopping to truly smell the flowers.  

The boys were fascinated with climbing the huge rocks all around.  "Titus get back on the trail please" was a frequent request.

Getting over the top of the falls to get to the look-out to actually see the fall of the falls was a challenge but we all made it, though some dryer than others.

On the way back we continued to notice different plants and insects; then toward the end of the trail we started to smell the skunk again.  When all of a sudden Susie yells "Bear!".

Our mystery skunk smell was actually a juvenile black bear just off the trail that must have gotten in a tussle with a skunk.  Amber was asleep in the backpack so Chris moved in a little to get these nice photos.  The rest of us stayed on the trail and watched.  It was so AWESOME to see a bear on our first hike! 

He looked so silky soft I just wanted to pet him but I restrained myself.

As we watched the bear we talked with some other hikers about what they'd seen that morning and one gentleman with his dog mentioned seeing a snake. Titus quickly told him it was a Black Racer.  Sure enough he said it was, Titus had been the only one to see the snake shortly before the bear, not bad for a four year old.

Titus and Sue hiking the Appalachian Trail

The girl woke up shortly after the bear ran off and we went to the visitor center for a nature break and lunch.  Amazingly the meal wasn't bad and the boys(with Aunt Susie's help) began their collection of park pins, a fun new family tradition.