Throwing Marshmallows

I missed Wordless Wednesday (again!) but decided to post this anyways. I took this picture while playing miniature golf with the boys in Ocean City, Maryland. The golf place had an Aztec theme with a great temple. Gotta love the colored blue water.

Ha! And you thought that this was going to be a post about Jeff….nope! Not this time anyways…

This is a post about…politics! Yes politics. I have to admit that I am not overly enthused overall with the Democrats. Don’t get me wrong, they are way better then the Bush crowd (but in my opinion it does not take much to jump over that bar), but I am just sick of everyone playing “the game”. I would make a horrible politician. And to be honest with you, I want to find someone to support and believe in who is NOT a “politician”. Someone who actually has core beliefs that are not dictated by a poll and who is willing to stand up for those beliefs. OK…I guess that you could say that technically Bush does that (of course since I don’t agree with him on just about anything it comes across to me more like stubborness!), so I guess that I should add in the caveat that I want them to share at least some of my values and beliefs. Yes, I am an idealist…another reason why I am probably not suited to politics.

So where is the love, you are asking? And for whom? Who is keeping my hope alive there is a chance that I will not have to become totally disillusioned with politics?

Barack Obama of course. I just read another interview with him and I honestly think that he is the real deal. A politician who is in it for the right reasons. Who is not out to just “win” for the sake of winning and beating the other guy. Who is out there because he wants to accomplish things and make this country a better place (for everyone…not just a select few with hopes that the “good times” will trickle down to the masses). I believe him when he talks about his faith and his core values. And I share those core values. And I am in love. With a politician.

So I am counting down the days (20!) until his new book comes out:

Why did you call your new book “The Audacity of Hope”? Why is hope audacious?Because we live in some tough times. Because when you look around the world you see crisis in Darfur, you see conflagrations in the Middle East, you see political polarization at home, you’ve got environmental crisis, 46 million without health insurance, inner-city children that are trapped in despair. So you know I think it is easy sometimes to say that there is nothing much we can do about it. And you know that the title is a line that I got from a sermon my pastor gave once, which made the point that sometimes it’s easier to be cynical and give up hope. But part of our character as a nation has been a sense of optimism, a sense that we can overcome.

Yes, I may be naive and an idealist. And I used to feel guilty about that. But you know what? The world needs idealists like me.

And we need politicians who believe in ideas and getting things done. Who wants to help people. All people. Like Barack Obama.

~Stephanie

Tags: barack, obama, politics, The Audacity Of Hope, democrats

As I mentioned earlier, we took a trip to Williamsburg earlier this week. A local homeschool group (REACH for those of you who are local) coordinated getting a substantial homeschool discount at the Great Wolf Lodge (a lodge and indoor water park) during Colonial Williamsburg’s Homeschool Week (when tickets are $5 instead of $33). I had been meaning to do this in years past, but had not been able to for various reasons. I am so glad that we made it this year!

We got down to the Great Wolf Lodge on Sunday around 3pm. Even though our room was not ready yet, they let you go into the waterpark. The boys loved it. Wave pool, water slides, indoor and outdoor pools, you name it. We bumped into 6 or 7 other families from the NoVaUnschoolers group. None of us knew that the others were coming down (obviously we need to coordinate better!)

Around 5pm, I went to check on our room. Turned out that instead of giving us the room next to my in-laws (like they had told us they would at check-in) we were down the hallway quite aways. I asked them about getting something closer (not making a big deal about it, but wondering if it was possible). They ended up upgrading our room! Instead of a suite with 2 queen beds, we wound up with a suite with 2 queen beds, a separate bedroom with a king bed and a nice little dining area! How cool is that!

We did the buffet for dinner (I don’t recommend it…not bad, just not that great). That evening the boys checked out the arcade. They had fun, but found out that you need to score way more points to get anything decent (the arcade on the Boardwalk in Ocean City actually has decent prizes for a very small amount of points).

On Monday, we headed over to Colonial Williamsburg. I wasn’t sure about how much the boys would enjoy it - although early American History is one of my favorites, previous attempts to interest the boys have met with mixed results and not too much enthusiasm. Turns out they did enjoy it!

We decided to rent costumes (based on comments from other homeschoolers who had gone before) and I am glad that we did. The boys liked carrying the wooden guns and they also received a letter with a list of tasks that they were supposed to do. This really added an extra dimension that the boys enjoyed. It was also nice because the reenactors paid special attention to them when they went anywhere - asking them questions or making comments.

Waiting for the Bus With Grandma Elms

We started off at the Magazine - Jason enjoyed seeing the guns and cannon.

Listening with Grandpa Elms

We then headed down to the Post Office for the boys first task. They were to take a letter to the Printer. They delivered the letter and the printer talked with them and joked a bit. The Print Shop was really neat (one of my favorites). You don’t really think about how small each of those letters were that needed to be individually type set. Or realize how time intensive it was inking and printing each sheet by hand.

We then went to pick up our box lunches. There we got to meet the Magistrate. He was showing how to write with a quill and ink and a little bit about olden script (how S’s often looked like f’s).

Stopped by the Silversmith and learned how they hammer silver (the boys were fascinated by seeing bar of silver that was used to create a ladle. Then stopped by the blacksmith and the foundry. The foundry was really neat - he explained how sand molds were created and how pewter was poured to create candlesticks, plates and such. He poured molten pewter and created a spoon. I was really surprised at how quickly it hardened - almost instantly. He illustrated how soft pewter was by bending the spoon and then he dipped the spoon back in the molten pewter and it melted looking like acid had eaten it away. Jason tried to bend a spoon, but was not strong enough. I think that Jason thought that the spoon had gotten harder as it cooled because he looked really surprised when the re-enactor proceeded to bend it with no effort.

Working the Bellows at the Foundry

I would love to come back sometime without the kids just so I could actually sit and listen to some of the presentations (since we were here for the boys, we stayed as long as they wanted to…Jason did sit through the talk at the Magazine and found it interesting).

Some neat things we learned:

• Upper case letters got their name because capital letters were kept in the upper case (up on the wall) in the print shop. Lower case letters were kept out on the tables for easier access.

• Smith means to hit with a hammer - hence “goldsmith”, “silversmith” and “blacksmith” (which deals with “black” metals)

• Foundry is based on the Latin fundere which means “to pour” or “to melt”. This is why you do not have “coppersmiths” or “pewtersmiths” - these metals were more economically handled by pouring into molds.

Stayed at Colonial Williamsburg until around 3:30 then headed back to Great Wolf Lodge and more water fun. The boys got pizza from the Pizza Hut express in the lobby (gee, mom, this place really does have everything!) while the Jeff and his Dad ran out to Pierce’s Barbeque for some great food.

Slept in the next morning and stopped by IHOP before heading back home. All in all a really fun family trip.

~Stephanie

There have a been a couple of great posts on Life Without School lately about how kids if given time and space and encouragement really blossom. I love reading posts about older homeschooled kids and the paths they carve for themselves.

House of Tomorrow by my friend Shay Seaborne talks about how her girls have really come into their own as they have grown older and how they needed that space when they were younger to figure out their own interests and passions.

Self-directed Learners:Ryan’s Story by Marsha Ransom talks about how her son followed his love of things mechanical and found a rewarding career doing something that he loves. And how it led to him discovering other passions. I love reading about kids who take a less-then traditional path to get to where they want to be (even if they did not know that was where they were going!).

~Stephanie

Tags:Life Without School, Self-directed Learners, Teen Homeschoolers

If possible, use pennies minted before 1982.

In 1982, the Treasury started making pennies with a higher zinc (and lower copper) content. According to the Penny Collector Website:

Serious collectors will use pennies minted prior to 1982 because after 1982 the mint began to use a percentage of 99.2% zinc with a 0.8% copper - coating. In pre-1982 pennies that percentage was 95% copper, 5% zinc.

This higher zinc content means that, once squished, the silver color of the zinc will sometimes bleed through and often distracts from the design. Another problem that collectors have with zinc pennies is that the zinc often tarnishes and does not polish well. I have a penny that I pressed in the 1970s (from the Empire State Building). It has aged extremely well and looks beautiful. I have another penny that I pressed in the 1990s before I knew to use pre-1982 pennies (from the Golden Gate Bridge). It has tarnished badly and does not look very nice at all.

The switch from copper to zinc pennies occured during 1982 and so some 1982 pennies are copper and some are zinc. Many collectors avoid 1982 pennies altogether. But there are several ways to tell the difference. Some collectors swear that you can hear the difference if you drop the pennies on a hard surface. My method of choice is to weigh the pennies. Copper pennies are heavier. We have a small balance and Kyle loves to help me weigh my pennies and pull out the coppers.

While I do try to press only on copper for the above reasons, I am not that much of a snob. I would rather have the design on a zincer then not have the design at all. And I am extremely thankful to friends and family who bring me pennies from their trips, no matter what kind of penny it is pressed on.

When it comes to trading however, most collectors (including myself) seem to prefer coppers. Some folks will trade zincers, but only for other zincers and it is definitely a no-no to trade a zincer for a copper unless you agree ahead of time (this might be acceptable to some traders if the penny is retired but you still need to let the other person know).

Never guessed there was so much to know about penny squishing, did ya?

~Stephanie

Always keep a small bag of pre-1982 pennies (and quarters) in your purse. You never know when you might need them.

Ok, so this is a better tip for women squishers then men. I learned the hard way about this though!

I have a large zip-lock bag where I keep all my pre-1982 pennies. Not wanting to carry it around with me all the time (that thing is heavy!) I keep it in my car, figuring that I would have it if I needed it. Well, twice now in the past month, I have not had it with me and had to scramble to find pennies.

The first was when we went to the Maryland Science Museum. There were two penny machines and I rode with Kathi, so I did not have my car (or my pennies!). Luckily between Kathi and myself we were able to come up with enough so that I could get one set from each machine and 2 extra of the crabs (for my crab collection). I did not, however, have enough to squish any pennies for traders.

The second time was at the Great Wolf Lodge. I had planned on packing my penny bag, but totally spaced and forgot. And we took Jeff’s car, so again no pennies. Of course I was wiped out of pennies since the Maryland Science Museum and my mother-in-law did not have any on her either. I ended up buying 50 pennies from the front desk at the Lodge and did find 14 pre-1982 pennies. Unfortunately when I went to squish, the machine was totally off and smashed them too hard, leaving a huge tail. So again no traders, but at least it was not because of a lack of pennies!

So what I have learned is that I now carry a small plastic bag with about 16 pennies or so in it. This ensures that I have enough to squish at 2 machines…one set for my collection and one set for trading. The bag is not too heavy and at least I will not be caught without my pennies!

For those of you who are wondering what the heck I am talking about, you can read an earlier blog post about it.

~Stephanie

Tags: elongated coins, squished pennies, collecting

OK, I was going to post about our trip to Williamsburg, but I have not had time to download the pictures yet and we ended up having a really fun, comfortable, easy going day today. So I want to record it for posterity (and so I have something to go back and read when I have “one of those days” that seem to inevitably occur).

Woke up to wonderful, crisp autumn weather. I absolutely love this time of year, especially being able to sleep with the windows open! The boys played video games while I got a few things done on the computer. Got my shower and made some lemon poppy seed muffins (from a box, but they were organic! I finally have realized that even though I can make muffins from scratch, I never seemed to find the time. Seems better to have organic muffins from a mix then no muffins at all! And the boys love them.) Made some pancakes (also organic from a mix…do I detect a pattern?). The boys started playing yu-gi-oh, so I started cleaning out the garage. After the crab fest, we had gotten to where I could not get my car in the garage and did not want to go there again. Most of it was breaking down boxes to take to recycling.

The boys were in and out doing miscellaneous things. A lot of lego building (and smashing…they love throwing their creations down from the second floor onto the foyer floor. Also built a small fire with toothpicks (outside) which involved some discussion of different ways to put the toothpicks so that the fire would burn better. Jason wanted to build a tee-pee, but could not get the toothpicks to stay up. Eventually chose to use a log cabin type approach which worked extremely well. Every once in awhile we need to do little unit studies on fire to keep Jason’s curiosity from getting the better of him. I am sure that the neighbors think that we are a bit nuts.

At some point, we did a couple of games from Family Math and we read an issue of Ask Magazine about finding new species of wildlife. That led to some really interesting discussions about species and general biology. Ask and Moo Cow Magazines are consistently a hit around here. And I love that both boys enjoy them, each at their own level. The single focus topic/issue seems to work well…and these two magazines seem to really know how to pick interesting topics.

Jeff came home a bit early and stayed with Jason while I took Kyle to his first soccer practice. I am sure that Jason enjoyed his one-on-one time with Dad. Kyle had a blast with his soccer team. Many of the kids are back from last year (as is the coach) and Kyle really had fun.

Came home and had some errands to run, including my Wednesday trip to the library. I absolutely love our library and am totally spoiled. I am trying to figure out how I can work volunteering there into my schedule. I also realized today (ok, I realized this awhile ago, but re-realized it today) how absolutely wonderful LibraryThing is. I have been adding in books that I want to remember to check out from the library using tags like “to read-boys”, “to read-Jason”, “to read-Kyle”, “to read-homeschooling”. All I needed to do was go into my library, click on the appropriate tag, print out the list and take it to the library! How cool is that. No having to sort through tons of emails to try to find those great books that have been recommended. It took all of about 5 minutes. I am in heaven and at least I feel this part of my life has been simplified and <gasp> actually organized!

Found lots of fun books for the boys and picked up Math Power which has been highly recommended over at LivingMath (which is an awesome resource in and of itself!). It is subtitled “How to Help Your Child Love Math, Even If You Don’t” which is not a problem for me as I really do enjoy math (and am loving it even more re-learning it this time around with the boys). But it is supposed to have some good suggestions for teaching math so I am looking forward to reading it.

All in all it was a day that just seemed to flow really well and felt (should I actually say it out loud?) amazingly balanced! Let’s hope that we can keep it up. Tomorrow should be fun…we are going over to Kathi’s to start our weekly Science (we are getting together to do science experiments) and then they have Games Class at the YMCA which is always fun. Plus it is pizza night, so who can beat that?

~Stephanie

Tags: homeschooling teaching math typical homeschool day fire unit study moo cow fan club ask magazine librarything

Had a great time in Colonial Williamsburg today. And then more time at the waterpark. I have lots of great pictures and hope to have more time to post tomorrow. I am beat and am determined to get to bed at a decent hour.

We head home tomorrow and hopefully things will quiet down to a dull roar soon!

~Stephanie

Oh my! We come back from the beach and just jump right in. What was I thinking! This week has been a whirlwind and it does not look like it is going to slow down for at least another few days.

A week ago Friday we got home just in time for Jeff’s company crab fest. It was fun, but also hectic as not only did I need to unpack on Saturday, we also had to clean up after the party.

I don’t really remember Sunday or Monday…but Tuesday I had to work our organic food co-op pick up which meant getting the boys and myself up and to Arlington by 7:45 am. We met up with Zac and Kaiya and I took them to the NovaUnschoolers park day while Kathi had a dentist appointment. We had a lot of fun and did not get home until almost 5.

Wednesday was the Maryland Science Museum trip. Also a lot of fun but again we did not get home until after 5pm.

Thursday the boys had their first Games Class at the Arlington YMCA. And then we went and played at Zac and Kaiya’s again. Did not get home until after 5pm.

Friday I decided that we needed a nice quiet day with nothing planned. The only thing that we had to do was to pick up my car (was in for the 15,000 mile check up and a few other things) and pick up cleats for Kyle and a light-weight jacket for Jason from Kohl’s. This turned into an all day thing when the car folks were not ready when they said they would be (I will say that I do enjoy having older kids…they both took the delay in stride). Then the trip to Kohls took longer as we found lots of neat stuff on sale…including lava lamps and electric globes for the kids rooms (they have wanted these for awhile and they were over 60% off so I could not say no). I also got a chance to hit the Teacher’s Mart while we were out…picked up some things that I will need for the Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry that we hope to start soon and some fun games and neat stuff. But again, we did not get home until after 5pm.

Then today we had Kyle’s first soccer game. He is on the same team with a lot of the same kids from last year. He had a blast.

All this activity means that I really have not had much of a chance to unpack…the house is a disaster. I am sure that Jeff is wondering if we should have just stayed back at the beach…at least he could keep the house uncluttered! I did get some things picked up today and got some neat ideas for what I want to do with all the miscellaneous files and papers that I seem to attract.

However we also had to pack and get ready for our trip to  Williamsburg tomorrow! One of my homeschool groups got a great discount off the Great Wolf Lodge and it is also Homeschool Week at Williamsburg, so we are meeting up with Jeff’s parents. We will be staying there starting on Sunday and coming back on Tuesday. It should be a lot of fun…but the timing could have been better. Oh well…maybe next week I will feel like we are finally settled.

It is interesting…I am definitely feeling the need to not be as overscheduled this fall. I have been signing the boys up mostly for 1 day events rather then classes. I am looking forward to being home and have lots of plans for this fall. Now I just need to find time to breathe…I know that it will come and I plan on being really agressive over keeping enough free time. Can’t say that I have done a great job so far (!) but it will work out.

There is wireless internet access at the Great Wolf Lodge so I will hopefully find some time to check in…where would I be without my laptop!

~Stephanie

If you are going to be in the Northern Virginia area on Monday, be sure to stop by!

~Stephanie

VaHomeschoolers Free Homeschool to College Seminar

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As promised here are some pictures from our trip to the Maryland Science Center yesterday.

Kyle loved playing with the “clouds”. He was really cute, doing karate chops and watching the clouds scatter and move.

Jason has a thing for contraptions and was in heaven trying to figure out how this one worked.

Kaiya helps Kyle pull himself up using pulleys.

This optical illusion had all the kids mesmerized.

Especially Kyle.

Lying on a bed of nails was a big hit. Kyle was really tense and would not move a muscle!

Jason was a bit more relaxed.

The Kids’ Playroom was a big hit. Especially the water table.

I hope to post pictures soon, but just had to say that we had a blast at the free Homeschool Day at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore. Drove up with Kathi and her kids and met up with Joanna who drove in from Ocean City and Dee Dee who came in from Frederick. The boys were bummed to not spend as much time with Jack (the got there a bit earlier then we did and we ended up on a different schedule).

We will definitely have to go back again…there was so much to do and the boys loved it. Especially the Newtonian Area and Kids Room. TONS of hands on stuff…the pictures are great.
It is late, so I won’t write too much, but I will say that I was at first bummed becuase I realized that I had left my penny bag (with my pre-1982 pennies) at home. But Kathi came to the rescue and between the two of us we were able to scrounge up enough so I could press all 8 pennies (plus two extra of the two crab designs so I could include them on my crab page). No extras for trading, but there is always next time.

~Stephanie

Another artcle came out about the VaHomeschoolers Conference. This one was in the Midlothian Exchange (in Chesterfield County, outside of Richmond), Taking Charge of Education.

I was really impressed that she got the law stuff right! So often newspaper accounts either don’t really explain it well, or get it wrong (how many times did I have to read that the new law that went into effect in July “allowed parents with only a high school diploma to homeschool”. It did nothing of the sort…folks with a high school diploma have always been able to homeschool…the new law just reduced the paperwork required…but I digress) It looks like Elizabeth did her homework (we did not talk much about the law specifics although she did sit in on my Beginning Homeschool session) which is nice to see.

I was surprised to see myself quoted so much! Yikes! How weird. Actually it was more of paraphrased…as I remember talking about these things with her, but not saying exactly these things. I guess that it must be hard to get an exact quote when you are just talking and taking notes. I do think that she did a good job of catching the essance of what I was saying, so I can’t complain!

Overall, I am really impressed with how many good points she was able to include…it was more in depth then I expected and did present homeschoolers as a diverse group. She also interviewed a Chesterfield family at the Conference and had some good quotes including this one:

The couple looked into private schools as an option, but the decision to homeschool the boys became an easier decision after talking with other parents. “It was an easy jump. There is a more diverse group to homeschoolers now. It’s a new movement with more options,” she said.

Whew. I get really nervous talking with “the press” and always wonder how it will turn out. This one turned out pretty dang good!

~Stephanie

Tags:virginia homeschool homeschool conference

We decided to not go to Baltimore on Friday before heading home and that was probably a good choice. It took me way longer to finish packing up everything then I thought (isn’t that always the case?). As it was, we did not get out of Ocean City until around 3pm…after a stop at the Candy Kitchen and Conners (their penny machine is finally back in order!) we were off. It seemed as if everything that morning was trying to make it harder for us to go and taking f.o.r.e.v.e.r. And of course it was a beautiful day which made it even harder!

But we did make it out finally and did make it home (amazingly with no traffic!). We got home around 6:30pm, right in the middle of Jeff’s Delta Solutions and Technologies Crab Fest which had started around 4pm at our house (it is all catered and held mostly outside so we did not really have to do much). Luckily I made it in time for crabs! The kids ran off for the moon bounce they had rented and proceeded to eat who knows how much ice cream.

Quite a homecoming indeed. But the party was fun and everyone had a good time. And I got to have several good conversations about homeschooling (it really is not my fault…it just always comes up! Honestly!). A few people were surprised to find out that we homeschool but everyone I talked with was very positive about it (although it was obvious they had no idea what it actually involves).

Spent today cleaning and unpacking and trying to remember where everything is!

Ah well…back to reality!

~Stephanie

Good Bye Lazy Days of Summer

I love card games. And we discovered a new one this week: Begger Your Neighbor. I had picked up The Book of Cards for Kids card game book at Fun Books while at the VaHomeschoolers Conference and we have been learning lots of new card games out of it. I think that I enjoy it because it is easy to pick up and explain and there is a good element of surprise to it. I also came back from about 1 card left to actually beat Kyle once!

I have several card game books (including one that was my Mom’s when she was a girl). I don’t know what it is about cards but I have always enjoyed playing them. The boys have learned that this is my weakness.

Jason has asked about learning Texas Hold-Em…so I guess that is my next one to learn. And we need to get some poker chips…

~Stephanie

Tags: card games

Well, I have been going back and forth on when we would be coming home from the beach for the fall. And have decided that Friday will be the day! Our OC friends Joanna and Spirit are planning a trip up to the Baltimore Aquarium and Port Discovery (it is free to homeschoolers 1-3 on Fridays in September), so we will go with them and then head home to Virginia after we are done.

Jeff took the cats and the guinea pigs this weekend so that we don’t have to worry about getting them home. For which I am very greatful as I know that it took some sacrifice on his part. (Have I mentioned that he is not a big pet person?). What he won’t do for his family!

So I am packing up things this week and hoping that the weather gets better for a day or two at least before we go (it is raining now!). Would have preferred a beautiful week that made it hard to leave…but maybe this is better.

Feeling sad over Steve Irwin’s death. Jason was such a huge fan for awhile. I know that some people feel that we should not be surprised, that he tempted death with his stunts. However, I feel that he genuinely enjoyed and loved what he did. We all should be so lucky.

~Stephanie

I talked a little bit about how Ernesto decided to pay us a unexpected visit and that we were not sure what was going to happen overnight. Luckily we woke to find that the bay had decided to stay in its canals.

The rain gradually tapered off and we decided to venture out and see how everything was. I had talked to my Dad in the morning (and my In-laws (who had weathered the storm fine in Va Beach) and my Mom the day before). He said that they had seen news footage of the ocean waves hitting the boardwalk. I figured that he must have been exaggerating a bit as I really could not picture that. We headed out and walked down to Anthony’s for breakfast. Did not see too much other then a gutter that had been torn off the church on the corner and a couple of palm trees toppled over at the miniature golf place.

Then we decided to head on down to the beach to check it out (the boys rode their scooters). When we were about a block away, we noticed that there was tons of sand all over. When we finally reached the boardwalk, it became incredibly obvious that my Dad had been right. The ocean had come up over the wall and onto the boardwalk. The ocean was still much closer to the boardwalk then usual…it looked like there was less then half of the beach left!

There was sand piled on both sides of the walls…normally when the boys stand next to the walls on the beach, it is over their heads. Now the sand was piled up so there was barely a foot drop.

I can only imagine what it must have been like out here yesterday…to have this much sand moved.

Even today, the ocean was incredible…the waves were huge and you could just feel the power.

On the way back home, the boys had such a blast…the wind was still so strong that it was pushing them on their scooters…they did not even have to push themselves.

Jeff finally made it down today. Luckily it seems as if there is not too much damage…our mail box and a rose tree were knocked down. A few branches from some trees are down. The water is still high, but no where near as high as last night. We went to dinner and the pier at Fager’s Island was still partially underwater.

All in all, I have to say that this is how I like to experience my “natural events”. Strong enough to appreciate nature’s power but not so strong as to being afraid of being hurt or having things damaged. I will say that being on the water made this whole experience even more amazing…the strength of the wind, watching the water rise, seeing the power (from the safety of my family room!) was incredible.

Now we just need to figure out when we are coming home for the fall…I had hoped to get a few more beach days in but it has been really chilly here and I am not sure what shape the beach will be in. Not to mention that the ocean is going to be really rough for a little while I am sure.

I guess that we will play it by ear (one of the benefits of homeschooling!) and see what the week holds. Part of me is more then ready to get home and get things going for the fall. But the other part of me wants to hold onto summer and eek out a few more memories. We have had a great time down here this summer…I definitely did not think it would end this way!

I guess either way will work. And it is not like we won’t be down here for weekends over the rest of the year. I’ll let you know what we decide!

I love the beach!

~Stephanie

I have not been watching the news much this summer. But I did hear that Ernesto was coming ashore so I figured that I should probably check and see where it was headed. I watched the news Thursday evening and they were saying that it would hit on Friday…go over Va Beach and then head west inland. Ocean City was on the outer rim and expected to only get a few inches.

Sounded great to me and I found it amusing that Ernesto was probably going to hit Jeff harder then it would hit us. The boys were spending the night at their friend Jack’s on Thursday, so I settled into enjoying a rare free evening (actually watched a movie…Sliding Doors). I did bring in the hammock swing and a few light weight chairs and picked up various things that I thought could blow away.

Woke up Friday morning to a downpour of rain. Talked with Joanna and we decided that with the weather being so bad, that it would make sense for the boys to stay over there until dinner time or so. By then, we reasoned, the storm would have tapered off. Made sense given that the storm was not really supposed to be coming our way. The boys were thrilled and I unexpectedly found myself with a whole day with no place to be! Talked to Jeff who was not getting hit as hard…he had thought that he might try to make it down since it was not as bad as they had said, but I told him not to try because it was much worse here.

As the day wore on, I kept checking the radar and gradually realized that contrary to earlier predictions, Ernesto was headed straight towards us. Being on the water (we are on a canal off the bay and 4 blocks off the ocean), it was amazing to watch nature at work. The rain came down in sheets, blowing sideways. All day long. I watched as the water crept higher and higher. I noticed that our neighbor’s dock was soon underwater and that the water was creeping up on ours. There was no way to know how high it was going to go.

Around 4, the rain was still pouring and the wind was still blowing. Joanna called again and said that her husband would be going into town around 7:30 and would be able to drop the boys off…again we hoped that the storm would have blown over by then. I kept checking the level of the water because if it got too high I was going to have to go out and tie the jet skis up so they would not float away. The water was about even with our dock (normally there is at least a foot or so between the bottom of the dock and the water), but was not going over the retaining wall luckily.

Around 6:30 talked with Joanna again. Her husband was going to try to make it into town and we decided that he would bring the boys with the understanding that if it seemed too risky, he would turn around and the boys would spend the night again. He was able to get through and I was really glad to have the boys home! Turns out that St. Louis Ave was totally flooded and several areas had lost power (we still had ours). And the rain was still coming down.

When we went to bed the water was up to here:

Of course unless you really know what it normally looks like it may not seem too bad…but take my word for it. This is really higher then normal!

Both boys crashed in my room for the night as the wind was so strong and this house is NOT insulated at all so the creaking and howling was pretty scary for them. So we had a fun cuddle pile on our bed…downloaded Google Earth and took some tours on my laptop before they fell off to sleep. I did one more check of the water level outside and headed to bed not sure of what would happen overnight (high tide was supposed to hit sometime around 3 am).

To Be Continued…

~Stephanie

Check out Unschooling Voices #3! Looks like an interesting group of posts…I wish it was not so late so I could check them out tonight. But I need to be good and get some sleep…

Keep your fingers crossed that the water in the canal out back does not get any higher…it was almost to the top of the dock, but it looks like it has gone down a bit. High tide is around 3am though…and they said that Ernesto was heading west and would miss us…they should have told that to him!
~Stephanie