We are super excited about digging our pool. It's not too great for swimming yet, but perfect for chucking kids into when they get out of hand!

For FHE Monday night, Tyler was Daniel (in the lion's den). He spent some time in the pool hole with our three pups (the lions). Tyler remained miraculously unscathed. We were so proud of his noble efforts!

Sammy was one FEROCIOUS looking lion, eh? Tessa trained him to look extra fierce in this shot!

We spent last week in Southern

California. The Rutmans live in San Diego and Jeff's parents were also there. We got to hang out with them for the first couple of days.

We headed up to Disneyland for the rest of the week. The Andreoli's are in Long Beach, so we got to see them a few days as well. It was such a great trip. We did everything we'd planned and more... a little hard to come home after so much fun!

SCUBA CERTIFICATION!

Scuba Certification!

The manager of See's candies here in Medford agreed to give the girls a tour of the store this morning before it opened (we are studying taste this week). It was such a great time. We discovered a ton about the business. Learning about the candy was such fun and the girls loved going "behind the scenes."

The best part by far was spending time with John. We had an awesome discussion on the way home about what a wonderful man he is. He has such enthusiasm and is so kind. He makes you want to be a better person, by being around him. We discussed how much more success we have when we have the right attitude. I'm so glad the kids got to have this experience.
Our grass actually grew! Hurray!

Making pyramids out of sugar cubes with friends...lots of fun!!

We learned about the Egyptians living on the Nile River and made a model of the Nile. We are waiting for the grass to grow and see if our Nile really does flood and feed our seed.

We also used the cuneiform alphabet to carve the kids names into clay and baked them.

I've got to post more often! I'm already getting way behind on the homeschool fun we've been having. I'll try not to get too in depth. We are studying ancient history this year. Our first lesson was on what history and archaeology are. I set-up a simulation of an archaeological dig in the sand box and the kids did the rest!

Sierra's been dying to breed her bearded dragons. We thought it would be a fun learning experiment. As you can see, her hard work paid off, and she is the proud owner of 24 bearded dragon eggs. They should hatch the beginning of November. We'll keep you updated on their progress!

We had a fun time river rafting on Labor Day. Tessa caught a little lizard when we took a break.

Can you believe these we caught these huge lunkers?

I was pretty thrilled because I've never caught anything bigger than a trout!

HOMESCHOOL SUMMER 2009

We had a super fun time studying a little about the pioneers this summer. We dipped candles, created an authentic meal, made our own butter from cream, built a super awesome cabin and read books by candlelight. I'm not sure what the kids liked the best, but I really enjoyed the reading. The girls were all over it and had good attitudes because they got to stay up late.

I'm considering homeschooling this fall from the hours of about 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. My kids would all be captive pupils for sure (or asleep which isn't a bad thing either, right)?