And sometimes we were close enough to hear them breathe...LOUDLY

And they were BIG....REALLY BIG.

The Pinnacle of Kalani's Trip

Since last Christmas, Keona has been captivated with the Polar Express and he was really excited about the idea of riding a steamer while we were on vacation, so I found one and put it into the plan. However, in the end, it was Kalani who was most excited and absolutely flipped out. He's been nuts about trains since we got back. When we first sat down in the train, my baby actually refused to sit in my lap. He pushed himself off and perched on the edge of his seat -feet dangling-- in delighted anticipation. He had a great ride, laughing and giggling all the time. Keona enjoyed it too, but wasn't nearly as impressed as Kalani. I think he was a little disappointed that there were not stewards singing in the isles and delivering hot chocolate. He soldiered on though and did manage to get some enjoyment from it.

The Playground at Flintstone's Park...straight out of the 60's

Here was a fun park. I haven't seen a playground like this since I was a kid.... Cement, iron bars, dark tunnels, and "dizzying" heights...and a train!

Keona Explains it All...

"Mom? Do you know why the ocean tastes salty?"

"Well...uh...(I know this one)...not exactly...but we'll study that and find out!"

"No, I know. All drains go to the ocean (we KNOW this from Finding Nemo)...so when we all go pee pee in the potty, it goes down the drain and into the ocean....and that is how the ocean gets salty!"

"Oi!...how do you know...never mind...it's enough for one day. Thanks for filling mommy in."

And now that I've been there.....

maybe I'll remember that the four heads on Mount Rushmore are Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln. It was pretty impressive to this mountain that had been transformed into a sculpture. It must feel absolutely amazing to come up with such and idea and bring it to reality. Wow...
Our flat traveling friends were impressed too.

I really wanted to climb them....and go sit on the tip of a nose, but no one is allowed near them. I guess I'm not the first to think of that!

But if Rushmore is impressive......

Wait til they finish Crazy Horse. Thehead was dedicated fifty years after it was begun in 1948. The sculptor didn't even live to see that. When it is completed it will be 60 stories high. The 4 heads of Mount Rushmore will fit in the hair that flows behind Crazy Horse's head. One of the other impressive things about the memorial is that they have refused to take one dime of government money. They have built a beautiful visitor center, which is completely supporting the project. Learning that took a little sting from paying $25 to get in! I hope I am alive to see it finished....

Our Exciting Summer Adventure...

The days before our trip have finally arrived...and we are all excited and immersed in preparations. I've been working to put this trip together for months and now I'm nervously combing through details. I look forward to when the boys are older and more can be left to chance and they can travel longer distances at a stretch.

Admittedly, I'm a little jealous that Vernon gets to plan things like horseback riding. However, the prices are daunting. Imagine a full day trail ride for a family of four....$800 dollars. What's up with that? That's how much it costs for roundtrip airfare for a family of four. Come on; does it really cost that much for horsefeed and scooping up poop? LOL; so maybe I'm not so jealous afterall! In the end, I think we have a nice itinerary set up and we'll all have a good time. The West will still be there for us to return and go horseback riding in the Rockies -- and, oh yes, AFTER we've won the lottery.

I can't wait to see the MOUNTAINS. I have always loved the Blue Ridge Mountains, but I am thrilled to finally be going to see the Rockies and enjoy the GRANDEUR! We will also be visiting the Black Hills in South Dakota and Nebraska.

I compared the elevations for the Black HILLS and the Blue Ridge MOUNTAINS; they are the same. LOL The highest elevations in the Rockies are 14,000 plus feet. I will still love the Blue Ridge, but, WOW, I look forward to seeing the Rockies!

There's a lot of driving, so I'm putting together a travel pack to entertain the boys. And we are mulling over whether or not to take our own car seats. Daddy is not thrilled with this idea, but I think in the end we'll be happier if we do.

The bitter sweet reason for this trip is to spread the ashes of my Mother and Ron in the Black Hills of Nebraska. I have mixed feelings about leaving mom there, but it is what it is..... Wherever her remains are, she is at peace now and the trip has brought us the opportunity for a wonderful adventure. It will also be great to see where Ron came from; he was a good man.



Wednesday, June 27th
Fly to Denver.
Drive to Estes Park (@1 hour)
Castle Mountain Lodge • http://www.castlemountainlodge.com/
Wish we had more time here!

Thursday, June 28
Castle Mountain Lodge borders Rocky Mountain National Park

Spend the day in Rocky Mountain National Park
http://www.nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/kids.htm
nap
evening
http://estesparkcvb.com/activities.cfm?mode=listings&listing_cat_id=1140

Friday, June 29
Check out of Castle Mountain Lodge
Drive to Cheyenne For lunch and site-seeing
At naptime, drive to Newcastle, Wyoming
Check in Pines Motel, eat dinner, swim
http://www.rtconnect.net/~icarter/

Saturday, June 30
Check out Pines Motel
Drive to Custer State Park, South Dakota
http://www.custerresorts.com/resortsLegionLake.php

Sunday, July 1
Custer State Park
Fishing and exploration

Monday, July 2
Custer State Park
Mount Rushmore

THIS will be a dream come true for Keona....
http://www.presidentsslide.com/

Tuesday, July 3
Custer State Park
Exploration

Wednesday, July 4
Check out of Custer and drive to Ft. Robinson, Nebraska (@2hours)
Check in Ft. Robinson
http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/parks/guides/parksearch/showpark.asp?Area_No=77
Dinner, fireworks

Thursday, July 5
Ft. Robinson
Ceremony for Mom and Ron

Friday, July 6
Ft. Robinson
Leave Ft. Robinson
Check in Little America Hotel; Cheyenne, Wyoming

Saturday, July 7

Check out Little America
Return to Virginia


An invaluable website that was used in some of the planning of this trip was http://www.tripadvisor.com/ Great information here. Next time, I'll use it more.

Duck...egg...sad...AGAIN

Well, we were so excited that we'd have some babies around here, but it is not to be. The dove and her babies met a tragic end. Culprit unknown. I came out to find masses of feathers and eggshells...dead babies (uneaten) and not much left of mom. It was sad. In K's immortal words.."dove"...eggs....sad.... Somehow I felt like I had let her down. We eyed each other daily and I think were reaching an understanding. Then I discovered mother duck in our front garden and I kept a wary eye on her and her eggs. She knew there was a predator in the area. She had built up her "barrier" of pinestraw to hide herself and her eggs, leaving only her beak protruding between the branches of the bush and never leaving. I was daring to be hopeful. But it was not to be. This morning mother is gone and there are more eggshells on the back porch....duck...eggs...sad...fade to black.. I don't think Keona actually believes eggs hatch anymore.

I ain't never birthed no birds before!!!

And thank goodness mother nature does not depend on us. Our new little baby doves have entered the world. Right in our own coop (well, it does look like one!) And out front we have another mother waiting for her ducklings.... I think it will be soon because she has been sitting on them 24/7 for the past couple of days. Until now, she has disappeared all day.

Our first Flat travelers have arrived....

Our first two flat travelers have arrived. A Flat Winter from Stafford, Virginia and an authentic Flat Stanley from Liverpool, England. He's still recovering from jet lag, so there's no picture yet, but you can see Flat Winter riding a whale tale in the park.....and K2 climbing the shark!

New resident...

Today I went out to the back porch and was surprised to find myself staring into the face of a mourning dove when I reached up for the Windex. This will be fun for us all to watch. No playing on the porch for a while!

Are you ready for the summer?

Summer has just begun and already there has been much water fun. Trips to the beach the pool has opened, the WOW garden at our favorite haunt, the Botanical Garden, and the Slip-N-Slide has been broken out.

We finally got our garden in....

This year we decided to plant some fruits and veggies. We are going with raised bed gardening, specifically something called Square Foot Gardening. I have just planted my seeds though; hopefully not too late. I was really trekking on the edge of the planting season for what I planted, but I am hopeful. Part of Square Foot Gardening is "vertical" growing. you build a trellis on the back side of the box and you can supposedly let watermelons and other heavy things grow vertically. I'm going to try some strong tomatoe cages, instead. They should be able to do the same thing; I think. We'll see. Here are some pics of CC and the boys getting the garden ready. Our neighbor was around to give Keona a hand finding worms.

Flat Traveling...A new adventure.

So this week we read Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown (circa 196os). This is a story that has started a whole fun movement that we are going to take part in for a while. But let's start from the beginning....

Flat Stanley is a boy who woke up one morning after being literally flattened by his bulliten board that fell on him during the night. The book continues on with his many adventures. Keona is really enjoying the whole thing, so I thought I'd go for overkill and sign us up to exchange flat travelers with other homeschoolers so we can find out about other places both exotic and not so exotic from the eyes of people who've been there. We are taking a pretty cool trip ourselves this summer, so we'll take several flats with us. Keona is a little wary of the project, but I'm sure once the first flat arrives in the mail and we get started he'll warm up to it more.

Here's Wikipedia's overview:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Stanley

And of course, someone has created a movie. It's a riot if you have some time to kill.

Flat Stanley's Holleywood Adventure
http://www.flatstanleymovie.com/

Here are a couple of Yahoo Groups if you want to join the fun...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FlatTravelers/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flat_travelers_homeschool/?yguid=302984278

There's tons of stuff out there. Just Google Flat Stanley or Flat travelers..... ENJOY!

1-2-3 Magic!

Yes, there is such thing as MAGIC! Last week we had an increasingly mouthy and uncooperative 3.5 year old. This week after having watched half a video and putting what we learned into practice, we have a beautifully cooperative child. Seriously, it took half a morning. Who knew? I knew something had to change when it seemed both of us parental units were frequently screaming ourselves purple and our son was spending lots of time crying in his room, so I went to the library seeking solace and information and came upon this video called 1 2 3 Magic. http://www.parentmagic.com/ Check it out if you are having any similar issues. Now, I have to go watch the rest of the video!

Hey, Mom! I have a GREAT idea....

Are some of my favorite words from Keona. He's really starting to put together some complex thoughts and come up with plans of his own. Today, out of the blue, he decided we needed to do something about the trash. He said we need to get a new trashcan and a slide...and we need to find a window in the house that doesn't have curtains to get in the way. Then we put the trashcan under the window and the slide goes in it. Then when we need to throw out the trash we open the window and let the trash go down the slide!

Oh yes, in a few years my little inventor will make my life simple and I'll be living on EASY STREET! LOL!!

Atavistic Masculinity

The boys and I had a winter visit to the Children's Garden at Botanical Garden. They had an unexpected opportunity to get in touch with their "atavistic masculinity".

Yes every weekend we all meet deep in the forest,Where we beat our drums and fashion spears from trees;
And with our faces painted,We all get reacquainted,With our atavistic masculinity.

(full lyrics) http://www.wtv-zone.com/phyrst/audio/nfld/11/male_bond.htm

and I looked up atavistic: The reappearance of a characteristic in an organism after several generations of absence, usually caused by the chance recombination of genes.

Catching up....not!

K2'S FIRST BIRTHDAY: FEBRUARY 7TH

We had a small family party and fun was had by all!

Hmmmm.....It's hard to know where to begin when it's been so long since the last post! So I've decided not to "catch up". Suffice it to say the boys are THRIVING.

Keona is USING THE POTTY....during the day. He is riding his bike FAST. He is making stabs at writing his letters. I try not to focus on it because, like a timid butterfly, he'll flutter away. He is fighting hard for his independence and any hint that he is being "led" will only bring a new battle on a new battle ground. He is flirting with giving up his naps. I find if I don't insist, he'll eventually volunteer. He says he wants to take another tennis lesson, so I think I'll try that this spring. I am slowly gathering materials for a preschool curriculum of sorts. In the fall, Aloha Academy will open its doors.

Sadly, Keona's world has been touched by violence as one of his best play buddies and my best friend was murdered last month. Little of the drama was lost on Keona, but he found some ways to deal with it. His scariest connection was that if something could happen to Maddie's mommy, something could possibly happen to his mommy and daddy and there were several anxious weeks while he worked through it in his mind. Many times he assured me that nothing would happen to me....and then he asked if anyone could hurt me. I assured him that I am way to mean and he seemed to accept that....a little too easily, I might add. ; )

To get away from it all for a little while, Keona and I went on a mini-vacation toWashington DC and Palmyra, just outside Charlottsville. In DC we stayed with some friends of mine and we saw dinosaur bones, rode the carousel on the Mall, and checked out the Air and Space Museum. We also visited the National Zoo. The highlight of DC was, of course, the METRO. K decided it was practice for riding rollercoasters..a stretch, I know, but I've learned not to argue with the all-knowingness of a 3.5 year old. Anyway, it was good to see my friend Marsha after two long years.

On Saturday we visited the Carlsons in Palmyra, which is just outside of Charlottsville-- in the COUNTRY. It was wonderful! Keona really lit up out there. He got to practice casting in the lake and saw a real ambulance. Mr. Bob is a volunteer with the rescue squad. That night Dula gave him a bath while mommy got to sip some wine and watch the sunset. All I know is I heard a lot of laughing and chasing and laughing.

Kalani is WALKING and flirting with TALKING. We get the occasional word never to be repeated. Book, keys, this, and the oft repeated fish.....mommy and daddy come intermittently. He is also a CLIMBER. Today he has spent his energy trying to get at all the fascinating items that live on the "dining" room table. Mean mommy keeps taking him down though.

He is also enjoying clapping along to nursery rhymes. Today we have been enjoying Patty Cake and Five Fat Peas in a Pea Pod Pressed. He's also beginning to show interest and signs of enjoying books.

That's all the catch up for now.