A storm of an adventure

Shortly after we got home from fishing, a storm rolled in.  Around 10 pm, we lost power and we spent most of the night, trying to rest in a very hot house.  We attempted to open a few windows but would have to close them when the wind kicked up and rain started coming in the house.  It felt like we were camping in a storm and it was a pretty sleepless night.  Early in the morning, my dad discovered that the basement had flooded and began working away to move everything out into the garage.  Alison and I went outside to splash in some puddles in our pjs.  I told her that she was just getting a good glimpse of my childhood.  The house we lived in flooded multiple times and I remember lots of basement cleanups right after a storm.

My dad must have broken out his really firm business voice, because within a few phone calls he had the electricity back on and a crew headed over to clean up the water in the basement.  There were a lot of flooded basements in the area, so the clean up crew was in high demand.

While the house was full of workers, we went downtown and had lunch at Papa Kenos.  It's still the best pizza in the country.

The storm brought cooler temperatures and it was nice to just walk around downtown and do a little shopping.  That afternoon, the boys helped my dad do a little cleaning outside.

It took several days of dehumidifiers running to get the basement dry and they still have to repaint and put down new carpet.

What's a trip without a little adventure?

It didn't stop grandma and grandpa from thoroughly spoiling the kiddos.  We spent one afternoon at EPIC and I'm pretty sure every day entailed ice cream and a new toy.

It took the house some time to cool down from the power outage and the dehumidifiers running.  I guess Colin was warm one evening as he talked with grandma...he did this for a good 5 minutes:

Fishing

After eclipse chasing, we went out to the farm.  We started off at the pond and jumped into the fishing boat.  This is how Colin felt about being in the boat:

Ha!  He did not like being in that boat and made sure the whole farm heard about it.  Alison and Eli did great and picked up fishing like pros.

Grandpa helped Eli catch 2 fish.  Clearly we need to broaden the fish we eat in this house because the kids assumed it was salmon...made me laugh.

Once Colin stopped freaking out, he realized that fishing is fun and joined in at helping me reel in.

Alison also caught a fish and tried to convince my dad to keep it, but as a pet and not as food.  He entertained her by keeping it on a line for awhile so they could look at it and then released it before heading home.

Before leaving we picked some corn and tomatoes.

Solar Eclipse

The kids and I flew to Kansas, the day before the eclipse. 

They are amazing travelers!  I'm pretty sure at least half the plane was full of people also traveling to see the eclipse, which made it really fun to be a part of something big.

My parents had everything ready and prepped for a fun day of eclipsing.  The plan was to set up camp in the field by my parents church.  Mom made a picnic lunch and we brought balls to play while we waited for the totality.  Watching the moon start to cover the sun was the coolest!

For us, it was nice to just be outside, enjoying the fresh air.

 

Colin, however, was freaked out by the ants on the picnic blanket and refused to stand anywhere but on my legs.

 

About 15 minutes before totality, clouds started to roll in and it looked like it was going to rain.

We could see clear skies to the south, so we jumped into the car and raced toward a better view.  We thought the farm would be in that path, so that was our destination.  But right before the turn off, the skies opened up and we pulled over on the side of the road.  I don't think I've ever seen my mom just pull over on the side of the road and jump out of the car...definitely worth documenting.

 

And let me tell you, it was 100% worth jumping out of the car on the side of the highway and definitely worth the chase.  It was an absolutely incredible experience!  We didn't get total darkness, but it did get cool and we could only see a sliver of the sun.  I love the point my parents made; look how much light that 1% of sun gives the earth!

When we finally looked down, we realized that everyone had pulled over on the highway and the road was just lined with cars and people looking up with us.

 

Clouds rolled in again, so we drove a little more south and pulled over again.

 Seeing the eclipse is right up there with seeing the Grand Canyon.  It made me choke up a little, but I really couldn't explain why.  It was just breath taking.

 My favorite picture of the day:

When the clouds covered again, dad suggested we go get some ice cream.  We were almost to Ottawa by this point, so we just kept chasing the eclipse south.  We pulled up to Dairy Queen and took one last look.

My dad went inside and handed out all of our glasses to the employees and told them to go outside.  I'm pretty sure we shut down the Dairy Queen for a few minutes, but I loved seeing them get to experience something they otherwise wouldn't.

Chasing the eclipse is a day I will never forget and I am so thankful we got to experience it!

My dad even made T-shirts to mark the occasion.

 

Last day of school/We have a name!

While the rest of the world is posting "first day of school" pictures, we're just wrapping.

  What a year it has been!

To finish off preschool, 1st grade and 4th grade, we had cinnamon rolls, played a math game and took spelling tests.  We also did a solar eclipse craft to finish up science and the best way to end the year of all; we're flying to Kansas to see the eclipse!!!

 

 

Ben took the day off work and did reading with the boys and then took all the kids out.  They came home saying, "Thank you for being our teacher!" and were each holding a gift.  I am very blessed to  have a husband who tells me daily that he appreciates my work and teaches our kids to do the same.

Ben also bought them all new underwear (packing brought it to our attention that all of the underwear in the house has fallen into that long lost abyss that random socks go to...how does this happen?!) and let them each pick a treat for movie time.

And now for the reveal of the name of our school.

 This is the top of the report card Ben made for Alison, that she used to get her first military ID:

We have been talking for several months about naming our school.  It's something that was really important to us as we've felt stronger and stronger that this is the right path for our family.  We wanted to give our kids an answer they were proud of when people ask, "Where do you go to school?" and we want them to have something they can confidently write on their college applications and job resumes.  Our school name is Windsor Academy.  I spent a lot of time thinking about our school name and I wanted it to encompass more than just a title.  Our school is unique; year round schooling, with moves and deployments scattered throughout and little trips to explore the world around us.  The name came to me when I starting thinking about where this path began.  We were in Virginia and my heart was stirring towards homeschooling.  It was on Windsor Castle Trail that I felt an overwhelming peace and answer that I was supposed to teach our children.  I remember a smile came over my face and I was excited about this new adventure.  It was on that trail that I spent hours praying over our school and our kids.  It was a place Ben and I LOVED and would talk about life through our runs.  It was also a place where we would go to regroup as a family and go on nature walks.  It's where it all began, but more than that, it's a perfect metaphor for our school.  We are on a path; it's hilly, windy, rocky and absolutely beautiful.  There are times that running the path is challenging, but there are other days that the flowers are blooming and we soak up the beauty of it.  It's always an adventure and changes throughout the seasons, but we will work hard to complete the course.

This week

Eli had his last basketball game and did amazing!  Something in this last game really clicked and it was fun to see him get comfortable playing with the bigger kids (he's the youngest on his team).  I am so thankful for this coach and the other parents.  Though they were pretty quiet and to themselves, they were supportive and encouraging to all the kids and made it a really great experience.

That afternoon they had an end of season pool party.  Not very many people showed up and we only stayed for a little bit...it was too crazy hot and the water was warm, but Eli wanted that trophy!

Little Miss has really been into joining my workouts. 

The big even of this week was we met the White's at the Y and while Laurel and I took a Barre class (which was SO much fun) and Alison and Aline did a little weight circuit for kids.  If they could make the boys run laps to burn off all their energy it would be a perfect combination.

Ben still holds the title of "feeder of last bites".  He teases Colin that he is always going to feed him, but Colin was sure by 5 he would be done.  He was wrong.  Colin has always sat next to Ben for this reason...Ben will just nonchalantly shovel food in his mouth, without him really noticing what is happening, but it's getting in every last calorie that we can.  Last night, Eli decided to be lazy and asked daddy to shovel in his food too.  It was the first time that he double teamed feeding our kids and let's not forget that they're 5 and 7!

Blessed

Poor Eli's picture didn't turn out.  He looked so cute in real life...

 

 It rained a few times this week!  Not very much or long, but when it did, we stopped everything and went outside.  It was nice to be outside for longer than a minute, although it was still over 100 and very humid.

The plant you see growing, is the only thing alive in our yard right now.  Ironically, it's a melon plant Ben found tossed out at Lowe's (he was picking up some leftover sod), planted it to see what would happen and off it grew.  Hopefully we get a few melons!

Eli took a cup out to measure how much rain we got and spent a lot of time collecting rocks.