Jordan and Amanda visit!

One of the things I love most about living in San Diego is people can have a vacation and visit us at the same time.  Jordan and Amanda rented an Airbnb down by the water and we got to spend time with them in between nap times.  In the morning, they could walk to get breakfast or stroll down the beach and then spend the evenings hanging out with us.

Saturday, we started off with some coloring.

Then Colin had his playoff game for basketball.  They got second place!

Coach took the team bowling afterwards and bought a bunch of pizza for them...I think that may be the highlight of the season for them :)

Sunday, met up for lunch and the girls made up a game where they would poke Colin and then run away giggling.  This game continued the whole visit and eventually got a song to go along with it.  I love how the little things entertain kids.

While Abigail napped, Jordan brought Grace down to the beach and we watched Ben and Colin surf.

Monday, we went to the zoo!  This was Ben's first time there and it was even more fun with little kids.

That night, we played the game that Jordan and Amanda sent me for my birthday and had grilled peaches and vanilla bean ice cream which may be my new favorite.

We don't have many toys left in this house, so desperate times called for the giant white board.  It did the trick for the evening, although it made me feel like my dad.  I remember him taking my sister and I to work with him and he would put us in a conference room with a giant white board and tell us to draw while he was in a meeting.  I remember it being fun and clearly it still is.

Tuesday we went for hike at Torrey Pines.

And ended the day with more fun at our house.

We had such a sweet visit!

{Thank you Amanda and Ben for helping make some of these pictures possible}

 

More Graduation and my birthday

We have found the most lovely church in San Marcos.  I am already so thankful for the community here.  They had a special graduation lunch after church, with a lot of graduates!  There were 4 graduating from high school, 2 getting their associates degrees, 2 with the bachelors and 4 seminary graduates.  Each student was given an opportunity to share what they studied, where they went to school and what their plans are for next year and then were given a gift.

The high schoolers:

Alison is already enrolled in classes at Mira Costa for the fall.  She will be studying psychology, as a spring board to go into occupational therapy or maybe law school...or maybe something else, but that's the direction for now.  She plans to transfer to San Diego State University after getting her associates degree from Mira Costa.

After a very busy week of fun things, it was nice to have the afternoon to chill.  Ben grilled dinner and found the perfect ice cream cake for me.

Hawaii, Day 5 + Graduation Day!

Nothing better than starting the day off with some feral cats.

We finally made it to the farmer's market and got pineapple, apple bananas, mango, some flower hair clips and a lei. 

I would go back today just for another mango.

Sadly, I think this is the only picture that Ben and I got together.

Then we went to the botanical gardens.  This is where we planned on doing Alison's graduation, but when we got there, they were setting up for an event later in the day and it felt like we were intruding.

And it was so hot there that Alison didn't even want to think about putting on a gown.

So we drove down to the beach and found a quiet spot.

Thank you Colin for taking pictures for us!

Ben did a wonderful job giving a speech.  Colin took a video, but it's hard to hear what he says over the sound of the ocean...that's a pretty good problem to have ;). In a synopsis, he reminded Alison of her unique education and although it can be challenging to compare it to others, he is confident that she is intelligent and capable of great things.  He also told her that as she moves on to her next chapter of life, she is free from expectations or limitations that she might feel and he looks forward to seeing where the Lord directs her steps.  Following that, he told her to not care what anyone thinks, because most likely they're not thinking about you.  It's easy to get caught up in living a life that we think others expect us to live and that's foolish.  Finally, he told her how proud he is of her.

Then it was my turn.  I have teared up thinking about this moment for over a year.  Being Alison's teacher has been the greatest joy of my life and it's hard to let that go.  I have absolutely loved being there for every step along the way; from learning her letters, to figuring out fractions, to making it through Chemistry.  It also makes me tear up when I think of how proud I am of her; I can see all the things that she has persevered through and conquered.  She's read literature while driving across the country and she's studied Biology while unpacking boxes.  She's done math before going to yet another homeschool group and immersed herself in ASL while the world was shutting down.  I've been asked many times during this year how in the world I've homeschooled her all the way through High School and my answer was always the same: because Alison made it super easy.  She's always been a fantastic student.  I could just give her work, tell her when it needed to be done by and she would have it done well and early.  In fact, she never stopped.  Even when we would take breaks, she would keep working ahead on something.  She is determined and driven and always taken up more work than was required of her.  So much so, that she has already completed a whole semester of college credit.  If there's something she wants to know more about, she will learn everything she can about it.  And that fact right there, is why I have never worried about Alison's success.  She loves to learn and knows how to learn.  She sets goals and not much will stand in her way of getting them...point in case, she got herself a job at Starbucks, even when I told her it was a terrible idea.  Thankfully I was wrong and she has successfully worked there for a year and a half!

My prayer for Alison going forward is that she will always remember how precious she is and will be secure in the foundation that has been built up until this point.

She switched her tassel and by the state of California and Windsor Academy, she is graduated!

She did it!!!

I needed a moment to just soak this up and I thanked Alison for being willing to live at home for the next 2 years so I don't have to say goodbye just yet.

After our ceremony, we went souvenir shopping.  On our way back to the hotel, Ben found a sea turtle!  I almost jumped into the water with it!

No day was complete without some pool time.

And it was fun to have some snacks delivered to our chairs.

This was the view from the pool and that's Ben coming in from snorkeling :)

Our last dinner, we sat overlooking the water and lizards kept coming up to us.

One last ice cream.

Chocolate macadamia nut was definitely a contender for the dole whip.

And our last night of watching a luau from afar.

I will forever be thankful that we were able to go on this trip.  In a bittersweet way, it marks the end of an era.  There are many wonderful adventures to come, but this is the last time we have 3 minors that I homeschool.