Some Journaling...

Well, we are well into the 2015/16 school year and we are having a great year.  This school year brought with it some changes.  At the end of the school year last year, our neighborhood school, Norte, informed us (and quite poorly I might add) that starting with the school year 2016/17, they would transition to a dual language school.  Currently the dual language program is just across the canal in a school (Ninos) shared with a non-dual language program. But the dual language program is growing such that they need/want their own school.   To be accepted into the dual language program, students have to start in Kindergarten or 1st grade.  That would have worked for Christian but I did not want to have kids at multiple schools.  So, they are in and we were out.  Rather than wait until after this school year, we decided to make the move sooner rather than later.   And although we have had great teachers at Norte, we had been unhappy with many things at Norte.  Our home school will now be Ninos, but we believed that many of our concerns with Norte would follow us to Ninos.  So, we chose to go to Fuller which is close by, although not nearly as close, 2 miles versus less than 1/2 mile. It is also in a different school district.  Our biggest frustration with Norte was the behavior of the majority of the students.  Many coming from a lower socio-economic status with little parent involvement.  This especially affected Cameron.  But even given the poor behavior of the students, I was often disappointed and at times disgusted in the behavior of the faculty.  And as I spend time at Fuller, I am realizing maybe I should have put more of the blame on the faculty at Norte and less on the students. Fuller is much bigger, with Christian's class having 25 students, but the students seem to be better behaved and the teachers more patient and less controlling.

Chuck takes the kids to school and they ride their bikes.  I pick up the kids after school and yes, I ride my bike.  I say that because the kids seemed quite surprised that I was going to be riding a bike.  As mentioned, it is about a 2 mile ride.  We pass 2 major streets and have many intersections and driveways along the way.  But, for the most part, things have gone well.  The kids are aware of what's going on around them and have good skills.  The hardest part is the difference in speed.  That always causes a lot of contention.  But if we make it the week without fighting, whining or crying on the way home, I take the kids out for a treat.  That has been a good incentive.  The first week, I had a minor crash while riding home after taking the kids to school. (I take the to school on Friday because Chuck does the Friday Ride).  I was on the paved portion of the canal when a dog lunged at me.  I swerved to miss him and had to go off the pavement onto the dirt and I could not recover.  A similar thing happened to Cameron the following week but there was no dog involved.  He said he he slipped on a pile of dirt. But I watched it happen and the nearest I could tell was he intentionally went off the pavement and couldn't get back on.  And early this week, just after leaving school, Christian had a crash.  He was moving from the street to the sidewalk, something I always discourage, and although it was a driveway, he didn't get the angle right and the little lip took him out.  He has some pretty bad road rash on his arm.  He managed to ride all the way home and did get back on his bike a day later.  As I was trying to convince him to let me put neosporin on the wound he said, "But it's not arm-osprin or elbow-osporin. It's knee-opsorin."  I guess it's Hannah's turn next.  But my biggest fear is someone getting hit by a car.

Christian seems to be enjoying Kindergarten and is one of the best behaved children in his class.  He has made friends and is really excelling.  I can't believe how well he is writing and recognizing letters, numbers etc.  After a couple weeks, he got a little cold and did get to take one day off and a couple hours the next.  I think he legitimately was not feeling well, but I think he also needed a break. It is a big transition for those young kids with really long days. I have been spending time in Christian's classroom.  And I usually have lunch with him after I help the teacher.  Although I enjoy my alone time and I have plenty to keep me busy, I have missed having Christian around.  He was my little buddy for 3 years.  Christian has become quite independent and is probably the easiest child right now.  Although, he has picked up some of his siblings bad behavior such as bossing me around and giving me ultimatums.  He loves to ride his bike and eat treats.

Hannah, too, seems to be enjoying 3rd grade and the new school.  She is a well behaved student and has made friends easily.   She loves to write and read.  She is also very good at math although she will say she does not like it.  Her spelling is phenomenal.  She will often spell words wrong the first time, but once she is corrected, she will remember it.  Hannah is now my biggest challenge at night.  Some time ago, she started getting up regularly saying that she was scared.  I would lay with her until she fell asleep, let her sleep in my bed while I went to the couch etc.  But soon I got tired of that, so I had her go sleep in the boys room room once she woke up.  That did not go well.  So I had her start the night in the boys room.  That did not go well either.  So she ended up sleeping on the floor in my room.  For the past several weeks, that has become routine.  She doesn't wake me up and for some odd reason, I don't hear her.  But most nights I wake to her grinding her teeth or shouting out in her sleep.  She wakes up when I get up, much earlier than she should, and only sometimes goes back to sleep.  I say she is my biggest challenge at night, but I could also say she is my biggest challenge during the day too.  She is a very sweet girl and a hard worker when she wants to be.  But she also enjoys tormenting her brothers, especially Cameron, but does not like the repercussions either from him or me.  She is very sensitive and gets upset quite easily so there is a lot of crying.  She hates when I talk "firm"to her.  Hannah loves to do gymnastics and can quite often be found doing cartwheels in any space available.  She also likes to use the couch to spot her during head stands, hand stands, and back walk overs.

For the first time in years, Cameron is complaining very little about school.  He likes Fuller and has made some good friends.  Cameron is a smart kid but often doesn't have the desire to do as well as he could.  I have been very concerned about his spelling and I have discussed it with his teachers, but no one else seems concerned.  However, I have noticed that if he puts more effort into it, he does much better.  Cameron is in the gifted program, called PACE.  It is much different than that of Norte's. Rather than doing more advanced work than those in the classroom, they do special projects.  This semester they are learning to code and next semester they will study ancient civilizations.  I have been impressed with the 5th grade team.  They make an effort to give the kids an extra "break" during the day even though the administration discourages it.  They also have reading buddies. Again,something the administration does not whole heartedly support.  Their reading buddy is on of the kindergartners and every Friday they read to the kids for 1/2 hour.  This is actually the only  thing Cameron complains about.  He says his buddy does not pay attention and stares off in space the whole time.  Welcome to my world Cameron!  Cameron joined the band and decided to play the flute.  He is actually practicing, albeit only 10 or so minutes a day.  But he is improving and says he is the best one in the band.  Even if it isn't true, he'd still say that because he is not the most humble person.  Something we have had discussions about.  He did give up the guitar.  I would have liked him to continue, but he would never practice, so I guess it's better this way.  Cameron is getting easier as he gets older. Finally!  He is very independent and can be very helpful.  He spends a lot of his time playing with the neighbor boy.  They do like to play video games, but they also spend a lot of time playing football. And they love it when they have other kids to join them and/or a dad.

First Day of School 2015

Kinder, 3rd and 5th

Summer Backpacking 2015

2015 Trail of Tears

Another epic summer trip is all over but the memories.  This year's expedition was in the Lizard Head Wilderness near Telluride, Colorado.  There were a few challenges.  Just like in the Lord of the Rings, the group was turned around by the cruel snows of Caradhras, er, I mean Rock of Ages Pass.  Tim Royalty spent hours of each day completely immobilized by what was later diagnosed as a spinal cyst.  The rented Tahoe with the world's smallest trunk (trunklet) was no match for the gravel road that Jonathan's minivan handled with ease and suffered a flat tire.  Chuck's camera went for a swim.  And Chuck finally overcame his annual grump associated with the last day on the trail and got to run with several herds of deer.  Other than that, it was a great trip.  Weather was awesome.  Scenery was awesome.  There were fewer other people on the trail than there were in the group.  The kids spent countless hours sliding and sledding down the snow fields. We all got to see Emma's supercool cabin with horses.  And Jonathan got to do some illegal surgery.

Here are some favorite stories.  The Tahoe that looked so big from the air conditioned window of the car rental place had a truly pathetic interior.  The back row of seats basically sat on the ground.  Any place that you could stash gear was covered by plastic trim.  And it had the smallest trunk of any vehicle in the world.  It was a trunklet.  So they stuffed it like a backpack over the back seat and warned everyone not to ever open the back door.  Well, almost everyone.  They were 2 minutes late warning the tire repair guy at Walmart as we surveyed the aftermath of having a week's worth of wet, muddy camping gear explode all over him as he went to put the jack away!

Chuck and Emmett were crossing an icy river to the 2nd campsite when Chuck lost his balance and fell in.  He was turtled by his backpack and spent a long time trying to get up with one hand while keeping the boots out of the water.  After finally crossing, he came back across the river to help Emmett.  But having watched the whole debacle, Emmett's faith in Chuck was shaken and he said, "No thanks; I'll just wait for my dad."

They met Mark, a mountain guide type, who had ripped his hand open on a sharp rock.  He was previously known as the tanned-shirtless-guy-across-the-river.  Jonathan sewed up his hand while all 11 kids crowded around him as if he were the lone white guy in a small African village.  It was amazing that there was any light left to see what he was doing.

Other than that, it was a great week for hiking, exploring, sliding, visiting, sleeping, eating, and recovering.  Everyone made it home safely.  Eventually (but that's a story for Tim and Grace's blog.)  And as Jonathan likes to say, "If you don't bring all of the kids back, don't bother going home."

Doesn't look like it's 33 deg, but...

Girl time.

Oooooo...blood.

Navajo Lake.

The chair is mine now!

Mom, my dad is sooooo cool.

Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!

World's coolest picnic.

Team Trail of Tears 2015.

Summer Swimming

For the first year, both Hannah and Cameron joined a summer swim team.  They swam with the Dobson Dolphins.  They practiced four days a week and had a swim meet at the end of the week. Their progress was huge!  Christian was such a trooper.  He didn't complain at all as we sat at practice or meets.  There was another pool that he could swim in during practice, so his progress was huge as well.  All 3 of the kids LOVE to swim.  

 Cameron's fastest time... Free 48:08; Back 52:06; Breast 1:00; Fly 1:03

Cameron's best Stroke: Free

Hannah's fastest times... Free 26.02; Back 32.27; Breast 37; Fly 28.74

Hannah's best stroke: Fly

Locks of Love/Summer Cut

Hannah's Baptism