Another Book

New Post under the heading "Books I've Read." Check it out.

and Breathe...

It's always so hard to come back from a vacation.

This past weekend, my husband and I went away for our 10 year anniversary (which is actually not until the 31st). We went to Jekyll Island, GA and stayed at the historic Jekyll Island Club. We were only gone 2 nights and really only had 1 full day of vacation, but it was a really nice day. Now, we are back home, up at 6 AM and on the go. And, it's a cloudy, grey, gloomy looking day. That's not helping.

While in Jekyll Island we had the -you couldn't ask for better weather- weather. Blue skies, not a cloud to be seen, perfect temperature, not hot, not cold, perfect.

We began each day (all 2 of them) eating our pastries and drinking our coffee sitting out on one of the many large porches, listening to the trickle of the water fountain in the courtyard and watching the birds flutter about.

The island is not really that big so we rented bikes for the day and rode everywhere. There are bike trails all over the island that weave in and out of forests, over old wooden bridges that crossed bubbling creeks, past ponds (and a couple of gators) and down quiet country roads. Since the hotel was on the bay side, we rode our bikes to the beach and spent the afternoon walking and laying on the not crowded beach.

It was just so nice to not have a schedule or anything that needed to be done and nowhere that we had to be. The change of scenery and the fresh air was very welcoming.

I did miss the kiddos a bit. They would have liked this place. But it was nice to have some uninterrupted adult time.

And now off to plan our next vacation....

In the meantime, here are some pictures from our time at Jekyll Island:

One of the about 25 pictures I took just of the hotel. It was very photogenic.

The hotel grounds were beautiful with lush green lawns and massive oak trees with low hanging branches and spanish moss (which having grown up in Florida I used to think was really ugly -the moss- but now find it fascinating and a little soothing).

The island was full of these awesome bike trails and beautiful scenery.

We saw 2 decent sized alligators while on our morning bike ride.


The beach was amazingly uncrowded. It was beautiful and serene.

Paul is better at the self portrait that I am since his arms are quite a bit longer.

Books

I just added a new book to my "Books I've Read" list. Check it out by clicking on the "Books I've Read" heading at the top of the home page of my blog.

Spell Check

I have to share some of the recent work my kindergartner, Grace has brought home. At her school, the focus is on phonics. Spelling is not a main subject. Even for Kristin who is in second grade, they rarely have spelling tests. It's just not emphasized. The emphasis is put more on writing, phonics, comprehension and concepts of print. So as far as spelling goes they prefer the kids to sound out their own words, usually with no help from the teacher. They learn the letters, sounds, digraphs, consonant blends, ect., and then they are on their own.

As you can imagine, this results in some writings that are rather difficult to decipher. It is neat though to see the progress even Grace is making throughout the year. At the beginning, I was hard pressed to get every other word. Now, however, I can figure out most everything. It does occasionally make me laugh though, the way she sounds out some words. She is sounding them out the way they sound to her. Sometimes, that is WAY off. It's cute. It makes me smile.

Here are 2 recent examples:

These are writing assignments that are part of a writing prompt. The teacher starts a sentence or asks a thought provoking question and the kids have to respond.




In case you need a translation, the above paper says: "I see two baby penguins. I will name them Macey and Sara." Notice how she spells "penguins." "pingwins."

Here is another:

The translation for this one is; " I would say would you like one of my cookies." Notice the word, "cookies." "kuceys."

Cute, huh?

The View From Here -Part 2

So far, the view from here hasn't changed all that much, though I do see lots of other changes in the way of spring around our yard. *If you are confused, go back a few posts.
Here is the view from our hammock today;

Below is the picture I took from our hammock on February 14.



I know, it hasn't changed much, but it's there. It just subtle. Take a look at the other obvious signs of spring I found in our very own yard!

My lonely, only Hydrangea bush.

One of the 18 azalea plants we have in our front yard. (It used to be 23 but we recently had some removed)

Our Tulip Tree.

Another Azalea.


More of the Tulip Tree.
I couldn't not include a Jonquil.

I don't know what these purple flowers are, but they sprout up in the same spot every year. And they are pretty.

Yeah, Spring!!

stupid school board

So our kids had the week off from school last week. The school board adopted this new calendar this year that gives them only 8 weeks of summer vacation, but then a week off in September, a week in November, 2 weeks at Christmas, er, for the holidays, a week in February and a week in April all to wrap it up for the summer before Memorial day. I think it works out that they have a week off every 6 weeks. I was against it at the beginning. I hated the idea of starting school August 1. The summer just felt so short. School was starting and taking away not only my first born, but my middle child as well before I knew it.

And to have a week long break in September. I felt like they had just started school. They hardly had time to get to know their teachers and meet new friends before they we out for a whole week. I could have done without that break.

I will say though, that I did enjoy the February break. The girls and I went to visit my parents in Florida. February is a good time to be in Florida. It's not hot, not cold, and the whole world is not there vacationing.

I did like the idea of knowing there were 2 weeks out of the school year that we could go on family trips and not have to worry about everyone else in the country being there as well.

However...Our county board of education, in their infinite wisdom (apparently because they don't seem to care about the opinion of the lowly parents, students or teachers), decided to change the calendar back to your normal start date of the 15th, regular vacation breaks. 80% of parents, students and teachers voted to keep the school calendar like it had been this year, with all the breaks. 80%. They asked for our opinion. They asked for it, before they met to make the decision. They asked what we wanted.
They obviously did not listen. What school calendar we go with doesn't matter to me as much as the fact that the school board had everyone vote and completely disregarded the results.

I began this post with the intention of writing about our time in Florida. I guess I got off on a bit of a tangent and so my musings on our trip will have to wait. And no pic to go with this one.

The View From Here

We have a hammock in our backyard that is attached to 2 pine trees. It was here when we moved in. On occasion, I have a minute to lay on it.

This is the current view from our hammock when I look straight up.

As you can imagine, this view, from the exact same vantage point, changes drastically throughout the year. My girls and I like to lay on the hammock from time to time and look up at these trees and take note of how it is different from the last time.

My intent here is to take pics of each of the changes, even the insignificant ones. Right now, it is barren, not much sign of life, you can see straight through to the sky. However, I know that will change soon. Soon there will be buds visable, even from way down while laying on our hammock.

Today was beautiful. I actually laid, unaccosted, for a good 30 minutes, on our hammock and read a book. There were about 15 other things I could have been doing and should have been doing. However, I chose to lay on our hammock with a book and my camera and listen to the laughter of our 3 lovely girls as they rode the much too small riding toys down the worn path of dirt that used to be our lovely green yard and into the shrub, that used to be a thriving bush.

It was nice.