Tyler's Blue Belt Promotion

Tyler got promoted to Blue Belt today.

A Story by Bekah, My Kindergartener



Translation:

"Once upon a time there was a little girl. The girl was named Emily. She was swinging on the swing and then the swing broke off. And then Emily's mom had to fix it and she did it."

Field Trip

It gets hard to take field trips during the school year so this year I'm trying to squeeze some in during the summer. For a while now, I've been wanting to visit Horn Point Lab in Cambridge, MD. The best thing about this place is that it's free to visit and take a guided tour. Also, I worked there as a summer intern when I was in college. I wanted to show the kids where I worked and show them that science isn't all sitting in a lab. doing experiments at a bench. My two best science related jobs, ever, had me outside a good bit of the time, especially another internship I did at a University of MD research farm. I didn't even have to wear a shirt or shoes to work on most days!

Oceanography Lab

The first stop was the Oceanography Lab, where some scientists were getting ready to head to the Gulf of Mexico to measure the effect the giant oil spill has had on the Gulf. They've been there before, so they have a good baseline for conditions before the spill, and they can

One held vinegar, one water

compare results to see how much damage has been done the environment down there. Naturally, with any hands-on activity, Tyler is first in line to get his hands on. He and another little visitor were trying to figure out what those two buckets held, using their powers of observation and all their senses. I never thought Ty had much sense, but they figured it out.

Ty's just gotta touch that

My Happy Crew

They can equip these buoys with various sensors to measure conditions in Chesapeake Bay.  Tyler wanted to climb on one. He had to be satisfied with a look from the ground. Next stop, the hatchery.

Even way back when I worked at Horn Point, oysters were a main focus because their population is so threatened in the Bay by so many factors. Sturgeon, which in the 1600's and 1700's were everywhere, are now critically endangered. HPL is trying to restore the oysters and keep the Sturgeon from disappearing altogether. Sturgeon can get up to 14 feet long but you never see one that big, if you ever get to see any at all, at least in the wild. Tyler wanted to pet one, but was asked not to by our tour guide. We were told they have a big one in another tank but we weren't allowed to see it.

Ty exploring the old shells

New real estate for baby oysters

The oyster haychery was much bigger. One large tank can hold around 700 million oyster spat. Not all of them will live, but that's a lot of oysters. Once they're large enough, the spat are transferred into tanks where they can settle and attach to old oyster shells. Those shells are then transported to the bay and dumped overboard. There's a lot more involved, but I just don't have time to get into it all. It was pretty cool visited the lab and seeing it again. Not much has changed except for the size of the operation. Tyler was fascinated by the fact that you didn't need to wear a lab coat and work inside sterile walls to be a scientist. Maybe he'll decide to change his career from  Hobo to Biologist.

Being Sloths

We combined this field trip with a trip to Salisbury, to visit the small zoo they have there. Vicki and I spent a lot of time there since we went to college in Salisbury. It's not a big zoo, but it's also not in DC or Baltimore and that counts for a lot in my book. I hate traffic and crowds. Here's some pictures of our afternoon in Salisbury.

Do they ever look happy?

I have more but the baby is crying... 

Beach Vacation

You know summer's winding down when the county fair arrives. Alex took Connor and Kenzie down to Centreville to spend the day at the fair with friends. Tyler's in another karate camp, so I stayed home with the rest of the kids after I went food shopping. I used to like shopping for groceries but not any more. Eight gallons of milk. Ten loaves of bread. Every week. That, plus everything else needed to feed ten of us, gets expensive.

This is Ty getting his orange belt

Well, we survived the beach vacation. It wasn't as bad as I expected. Still too much sand at the beach for my taste, though. I wound up bringing Tyler home on Wednesday night of that week so he could go to karate class. That boy has really taken to karate. He earned his orange belt in about a month, and will probably advance to orange/strip in his second month. He's doing two karate camps this summer, and going to some extra classes, with the permission of his instructor, who seems to recognize Tyler's natural afinity for martial arts.

The family compound as seen from our house.

Capturing ghost crabs

Ok, back to the beach. The kids had a great time. They spent at least part of every day in the ocean or in the sand. And even a couple of evenings they got to explore the beach with flashlights. They were especially thrilled to discover the countless ghost crabs that came out at night. Every day we'd set up the tents. It looked kind of like a nomadic tent city sitting next to a huge oasis. All we needed was some camels.

Bekah in the waves.

Taylor running for his life

 

Almost looks easy once get past the breakers

When Ty and I returned to the beach after his karate class, we took the kayaks with us. I wanted to try them out in the ocean. It was pretty cool. Alex and I got to watch the sunrise from our boats. I'm really glad I don't have any pictures of my first two attempts at getting aboard the kayaks while the surf was knocking me over.

This is my ten minutes in the sand

Poppop

This family vacation was provided by Poppop. He actually found a house that was big enough to accomodate the whole extended family. He made some really great memories for his grandkids. They had a fantastic time.

Kenzie left her mark

Oh, and we also went parasailing

First Day at the Beach

So, I'm holding Adam,trying to let him take a nap, while the rest of the crew is a block away, playing in the ocean.Doesn't sound fair, does it? Well, I had my ten minutes on the beach when I got here a couple hours ago, and I'm good for now. Anything bigger than a sandbox is too much beach for me. I can't take the ocean; I like playing in the waves. The only problem is that nasty, hot sand in between me and the water. So, I get to hold Adam while they all get sandy. I tried to lay him down, but after ten minutes he realized he was in a strange house and got upset. Try typing with a netbook on your knee and a baby on your belly. Thank goodness for the backspace button.

Poppop is snoring and Richard's dozing off. It's a good, sleepy Sunday afternoon. Hot as Hades outside...uhoh...I hear kids. They must be back from the beach. Going to wake up Adam, I'm sure. Hopefully it's just a bathroom break and they'll head back out.

Nope, here they come. I guess nap time over.

Being Little

It's tough being little. The older kids are playing hide-and-seek on their bikes in the neighborhood. The younger ones can't keep up and aren't allowed to ride bikes alone (a requirement if you're trying to hide). It's killing Bekah. She was a little hysterical earlier, when her big sister left her behind. I'm going to go read some more Charlotte's Web to her.

Why We Don't Do Family Vacations

We are scheduled to spend a week at the beach, this Summer, with Vicki's parents and her sister and family. One house; 16 people; for a week. Can you imagine that? Unfortunately, I can. Now, for any of you involved in this endeavor, who may be reading this, remember who you'll be spending the week with. You know me, and how I have a knack for getting on your nerves, even when I'm not trying to. Add to that eight kids (speaking only for my own; not the nephews) who can't talk below a shout, pick on each other all the time, and never intentionally ever pick up something on the floor (while dropping everything they touch)...and this in our seven bedroom house with just one family occupying it. Oh, and one third of the people in this beach house will be under the age of 6, and at least half (probably two-thirds) ACT under the age of six. If it rains that week, there will be no survivors.

I also have 26 chickens, three cats, a tank full of fish, a pond full of fish, a lizard, and a bin full of live crickets (for the lizard) that I have to figure out how to keep alive for a week with nobody home. A friend has offered to tend to the chickens once a day, but I feel bad about piling on the rest of the critters.

Then there are the other activities that will be missed. We have softball practice, with a national tournament coming up, karate which Ty just started, and dance which Tay just started. Oh, and did I mention all the kids staying in the same house for a week?

I miss the good old days (last year) when we split up for vacation. I went with my dad to Mt. Ranier. Vicki and half the kids went with her parents to Disney World. You know, at one point, through a haze of wishful thinking, I do believe I thought this was a good idea.

Hot

This is the second or third day in a row of 100+ degrees. It is hot. Nothing much to do but sit around in the A/C, feeling guilty about not doing anything. All the computers and netbooks and laptops are being used at full capacity; the kids don't want to go outside either. Kenzie had softball practice yesterday-Alex took her-but I don't know how they could've done too much. Tonight, we have dance, for Taylor, and karate, for Tyler. Good, inside activities. I hope it cools off a little bit, soon.

We were looking at a car for Alex yesterday. A '94 Mustang GT. Stopped looking when we turned the engine on and it struggled to start. We'll keep looking, but I hope we can settle on something more practical (like a small truck) or economical on the gas. He has to remember his 40-minute drive to school is going to cost him some gas money. 

Now, I hear the kids are heading for the pool. I hate the idea of having to sit out there and watch them, but I hate the idea of them swimming without me watching them, more.

July 4th Weekend

I tried reading the Declaration of Independence to some of the kids yesterday. We didn't get very far before they began to wander off. It's no wonder our kids in government schools don't learn our American history when I can't even get my own kids to listen. I am going to make a greater effort this coming school to get some history to stick to my kids' brains. They really need to understand what's made this country great before they accept the direction our socialist/progressive leaders are currently taking it.

On a lighter note, we did get our 4th of July cookout in, yesterday. Did some fishing and kayaking, too. Some of the kids are still fishing and kayaking as I type this. I'll be joining them shortly. Taylor was getting a little upset yesterday because he was having trouble catching fish, especially when Bekah, the five year old, caught her first fish of the day when she accidentally dropped her line straight off the side of the boat. When we got home, Tay went down to our nearest creek and promptly caught a dozen fish, so he forgot about his bad luck earlier in the day.

Alex had to work so he missed the fun yesterday. He's out in the kayak right now, but will need to come  in soon, for his 3 pm shift at Subway. I was going to take him car hunting today, but I guess we have all summer for that. It's hard to find a decent car in a 17 year old's price range, especially when he only works three or four days a week. There are a lot of good things about having a large family, but having money is not one of them.

Gonna cut this short so i can head down to the creek and check on the crew. Belated happy Independence Day!

Quick Update

I see I haven't posted here since the beginning of the school year that has recently ended. wow. Many things have obviously happened.

The twins wound up going to public school for fourth grade. I thought I needed a break, and I probably did, but they are coming back home for fifth grade. They did very well in school. And they seemed to like it. They made a couple new friends. But, I don't see what they actually learned. At the end of the year, they were still using methods that I taught them in third grade math; their Grammar and sentence structure seemed to have stagnated, or regressed; Taylor is still shy; Tyler is still 'energetic'. Overall, they had an easy and very unchallenging year. Fifth grade will be different, but I won't be a stressed that I am not doing a good enough job. If I do half what I usually teach, it will be more than they got this past year.

Alex had a mediocre year, grade-wise. I think (and hope) that it was part of being a seventeen year old. When I was that age it bothered me when my grades; not him. He's too laid back and doesn't get upset when his grades are average. He has been recognized often, throughout the past three years at SSPP, for his leadership qualities and spiritual life, so that's something to be proud of. It is the only reason we keep shelling out the tuition for a Catholic high school. Alex has been working at Subway for about a year now, and I am very proud of him for that. Between school and work, he is kept very busy. Right now he is in West Virginia with his Mission Team. Vicki went as a chaperon. They'll be there for a week, working hard and getting very little sleep. I'm thinking they'll be loving every minute.

Connor finished up eighth  grade. He'll be joining his brother as a ninth grader at SSPP. He took a placement test last December that indicated he was at the equivalent of the end of ninth grade. He's a wiz at math, just finishing Algebra 2 at home. He'll be taking it again in ninth grade because I didn't use an 'accredited' program blah blah blah or something. I decided not to argue; let him have an easy first year of high school. He hasn't been in 'school' since first grade and since he'll be playing soccer in the fall, an easy academic schedule will help keep the stress down. Still playing piano and playing travel soccer. His team took first place this spring.

Kenzie is still doing all things that Kenzie does. Just finished sixth grade; going to hopefully finish Algebra 1 over the summer. I will use an 'accredited' homeschool course for Alg 2 so she'll be able to skip it in high school. Maybe Geometry, too, if we can get that far in the next two years. She's also still playing piano. Periodically, I post some of her and Connor's stuff on youtube and/or facebook. She's also gotten back into travel softball, after taking  last year off. For most of this spring she was on three teams: a rec team, and two travel teams. It's a long story, but she ended up dropping off the one travel team because they weren't travelling enough (and when they started, there were too many conflicts with the team she began travelling with earlier). She rejoined Bayside Breeze, from a few years ago. They wound up being shorthanded due to injuries, so it worked out for the best. They only had 9 girls last weekend, and are playing in a State tournament this weekend with only 10 girls (even though the one girl may still not be at 100%). Anyway, things are very busy in Kenzie's world.

Two days later:
Still trying to write this update post.

Let's see, who needs to be updated.... Bekah, Kearsyn, Adam. Well, Bekah started a little homeschooling this year. She's reading and doing math somewhere around a first grade level (and she's just now old enough for Kindergarten). She usually bugs me to "do school" with her enough for me to give her new concepts once in a while; the rest she does on her own, by reading whatever she can find. She can't wait until we start up for real, in a couple months.

Keary's still our peanut. She is so petite! Right now, she weighs less than Adam. He's 20 months, she's three and a half. She's got quite the personality, talks constantly, and is everybody's best friend.

Adam is our fire plug. About as round as he is high. Linebacker, all the way. We'll never be accused of starving him, that's for sure. He makes a lot of noise, but doesn't say too  much yet.

As for Vicki and me, not much has changed. She's still grumbling about work, I'm still grumbling about much she works. I'm looking forward to the next couple months of summer, although we'll be starting our summer school schedule tomorrow (just a little math each day or so). Right now, as I may have said above, Vicki is on the Mission trip with Alex. They've been gone since Friday and are already missed. I'm trying to figure out how I'll get Kenzie to practice this week, and Tyler to altar server training, but it'll work out somehow.

We may have some big news in the near future, but we're not talking yet, so stay tuned.

Kenzie and Cat

One 11 year old softball player had a dream come true this weekend. She met one of her heroes, and one of the greatest players to play fast pith softball: Cat Osterman. She is one happy little girl.

Go Bayshore Barracudas!

Kenzie's travel soccer team took second place in their first ever tournament, the SAC Columbus Day Tournament! And they did it by scoring only two goals in three games, with a record of 2 and 1 in bracket play to win their bracket. Kenzie had some spectacular saves in Goal, shutting out two of their opponents, to ensure the team's advancement to the final game against a very good WAGS team. TAnd, two of our newest players scored the winning goals in both games! The future of this team looks very bright. Congratulations, ladies!

School Starts

Ok, we've officially begun our school year. It feels early, but it is September and the weather has turned autumnal. The first two days of school went pretty well; just a little resistence yesterday, from Kenzie. Not my usual source of contention, but I guess she was due. Otherwise, I would rank this start among the top of my seven school year starts. In case you don't know, this year I have five students again. I added Bekah. She's four, and just started kindergarten. She's also in fourth grade with the twins, with smattering of sixth with Kenzie, and eighth with Connor. Not to mention the preK coloring and paper-cutting squad, with Keary.

Alex started 11th grade today at SSPPHS. He was anxiously anticipating getting his parking permit. BMOC. I guess he got a private kick out of the fact that we made him shave off his peach fuzz for the first day. It wouldn't do, to get his first ever demerit for breaking the dress code (including no facial hair), on his first day as a Junior.

Connor is excited because he just got his first contact lenses. Now, he's riding his bike to the barber to get hair out of his eyes. I told him he looks like a girl, his hair's so long. He doesn't care what I think, but he longer has his glasses to keep the bangs out of his eyes. Ugh! It wasn't long ago when short hair was IN.

We actually started the week with insects. Bekah found a live cicada and decided it would be a good pet. She took it on a walk with us on Monday. I think it then got fed to the chickens. She apparently did not get too attached to it.

Then, on Tuesday, we discovered this nest of wasps under the deck. I count between 40 and 50 of the buggers there. Makes my skin crawl. Thank goodness for bug spray.

I'm looking forward to Summer Vacation '10.

Where Has Summer Gone?

I can't believe it has been four months since I last posted to this blog. I guess it's been a combination of being busy and being lazy. It has been summer, after all, and there's been no major events like softball world series, or new kids added to the family, or anything like that. Just a kind of normal, non-eventful, summer.

Some things have happened, though.

I did spend some time updating AndyandVickisPlace.com, adding a bunch of new pictures (after three years of neglect) to all the kids' photo albums. I also got a little hooked on Facebook, and their Fish Wrangler game. I'm not much into Facebook as a social network, though.

Alex got a job, and lost a job. He was working at Subway for a few months. They cut his hours near the end of the summer; they say because school was starting soon, but that doesn't make sense to me. They were cutting other employees too, I think because the economy in general just stinks everywhere. I also think it might be because we used his employee discount a good bit. I doubt this is why he lost the job, but a family of ten with an employee discount can break the bank of any fast food joint. He goes for an interview tomorrow at Quiznos. If he gets the job there, we won't be over-using the employee discount, just in case. He also got his license (and hasn't lost it, yet). I am happy with how well he has been driving. Surprised a bit, too, but something seemed to click some time in the spring, and he has shown enough maturity to earn the right to drive. Now he needs that job to help pay for insurance. Although public schools start tomorrow, Alex's school starts, gradually just before Labor Day. I won't start home school in full force until we reach an "R" month.

Connor hasn't done too much, either, He finished out baseball and travel soccer in the spring, and has been enhancing his soccer skills all summer. Practice has begun for fall travel soccer team, and also for his rec team. I normally don't like him playing on two teams, but I lost the battle of "one team per season" a long time ago. As long as we can dig up the money to pay for it. Connor also finished about a quarter of his Algebra 2 book over the summer. He starts eighth grade this year, and I want him to start Geometry (and maybe finish it( before high school next year. He wants to go to public school, for the sports and friends thing, and I can't think of any reason to deny him. He is so self-motivated that if the school doesn't challenge him, he will challenge himself. I made a deal with him: if he takes as many AP classes as the schedule allows, I'll agree to public school. He might actually do a little better at public school if he receives some academic competition, than he can do here, with just me challenging him.

McKenzie played rec softball this spring. She played up, on a 12U team. She was the most skilled player on her team. She even pitched when necessary because we only had one other girl who was fairly consistent at pitching. I was, however, very disappointed in how the league was run, the small number of games we played, and the lack of tournament play. Her skills did not get challenged, but Kenzie had a lot of fun, playing with local girls, and making local friends. So, it was worth it. Now, we're trying to put together a local girls travel team. They won't compete at the level Kenzie has played in the past, but there's more to it than just winning every game. Kenzie tried to find work this summer, too, but was not very successful. She's eleven, and there's not many people hiring eleven years old. She did get a volunteer job, helping at Chesapeake Cats and Dogs. She wants to be a VET some day, so I think this is a good start. Kenzie will start sixth grade this year. She spent the summer trying to finish up her elementary math so she can start Algebra 1 soon. She's almost there.

After baseball ended, Taylor focused mainly on riding his bike this summer. We haven't done too much fishing, but what we have done, has been because of Taylor. He loves to fish. He just recently started soccer practice for his rec team. He looks fantastic this year. He's always liked playing soccer, but it's just been something to do in the fall and he has not really been that aggressive or excited about it. This year, he's a different kid. He's playing like he really wants to be there, and is showing skills he's not displayed in the past. He might be ready to try out for the travel team soon, at this rate (although this is not required as the cost is prohibitive). Tay will start fourth grade soon, and is the only kid of mine who actually says he WANTS to be home schooled (they don't get a choice until high school, and where they go is determined on an individual basis).

Tyler is a hoot. The other night, at Kenzie's soccer practice, Tyler discovered that he can climb foul poles in the baseball outfield. He looks like a monkey, using his feet to shimmy right to the top. I've got to find a use for all his odd abilities, like that one. He can also take things apart real well (can't get them back together, though). So let's see; what job requires climbing poles and disassembling stuff? And definitely, NO MATH. Ugh, that's his Kryptonite. He did really well at travel soccer last spring, but just isn't interested in it enough to keep paying for it. Right now, he's into flag football. I haven't seen him practice yet, and I'm going to miss today's practice too. Alex has been taking him to football since Sunday afternoons seem to fill up with so many other things. I do like having Alex as a driver, for things like this. I will see him play some games this year, even it means missing a occasional Ravens game.

Bekah is still a cutie, but now has competition from Keary, her little sister. Bekah is still doing her speech therapy to work out some kinks in some her sounds. I think she's doing much better in her talking, and hopefully one more year will be enough. Her summer therapist said Bekah mastered everything she was supposed to work on over the summer, and moved on to other skills. She has really taken to bike riding this summer; finally getting big and strong enough for longer bike rides. She's also turning into a fisherman with Taylor. One memorable moment from this summer was her busted chin. She woke up one morning, covered in blood, from a gash she had under her chin. It took four stitches, and will leave a nasty little scar. We still don't how she did it and she can't remember. And, there's no blood (or chunks of skin) anywhere to be found, except the blood in her bed and on her sheets. Very bizarre. Bekah is only four, but has picked up so much from being in our classroom, that I'm going to start her is a kindergarten program this year. I hope I have time, because the twins are still kind of high maintenance in school I'm hoping I can get them to be a little more independent.

Keary is still our peanut, in her red glasses. She's walking and talking better than any of our previous two year olds. Her summer consisted of babbling and coloring and cutting paper to make shapes and making messes of scraps all over the classroom floor. She's probably ready for a pre-K program, but I'm not. We'll just let her absorb stuff in school for another year before we think about formalizing anything.

Adam is finally crawling. I think he's a little behind everyone else. He's almost one year old, and doesn't seem inclined to walk any time soon. No biggie; once he starts walking, he'll be harder to keep track of. Keary's wondered off twice since she learned to walk, so I can wait for the time I'll have to keep track of two wondering toddlers.

Me, I've just been trying to keep my head above water. Still trying to keep the kids doing a little school each day. Bugging Alex to go look for work. Laundry never ends, especially when you new HE washer breaks after only a year. It took two weeks to get it fixed. What a pain. And right after the warranty expired. My dad convinced me to write a letter to Sears to c=ask for my repair costs back (the washer was 16 months old). I was shocked when they agreed to refund the money for repairs. Sometimes it pays to be the squeaky wheel.

I've been typing for about an hour and we have to go to the in-laws' soon for a birthday party, so I gotta wrap this up. Hopefully, I'll find time to start posting here properly. There's so much I missed putting here over the past few months. Didn't I start by saying this was an uneventful summer?

More Piano Peforming

Kenzie and Connor are playing at church, on the organ during Mass, this afternoon. They got to practice a little bit on Friday. Here's how they sounded:

What an Awesome Day

This was just a great day to be the dad of my kids.

It was a day full of sports on an absolutely beautiful day. Let's start with the Alex. He started his first real paycheck job today, at Subway. He was supposed to go in at 9:00 AM for training. They must have liked him because they kept him there until 8:00 PM. A few of us stopped in for some subs at the end of the day, and Alex was still smiling, so I guess he likes his job. I can tell you, I like him having a job. He'll need to help with his car insurance real soon.


Connor had baseball at 9:00 AM. He pitched the first few innings, and did great. His team lost, but at least they were ahead when the coach changed pitchers. Then, it was off to referee some soccer games. He had three to do, and I watched most of them. Kenzie's team played in the first game; Tyler's team played in the second game; and I was just watching Connor ref in the third game. By the end the third game, Connor was exhausted and sunburnt, but he had to run to another field and, with no time to spare, jump into his own game where he played Goalie for 70 for the whole game. I was pleased because Connor has not been given the opportunity to show what he's capable of on this team, playing only about ten minutes per game for the past two seasons. Given all he'd done already, I was not expecting peak performance from him. His team won (their first win of the season) by 2-0, Connor having allowed no goals. How awesome is that!? Plus, he made over $100 referee-ing. He deserved his sub from Subway and should sleep very well tonight


Kenzie had a 11:00 AM softball game, but she went to the park with me when I took Connor to his game. Her softball team won their game. Kenzie was Catcher, which she absolutely love to be. Her thumb was bruised from soccer last week, so she couldn't swing the bat. But, she managed to get on base every at-bat by bunting for a base hit or walking. Only once did she not score a run (she got stranded on third) and stole more bases than I can remember. She had to leave softball a little early so I could get her to her soccer game, where she play Goalie. Her team played the number one team in their division and beat them, 3-1. Kenzie only let one goal in. In six games or so, I don't think she's had more than 6 or 7 goals scored against her.



The twins had a lighter schedule. Tay had a 9:00 AM baseball game. His morning started off pretty rough. He lost his baseball hate, and losing par of you uniform is a pet peave of mine, really gets under my skin. SO, Tay got yelled at, and left at home to look for it, while I took Connor and Kenzie to the field so Connor could warm up. I went back and got Tay, but neither one of us had a happy start this morning. Things eventually calmed down; he borrowed an extra hat from his coach; then got a hit near the end of his game.



Tyler, who had no game until the afternoon, hung around with us at the baseball fields, waiting for his turn to play. In his soccer game (with Connor as ref), Ty played Goalie (see the family trend here?). He's very inexperienced at travel soccer, but has been attending goalie training sessions to improve in that position. It just so happened that today his team played one of the best U9 teams around, and they got beat up pretty bad. Tyler has come a very long way in his sportmanship. He did not let anything bother him, where in the past, he would have had a tantrum over losing, let alone at being the Goalie in such a lopsided game. I'm very proud of him.

Tomorrow won't be quite as busy, but it will start early. CCD at 8. Alex goes to Mass at 9:00 because he has to work again in the afternoon, when we'll all be at Mass enjoying not only Mass, but Connor and Kenzie playing the church organ during the service, while Tay and Ty, as part of the youth choir, sing. Oh, and in the middle of the day, there's more soccer games for Tyler and Connor.

Homeschool Field Trip

We went on a field trip to Historic St. Mary's City yesterday. It was windy and cold, but it was a lot of fun. I was surprised at how much they had for people to do and see.

We started in the Indian village, where we learned about how the Indians that met the Maryland colonists lived. Below are some of the kids using a rock to make tools from rocks and bones. Tyler was grossed out by the guy who was scraping meat off a deer hide to make clothing, but he gets grossed out by a lot of things.

We moved on to the Town Center, where we met colonists dyeing wool and operating their shops.

We learned how to use a seventeeth century printing press.

We also were drilled as Maryland's early militia, and got to see the firing of a musket. Everybody thought it was pretty loud. Connor could not believe that the colonists could perform the seventeen steps of loading and firing this gun, not once, but three times in one minute.

Then we moved on to the boat that brought them here, the Dove. Everyone loved this part. This was the only part of the day we were glad is was windy because you could really feel the boat rocking.








While Kenzie and Bekah fit in the bunks just fine, I can't imagine how grown men slept there, nevermind all the passengers, who had to sleep on floor of the hold.










Finally, it was off to the tobacco plantation where we ground up corn to make flour, made some corn bread, planted some beans, worked in the field, and fed the cows.

The Duet

Ok, here they are:

Thud!

The sound of Connor's hopes being dashed. But I guess I should say 'Splash'. Connor had his first opportunity, as a certified soccer referee, to ref a Capital Area Soccer tournament. He was going to make $144 for six hours' work. Not bad for a twelve-year-old. I heard him come downstairs this morning, about 7, all dressed in his referee uniform, only for me to tell him the tournament was cancelled due to the rain we had overnight (I had gotten up earlier to check, but fell back to sleep before O told him). DARN! Back upstairs to change out of his ref uniform.

At least now we know he'll get to his piano recital on time this afternoon. He and Kenzie are playing a duet for the first time in public. After all the battles between those two, while trying to learn their ensemble piece, I'm very proud of them for hammering through their "creative differences" and putting together this song. If I can get a good video of it, I'll post it here.

Alex's day is still on schedule. His high school baseball team has a game in Frederick, about 2+ hours from his school. I guess they got less rain than we, since they haven't cancelled the game, and the radar show all the rain has passed. He just got picked up by some friends to go meet the bus, which will be passing by our house on the way to the game in about an hour. Seems kind of pointless, but that's what you get when you go to a school thirty miles away, in the wrong direction.

I still don't know if all the other local games/practices are still on, or not. Tay has baseball at noon. Ty has soccer at 3. Kenzie also has softball at 3, but I don't know when she'll be getting home from piano. It really doesn't matter if she misses some of this softball. It's a rec team. Most of the girls could never play at a level any higher, which is fine, that's why we have rec sports. Kenzie will have fun because she loves the game, at any level. I'll have fun, because all the stresses of travel are not there; and because I, as an assistant coach, can be involved with teaching the kids what little I know about the game. Anyway, I'm thinking the fields, especially infields, will be too soggy for play.

I almost forgot to mention we had an attack this morning. We lost two hens to a fox. We actually saw him, this morning, munching on one of them for breakfast (only got a measly head because I scared it off). Too bad my .357 is too loud to be fired in a neighborhood; I really hate that fox right now. Kenzie and I, out in the mud this morning, tried to fix the holes it dug under the fence, but now that it knows food is so easily available, it won't go away, I'm sure. Kenzie's going to have to be a very diligent shep-, I mean chicken-herd, for a while, making sure her hens are secure inside the coop every night.

Tomorrow, we have another long distance game; this time in Hagerstown. It's a soccer game for Kenzie. She wants to ride with some friends, not her dad, so if I want to go I need to bum a ride with someone else, too. I'm not driving, alone, for a four hour round trip no matter how much I enjoy watching her play. On the other hand, some of my other kids will want to go, so I won't be alone after all.

Rotten Eggs

So much for raising chicks. It didn't work. Next time, I guess we'll use an incubator. The kids did discover that lovely rotten eggs odor when Tyler squeezed one the unhatched eggs. Yuck! At least now, with the days getting longer, we're getting plenty of eggs again.