Weather

I just hopped over to Mama Pea's blog and found that for once she hasn't beaten me tohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif a blog post about the weather we had last night. (I don't really mind that she usually gets to it first though, since she has a rain gauge and I get to find out how much rain we got. :)
I wish I'd had my camera with when I went to town today. You'd find this all much more interesting if you could see it.
Last night we had a huge thunder storm. It poured for about 2 1/2 hours or so. I really don't know exactly since I was trying to sleep (through the dog's fit of hysterics. She's terrified of thunder.) It rained about 3 1/2 to 4 inches here. There were a lot of washed out roads and driveways, and rivers running down the hills to the big lake that aren't usually rivers at all. There were children swimming in the Co-op parking lot (the water was up to their waists in some places). Yuck! Hattie wanted to join them, but I didn't think that would be a good idea. That was NOT clean water. I don't think the Co-op could have gotten many customers today. People would have to wade through the "lake" to reach the door. I did see some adventurous folks wading through the water to get there though. Kudos to them! As for me, I'm glad I went yesterday.
I was also wondering if Dan would be able to get home from work, since he'd spent the night at a cabin he was working on north of here, over the hill, and I'd heard the roads were washed out in spots. It was a bit rough going, but he made it home. I was very thankful for that, since I really missed him. I'm thankful he has work now, but I'll be glad when his jobs again keep him closer to home.
It's thundering again as I type this. I wonder if we're in for more tonight? The dog is already acting up. There's just no reasoning with her over gun shots, fire works or thunder storms. Oh, and here comes the rain...

Bear Tree Park

Sam and I got to have a "date" at Bear Tree Park yesterday. We had about an hour and a half between dropping the little girls off at Bible school and picking Molly up for swimming lessons. Here are some pics from our morning together. It is such a treat to get one on one time with the kids!

Homeschool Conference: Country Mice Go to the City!

We got home on Sunday after a challenging but very rewarding home school conference in Rochester. My sister and I went to the conference together, and we really had some personal growth moments. Finding parking was one of them! There was a 5 story parking garage connected to the hotel. When we got there there was seriously ONE SPACE left, all the way at the top. It was more like 75 % of a space, since the cars on either side were parked over the lines. I wish we had taken a picture of the van in the cozy space we fit it into!

Once we found our room, we took a picture of the room number so we wouldn't forget it (a bit of a joke, but I think we were slightly serious).

That evening before we tucked ourselves in for the night we went down to the lobby to ask about how long it would take to walk through the skywalk to the Civic Center from our hotel. They said to give ourselves at least 10 minutes. Well, when we came down in the morning and tried to find our way we thought that we'd made a mistake in not giving ourselves MUCH more time. Thankfully one of the hotel employees asked us if we needed direction. If he hadn't walked half way with us, I'm sure we would have wandered aimlessly for a lot longer.

While we were walking he told us the funniest story. Earlier that morning, he'd seen a gentleman walking around looking lost. He asked the man if he needed direction. The man responded with, "No thanks, I've got Jesus." After about 10 minutes, the hotel employee saw that the man was still aimlessly wandering around. Once again he approached the man, this time saying, "Jesus sent me to direct you 10 minutes ago. Do you want my help now?" This time the man accepted assistance. How silly we are sometimes. How often we miss the answer to our prayers because we're looking for something else!

My sister and I laughed and laughed about our whole situation. It was just so funny to keep getting lost, and be so challenged in figuring things out. It was so fun to have her to laugh with. What a blessing from God it was to spend such time with her!

the skywalk

This is a gigantic Barnes and Noble that we passed in the skywalk. It has an escalator to the lower level (with lots more books), and used to be a theatre. You can see the stage in the background.

This is some artwork that my sister and I thought was neat, and took pictures of for our artsy daughters to try. The dots give the effect of a mosaic from a distance, but are really "dots" of paint.

The keynote speaker was a man who trains horses and compares it to our relationships with God and our children. They created this arena full of dirt for him. It is a LOT of dirt! We found it pretty amazing that they were able to create this very workable space for the "Sermon on the "Mount'" folks to work in.

Lew from "Sermon on the "Mount'" during one of our workshops.

My sister and I enjoying ourselves at the conference.

Overall the conference was a marvelous experience. It was inspiring, encouraging and informative. There were over 4600 people in attendance. It is really an encouraging thing to be in a room with 4600 other people who have all come together with the goal of being the best educators they can be for their children. I wonder how many fortunate children that represents? I personally knew of 5 families who were represented by 6 of the parents who represented a total of 15 children. If we use that to average 3 children for every person, that would be 13800 children! Wow! We attended some excellent workshops on child training, relationships, and education.

I got the chance to become more familiar with some curriculum that I've been impressed with. Unknown to me, I'd been gradually patterning my own homeschool after a lot of the same ideas and using a lot of the same books. I was able to sit in on one of his seminars and found it very inspiring and encouraging. His heart for raising thoughtful, responsible and Godly children was evident just as it is in the curriculum that he and his wife have developed. I pray God develops that same heart in myself and Dan. I tend toward taking the lazy way out of too many things. But, God is good, and He's been patiently nudging me on. When I look back I can see how He's patiently helped(or helping) me to grow up in him.

I was also able to get some good instruction on teaching writing. That was inspiring and also encouraging. I found that many of the things I've been doing have been good, as well as how to take those things to the next level. I feel more confident to carry on now.

So, it was an all around wonderful time! Dan and the kids also had a good time. He took them to lots of parks and on a lot of walks. They found snails and other water creatures to bring home, and got a LOT of sun. They were all a little pink and quite tired when we got back to my sister's house.

Hehehe! Ok, I just read this and I guess you can sum up this whole thing using the words ENCOURAGING and INSPIRING! I was a bit redundant, but I'm done now, so you get what you get! :)

More Random Ramblings: This one's long, so pull up a comfy chair and grab yourself a good cup of coffee! :)

We got home last night from an overnight trip to Duluth. We had a nice time just being together, and getting a little break from "life as usual". Dan was feeling the need to get away from all the responsibility staring him in the face, so it was great timing.
The main reason for going on the trip was to get Molly's braces off. Her teeth look really nice, and she gets about a weeks break before she goes into full time retainer wearing.

Before...

After!

We celebrated Sam's 10th birthday while in Duluth. We spent the night at The Best Western Edgewater. I think it's safe to say that everyone enjoyed their time at the water park! I tried to get some pictures of that, but the lighting was terrible and I couldn't get any good ones. Dani and I enjoyed the lazy river the most, I think. Dani liked watching the huge bucket tip and spill 500 gallons of water on everyone, but she was a bit scared to play near it, so that ruled out the kiddie area for her. Hattie LOVED that bucket, and its dumping water! She wanted to be right under it when it dumped, and loved the kiddie slides. She also went down the big slide on a double tube with Dan. They also loved crossing the pool on the turtles. :) That was so fun to watch! I saw Sam for about .3 seconds when we got there, and .3 seconds before we left. He never stopped going down the big slides the whole rest of the time! Molly was pretty much enjoying everything available that she could. She's been having some trouble with some pain in her foot related to a ligament that's too short (possibly from fast growth). She has to rest it more than she'd like, but she still had tons of fun.
We had purchased a birthday cake to eat at the hotel, but Sam got the worst migraine he's had yet, and spent some time resting in the quiet dark room (achieved by Dan taking the rest of the kids on an explore around the hotel and some time in the arcade). By the time he felt better, it was 10:30, and much too late for eating cake. :( The next morning Dan took Sam to the arcade to see what he'd missed (not much in my opinion). He wasn't ready to leave the arcade as soon as the rest of the family, so Dan let him stay there for a while by himself. He was taking a long time to come back, so Dan went looking for him. He'd been lost for about 10 minutes, and fell into Dan's arms when they found each other. He was crying when they got back to the room, and it about broke my heart to see him so upset! I guess he's not ready to fly solo yet. That's fine with me! :)
Our other reason for going to Duluth/Cloquet was to do some "farm" type shopping at L&M Fleet and Dan's Feed Bin. Got 200 feet of fencing for the chickens and future goats, and cage wire to build 5 rabbit cages for the meat bunnies we're soon to have. That was a lot of fun, and also a LOT of expensive! Fencing and wire cost SO much! I got a goat raising book, and am learning a TON! This time, I'm determined NOT to let all that information overload deter me from getting dairy goats. I'm looking at Dwarf Nigerians. I think they'll be a great starter goat for me. I'm looking forward to milking and making kefir, cheese, yogurt and such yummy things! Mmmm...
I'm really enjoying this great weather. The robins are again gracing our yard with their song, and it's so peaceful and relaxing to sit out near the chicken yard and enjoy their company. I enjoy spending that special time with God, and Molly seems to appreciate it at least as much as I do. She's frequently found keeping me company. :) It's also a great place to gather for reading aloud to the kid-o's. We're working on Robin Hood (as preparation for our next history unit) and Swiss Family Robinson (just for fun).

Two of our favorite hens, Puffy and Butterscotch

Sinbad, our new Bantam rooster

Raven on her nest. I think she's just laying her egg, but she's showing some signs of becoming broody.

I guess it's time to think about what type of gardening I am (or am not) going to do this year. I know that I want to put in at least one raised bed this year. I will possibly be filling it with compost this year, and letting it finish composting so it will be ready this fall or in the spring. I'd like to experiment with a cold frame for planting some late fall lettuce and spinach in as well. It would be so nice to extend that fresh vegetable season a bit longer, and begin it sooner in the spring! We also want to figure out how to grow some tomatoes up here. I mean, how to grow some tomatoes that will ripen. Gardening is simply NOT my forte!

Ok, now that I've put you all to sleep with my rambling, I'll go and get some work done...after I get another cup of coffee. :)