Fabulous Fourteen!

M- turned 14 today!  I'll admit, 13 is an age I am glad to leave behind.  It was a rough one - but oh how I love my boy!  He is polite, kind, smart, huggy, honest, strong, loving, hard-working, tough, trustworthy, and handsome!  I'll stop there, but really he is such a great kid and both his Dad and I are super proud of the young man he has become.  14 will be an adventure as he heads into a new world of learning (charter school), works toward his Eagle Scout (it is his next rank), becomes a junior instructor at taekwondo, and enjoys most of the summer on his own at Boy Scout camps.  

We celebrated earlier in the week as he left today for a competition in Texas.  Another adventure he was very excited about!  Good thing we got him a phone for his birthday as he's been texting me his whereabouts all afternoon:)  

E- got him a very cool Captain America hoodie.  He can pull this off quite well:)

We all had fun at the trampoline park.  Even hubby got in on the fun and discovered he can still do splits and flips at 45!

*** Note:  We were all pretty sore the next day!

After burning off a bunch of calories we headed back home for M-'s fave meal of the month:  Juicy Lucy's (a double burger patty stuffed with cheese), sweet potato fries, and some mint chocolate cookie milkshakes!   MMmmmmmmm!

Just a couple more pics of M- helping with the little ones at TKD... this is about the cutest thing ever!

He is really a natural - The kids just love him!

Happy Birthday!  

  

Randomly Rambling'

I love my kids!  Look how happy and silly they are:)  Seriously, I love the way they look out for each other, have fun together, support and help and stick together.  Yes - they have their moments, but usually they are pretty great.  Wish this pic wasn't so blurry, but it makes me smile anyway.

Here are a couple Spring photos from the yard.  Fruit trees are blooming, bulbs are popping, lilacs smell sweet, and everything is greening up.  We've also got a little garden going... maybe we'll yield some produce this year?!  Fingers crossed - 

We are slowly winding down the year.  Both kids finished Spanish, M- close to completing pre-Algebra. E- gearing up for ACT and AP Euro History tests.   We are all finding motivation hard to come by... pushing hard to get everything done so we can begin the busy summer season!

Studying is much more enjoyable when done outside.  Multi-tasking while playing with the dogs!

E- takes her breaks trying to catch the turtles (we now have 3), lizards, and frogs.  She's mastered getting them with her hands now and doesn't even need the net.  Catching at least 2 a day.   They are everywhere!

M- heads to El Paso with his TKD team to compete in a demo competition soon.  He is pretty psyched to go by himself.  He's got a pretty big part doing multiple forms to music, nunchucks, and a cool flying kick called "stairway to Heaven".  

E- was one of 3 teens selected by our church to attend a leadership conference in Denver over the summer.  She'll be busy as it is the week before the summer writing workshop in Kansas.  The kids will be travelling more than me this summer!

I was super happy to re-connect with a friend from WA who I had no idea was reading the blog!  Yay Ann:)  Cheers to friends!  

  

  

The Perfect College!

We visited Thomas Aquinas College (TAC) this past week.  E- has been wanting to go here since her 8th grade Logic teacher told her about it.  We figured we should visit sooner than later for various reasons.  Let me tell you that if I could design a college for my daughter THIS would be it!  TAC is definitely not for everyone, but it is most definitely for E-; and both her Dad and I knew it the minute we set foot on campus.  

In brief, TAC is a Catholic Great Books College.  Professors are called "Tutors", classes are all seminar style, there are no tests, there are only 400 kids at the college, close to 80% of them are on a work study program (meaning they are running/upkeeping the campus), there is a dress code and rules and respect.  There is a focus on reading the original works of Aristotle, Euclid, Thomas Aquinas etc...  E- loves this stuff!    

Can't get a smile much bigger than this!  E- got to stay in the dorms with 2 other freshman, sit in on classes (Theology was a favorite), and eat on campus (Hubby and I did as well and the food was... good:))

This is me after learning that my 'transcripts' and records of homeschooling were "superb" from the admissions guy!  Let me tell you that I have been stressing about this for oh about 4 years or so!  If you homeschool through high school, you are not only teacher, but guidance counselor and all - lots of pressure on me!  

TAC even has a campus dog - Rusty - for the kids!  He runs around begging the kids to throw the ball for him and hangs out during the day and chases the deer away at night.

And the library!  E-'s heaven!  I'll let her post about it so make sure you check out The Spilled Inkwell sometime in the next week or so as I am sure she will elaborate.

And now for the downside of the trip.... TAC was super generous to provide not only food for our family during our visit, but also housing for Hubby and I free of charge.  We were 'warned' that it was modest.  Modest was accurate - reminded us of park housing.  We were pretty sure we could survive free and modest accommodations, but we were NOT prepared for night time....  Snuggling in the less than full size bed and roasting in the CA heat would have been tolerable, but did you know the bugs come out at night???  Each night when the sun went down the trailer walls, windows, bathrooms, and even the bed crawled with pinch-ass bugs and other flying gnats!  Okay, not the technical name for silver-fish, but come on they have pinch asses so that's what we call them!  I swear hubby killed close to 100 the first night.  Needless to say, we didn't sleep much for 3 days.

The place is pretty beautiful!  

As if visiting TAC was not exciting enough, E- got to meet up with her friend from OYAN (who happens to live 5 minutes from campus and whose Dad is a professor at the college).  These two are 'peas in a pod' let me tell you!  Non-stop talking, laughing, and fun  - and she has a super sweet family as well.  

Friends!  

E- will head back to TAC next summer for their summer program.  Until then... she is dreaming of attending there and is not too happy that she still has 2 more years of high school!

Catch Up Time!

I've been a little lax on blogging of late... no wonder as it has been a constant stream of busy for all of us!  Spring is here (yay!) - everything is getting green, flowers are blooming, trees are blossoming, my garden seeds are sprouting, the frogs are out, and we finally saw one of our turtles sunning himself on a rock today.  And, it's warm:)  I love it!

Froggo Baggins:)

E- performed in the Dr. Seuss play at the library a couple weeks ago.  She was Sam I Am.  Too cute!

She also got accepted to the community college to take some dual enrollment classes next fall.  We meet with an advisor on Monday.  She pretty much aced the placement test - happiness!  Should be an interesting and different experience for both of us.

She was elected President of her Venture Crew  - that might make for a busier year, especially with Hubby taking over as Scout Master in May.

M - and Hubby spent the day helping at Coronado State Monument on an Eagle Project and now are off to plan their Philmont trip for this summer (a 12 day hike!).  One of the prohibited items is deodorant (really - I read it like 5 times!) - because of bears.  Can we say S-M-E-L-L-Y boys?!

E- tested for her orange belt in Hapkido this afternoon.  She rocked it.  Seriously, I was super impressed with her confidence, power, and technique.

And, she broke 3 boards (palm strike, elbow strike, and front snap kick)!

We are re-trying our TAC visit next weekend.  M- is staying behind to camp at White Sands.  I definitely have Spring Fever... hope you do too!

Relax, Enjoy, Relax

This was the sign in our bathroom at the 1906 Lodge in San Diego - and it is EXACTLY what we did for our delayed 20th anniversary celebration:)  I spent nearly an entire day sleeping, Hubby finished a book (unheard of!), we sat at the beach, biked, walked and spent mornings and evenings on our private porch.  

I took a gamble on booking a room at this B &B (online reviews were good) and oh my was it worth every penny!  Quiet, off the strand and away from the craziness, 2 blocks from the beach, free bike rentals, beach chairs, umbrellas, fantastic homemade healthy breakfasts (different every morning), good local coffee (this is a necessity for the both of us!), evening wine receptions, very friendly/accommodating staff, comfortable beds!  We totally recommend it and HOPE to go back sooner than our 40th:)

The beach!  I love the beach!  I needed the beach!  I miss the beach!  Coronado has GOLD sand - seriously... and sand-dollars, and dolphins, and Navy guys training on the beach!  What's not to love??

My hubby is cuter than the Navy guys though:)

One of my favorite things was getting up with the sun and walking on the nearly empty beach - so peaceful.  We got a bazillion steps - but my darn fitbit broke so nothing logged!  Arrrrr - 

*side note:  Go FitBit - they sent me a brand new one today... for FREE!  I love this product and this company!

View from our porch into the courtyard.  Hubby loved this porch and got to enjoy some San Diego local brews while relaxing!  

We took advantage of the free bicycle rentals and biked all over the island - who knows how many miles??  So fun!  My bike was pink and orange:)

It might be a bad thing that Southwest flies direct to San Diego in little over an hour - with the time change, flight and taxi to Coronado we were on the beach in few hours!

 

We will totally go back here someday, soon.... next month?  I can dream:)

Thanks Hun!  I love you!