Beach Bums

We are definitely beach bums around here. Give us the surf, sand, and sun, and we are happy as clams.

Every year we make a pilgrimage to the Jersey shore. Once or twice we've been able to stay a few days or even a whole week, but most years we just go for the day. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive, if you are fortunate enough to not hit traffic. It's not a bad day trip, really. We leave early and come home late, and the kids always feel like it's a magical day. 

This year we brought our pseudo-child and special friend, Brittany. She spends time hanging out with us, and the kids adore her. She's way more fun for them than we are. I mean, she actually jumps over the waves. We just stand there. :) She spent hours sitting in the waves and building sand castles.

Look how they make the exact same face. :)

It was a little cool, so we were thankful we brought along plenty of towels and snacks.

Truly, he's always happy there are blankets and snacks.

The boys LOVE boogie boarding. Little Bear is actually pretty good at it, and he's not afraid at all. In fact, the rougher the waves, the happier he is.

It was a beautiful day but a little on the cool side. So the kids rotated what they were doing pretty often. One of their favorites is sitting in the waves. They made up some crazy game to go with it.

Throwing sand at the waves will definitely make them stop.

When it comes to the sand, you can't help but bury someone...

Or making drip castles.

The beach is always a good place for pictures...

And checking out God's creation.

After a long day in the sun, we hit the boardwalk. First stop was Manco and Manco's for pizza. We also had some crab fries and hit up Johnson's for their fresh caramel popcorn. Now that's good stuff. 

It's always sad to leave, but, OCNJ, we'll see you again next year!

Now THAT'S precious.

Tails Up!

This summer our boys swam for the local swim team.

Swim team seems to have become the soccer of the summer. Everybody's doing it.

I was a little skeptical last summer when we started, but it has turned out to be an amazing experience for our boys.

The only requirement for joining the team is that you need to be able to swim 25 meters. It doesn't have to be pretty or fast; you just have to be able to do it. From there, the coaches teach the kids new strokes, better technique, and most importantly, good sportsmanship.

We have an amazing group of coaches who care so much about each swimmer.

Last minute instructions.

Curly was late to the game by not learning to swim until he was 8. He didn't join the team until he was 9, so this year was his second. He's way behind the other kids his age, but his coaches have been amazing with him. They encourage him at his slower speed every bit as much as they encourage the faster kids. They are excellent with paying attention to each child, despite the fact that it seems like there a million of them, and they know what needs to be corrected for each child. One of the head coaches knew his time goal for the year (which Curly set himself), and he would stand at the side of the pool cheering for him just as if Curly was about to win the Olympics.

Always asking questions.

He always yawns when he's nervous.

Little Bear learned to swim last summer, and this year he was ready to be part of the team. He was the second youngest little boy on the team, and they were absolutely adorable together.

Swim team was amazing for Little Bear. Normally a shy, anxious, perfectionist child, he truly blossomed in swimming. He was outgoing, making new friends with ease. He was confident and comfortable. He loved competing (though he did not like losing, so he swam as hard as he could!), and he was always really proud of himself for learning something new.

At the beginning of the summer, he could only swim freestyle. Then one week they taught the beginners back stroke, and bam! They were swimming back stroke in the next race! I couldn't believe how quickly they were able to teach a new stroke. Although they didn't race the newest swimmers in any other stroke, they did begin working on butterfly.

Something like a dive.

And Tiny Dancer? She was just a spectator this year. She made friends with some other younger siblings and spent many hours on playgrounds with them. She learned to swim about 4 weeks ago. Within a week, she was able to swim a 25 on her own! Next year, she'll be part of the team, too.

I am amazed at how much my children learned about swimming this summer. But I am more amazed at the dedication and care of the coaches for all of the children on the team. It was an incredible experience for all of us as we made new friends and spent many summer hours together.  

Part of the tent city that is created at each meet.

Origami Star Wars

Star Wars has finally made its way into our home. The boys started talking about it several weeks ago, so we borrowed the dvds from a friend. We've been watching in fits and starts because they can't keep themselves from talking. We hit a point where we are talking about the movie more than we are watching the movie. However...

We have entered the world of the Star Wars obsessed.

Combine that with these books we found at the library.

The kids have been busy making Han Foldo, Origami Yoda, the fortune Wookie, and Darth Paper.

Top left: Fortune Wookie, Top right: Han Foldo, Bottom left: Origami Yoda, Bottom right: Darth Paper

 

Now I am being followed through the house by Darth Paper. Complete with the music to announce his presence and heavy breathing.

Our School Room

It's almost time! I am having a hard time entering any store at this point in the summer. I find myself practically drooling over the back-to-school supplies and office supplies. I. Just. Want. It. All.

Deep breath.

We're starting school next week, so I spent last week getting our work space ready. We moved into this house in November, and I was really, really hoping for a school room. That wasn't in the cards, though, so we are sticking with our kitchen table. It's working out well for us so far. I only wish we had more space to hang things. And to have all of my materials in one place, without it overwhelming our living space. I'm a very visual person, I so I don't like to look at a lot of clutter. With that in mind, I've found ways to "hide" our supplies when we need to.

Here is our table where we do most of our work. Papa just refinished this table. Looks great, doesn't it? I love this table because it is large enough for everyone to be there at once. We can spread out and still all be there together. Sometimes someone will go work in another room, especially when they are reading. Then any comfortable space will do.

This dresser houses most of my supplies. We found this dresser for free a few years ago and gave it some paint. Each drawer hides the things I use every day. Here's a peek into some of them.

The top of the dresser is empty now, but it will hold projects the kids are working on as the year progresses.

These drawers are host to the kids' books. Each child has a set of drawers. Curly has nine because he does the most subjects. Little Bear has six, and Tiny Dancer has three. The drawers are labeled for each subject so they can find their books and clean them up quickly. We used to use the dresser for this purpose, but things were getting lost too easily. Curly would somehow have books lost behind the dresser, under the dresser, and somewhere in a black hole. Since we started using the drawers, I think he's only lost one piece of paper. He's not the most organized child, so this helps him learn how to be organized.

On top of the drawers is a bin to hold the library books that will be used for school. We've got some in there already, and we will add a few more in the next week. 

The bookshelf has reference books on the top two shelves. The kids go here for further research into topics. And the bottom two shelves hold their library books that are just for fun reading.

The basement door is another great spot for organizing. The front of the door has pockets for me to store important papers. I can keep papers for after-school activities, lists, home school papers for the district, etc., all at my fingertips. The back of the door holds all of our pencils, crayons, markers, glue, rulers, scissors, and anything related. It's easy for the kids to clean up because everything clearly has its own spot.

We are working on responsibility with Curly this school year. So we've posted a calendar on the fridge. He has his own small agenda book, and he will be responsible for keeping track of when his activities are happening and what he needs to do to prepare for them. The calendar will be color coded per person in the family.

I don't have them quite finished yet, but we also make use of bulletin boards. One has a calendar for Tiny Dancer to learn from; one has space for hanging things we've learned.

Any extra supplies: math manipulatives, books we aren't using this year, files we don't need daily, etc., are located on bookshelves in the basement. It's too much to have it all in our dining room, so I keep the overflow organized down there. I do wish we could have it all together so I could make better use of all that we have, but this works for now. I feel like I have enough space to be organized, and that's what really helps!

And that's about it for our space! Thanks for taking a peek inside our school room today!