Swimming with Stingrays

One of the highlights of our trip was swimming with the stingrays...it was something we could all do together. It's hard to believe you are out in the ocean away from everything and there's a huge sand bar with fifty stingrays swimming around. Ali of course was jumping off the boat and gone before the rest of us even had our snorkeling gear on. Katie had no reservations either..she loves being in the water and because the water was so clear she could see everything. Maddy has done some snorkeling before too so she had a great time watching and touching the stingrays. We also did some snorkeling on the reef ...waves were a bit rougher here but lots of fish...and of course Katie and I hung out on the beach for a while.

Those of you who really know Ali will not be surprised to hear that he took his lizard catching to a whole new level while we were in the Grand Cayman. He happily disappeared for hours looking and catching all types of geckos, lizards and iguanas. The hotel staff were quite happy to have him around, encouraging him to catch everything he found and pointing him in the direction of more. As I was lounging on the beach one afternoon I heard Ali calling me from behind...you could hear the happiness in his voice! This was what he brought to me. Sigh. I am not particularly fond of reptiles, but have always encouraged Ali's passion for them. It was so great to watch him crawl through bushes and up trees to get a glimpse of something he spotted, and to see the true joy he experienced doing it. Thankfully the hotel staff also always seemed to be around to clean his scrapes, cuts and bites he endured during this week!

A Sneak Peak

We just came home from our holidays in the Grand Cayman. I'm working on getting my photos sorted so I've just got a sneak peak right now...I could fill pages with photos of everything we did...we had such a great time! Here's a few to get started...

The Week in Review

Wow...time is somehow flying by right now and I can't seem to keep up with the blog these days. Right now the kids and I are sitting in a hotel at LAX waiting to catch a plane tomorrow. YUP...we're going on a holiday! I'm laughing as I type because it seems crazy to say we are taking a holiday when we are travelling the way we do right now. But the truth is, although we move around from place to place, we are still living a regular life when we park it. We still have to clean the house, go grocery shopping, the kids still do the regular activities they always have...it's still real life stuff. So we are going on a real holiday. Tomorrow morning we will get up at a ridiculous time (3am?) and hop on a plane to meet Bill in the Grand Cayman Islands. We are all excited to just hang out and relax...no cooking and cleaning for any of us! That's a real holiday! We're also excited because Gramma and Grampa are coming out to see us all well. We haven't seen them for a long while so it's big anticipation here. We'll also be celebrating Katie's third birthday while we are there! She's getting so tall our little monkey! On Halloween the older kids were telling jokes (found on candy wrappers) so Katie makes one up all by herself...

"Why couldn't the ghost eat dinner?"

"Because he didn't have a fork!"

Ah...to be three!

The kids have been really busy since Halloween. We have joined a group in Long Beach that does historical reenactments...so the kids are learning swording right now. If you know Maddy and Ali, then you know how appropriate this really is. Even Katie is allowed to participate. We've also started regularly attending the DragonTree Homeschool Park Day...they are the largest consistent gathering of unschooling families we've ever seen...at least 20 families are there very week. For the past few weeks there has been a dance instructor giving the kids hip hop lessons at the park. It's been fun and entertaining. Ten days into November and we are at 29 books for our 100 book challenge...yikes...I think I am going to have to pick up the pace a bit on this one... I have also been getting out and meeting new people...I've joined the local knitting group and meet with them every week for chatting and knitting. It's nice to find people who share an obsession! So I guess you can see why the blog is a little neglected these days! It's okay...I love being busy as along as we throw a few quiet, still moments in there for us all to breath!

The one year mark...

A year ago we traded this:
For this: and we're loving it!

This week we celebrated one year on the road. I have to admit it has gone by very quickly. When I look back at all the places we've been and the people we've met I have no regrets about choosing to do this. It has been such an adventure! And it appears we've come full circle...one year ago we began this journey in California and a year later we are in California again. We've been here six weeks now and the kids are already asking where we are going after California. Interesting that they don't ask if we are going "home" anymore. What we've all come to realize during this year is that "home" really is wherever we are...all of us together. We've come to like that every couple months our back yard changes, and we meet new neighbours, new friends. That certainly doesn't mean that we all don't crave a little more indoor space...the kids would love a bigger room, I'd love a bath tub...but these things don't really compare to what we are experiencing together. How long will we continue? That seems to be the question everyone is asking us these days. And we have no answer. I can't imagine living in a house right now and not being able to just pack up and go whenever we want. This lifestyle suits us still...we are enjoying our freedom and not ready to give that up. Maybe one day...

100 Book Challenge

Thanks to Tracy and Sharon who led me to this great challenge. You can find it on www.home-grownkids.blogspot.com if you'd like to join us. I love to read...and i will read just about anything! Right now i'm reading The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer...just finishing it up actually...and I have a ton of books waiting to be read so this challenge should be great for me. What I am excited about is that the kids asked to participate too. While they all enjoy reading, they seem to go through phases where all they do is read, read, read....or they read nothing at all. It seems they are in the reading phase right now! Maddy is reading Twilight, Ali is reading Vampires:The Occult Truth, and Katie is reading Pumpkin Soup. We've decided for this challenge we would limit the picture books that we read with Katie...we could have the 100 done in a week if we included them! Next week we will be going on holidays so we have 8 hours of flight time and a week of relaxing to enjoy some books....now to decide which books to take!

Visiting The Farm