Garden City, Utah

In Logan, Utah, we were faced with a dilemma.  Both routes into Yellowstone, our ultimate destination, were expecting snow.  Not only did we not have chains, we did not even want to attempt to travel in snow.  We found a place for the kids to play, and we poured over our paper map, our map aps, and our weather aps.  Finally we decided to head up the way we originally wanted to go, getting to the Utah/Idaho boarder, and staying at a KOA there to wait out the storm.  Though this wasn't our original plan, the break was actually nice.  We had been traveling nearly every day, and the kids were longing for a campsite to spend a few days in. 

After leaving Logan, Utah, we were instantly thrust into Fall as we traveled through mountain valleys with jutting black rock cliffs, colorful trees, and the meandering Logan River alongside the road.

 

 Once at the KOA, we spent a few day relaxing.  We got some school done, lots of laundry washed, and the kids played outside in the off and on light rain.

 

 We did the touristy thing and tried the raspberry shakes Garden City boasts it is famous for.  However, we were the only tourists in the tiny "city" of Garden and were lucky to find one place still open to serve us the famous shake.  And even that place was closing for the season in a few days.  The temperatures were freezing, our trailer was not heated, but we enjoyed those raspberry shakes.

 

This is Logan and his James.  They have a super cute story that I hope to find time to share here one day.  My mom made James a soft harness and leash when she found out her crazy daughter was going to let her grandson road trip with his kitten.  Logan was walking him this day but tiny James was shivering and cold.  So into Logan's sweatshirt he happily went.

We played quite a few rounds of miniature golf, which the kids loved.

We enjoyed the camp's playground.

 One very cold day we took a walk along a boardwalk carved through a marshy field of cattails.

 

The boardwalk led us through an arbor of trees,

 and out to the beautifully blue Bear Lake.

 

The kids were fascinated to learn that the Native Americans from this area believed there was a monster inhabiting Bear Lake.  From that time, through the settlement of the city, and to present day, sightings have been recorded.  The kids differed on their belief of whether or not there was a monster in the lake, but all of them were equally intrigued by the idea.



Logan, Utah

After spending a day in Zion, we headed to Logan, Utah, arriving late in the night.  The next morning, we had a very excited boy, to awake in a city he shared a name with.  And so, even though it was raining, we set off to find anything we could with "Logan" on it.  We were not disappointed.  Time and time again, Logan and I jumped out of the car, ran through the rain in flip flops, snapped a few pics, and then ran back to the warm car where the others were waiting.  Zac started to fear the other kids would feel down because such a fuss was being made over Logan.  But sometimes, one child just needs a moment to feel extra special.  And this was one of those moments for Logan.  And it was a special time for he and I as we shared in the excitement of our hunt for anything "Logan."  And in the end, the others didn't mind at all.  Here's what we found;

Logan Tabernacle

 Overlooking Logan Canyon

 

I plan to blow this one up for his Christmas present.

 



And I plan to blow this one up big for me.

 



The Desert and Zion

The kids were so excited to see the desert.  They talked about it for weeks leading up to our trip.  I don't know where this excitement came from, or why they all shared it, but we thought their excitement would wane once they saw the great expanse of nothingness.  We were wrong.  They thought the desert was pretty awesome.  It was fun to "see" the barrenness through their eyes.

 We had an impromptu lesson on wind energy along the way.  Kian was especially impressed and for the remainder of our trip, pointed out any windmills he saw.

 

 Did I mention we took our kitten with us?

Yep, we're insane.

We're ok with it.

 

 We were very impressed by the LONG desert trains.  This is where we camped on our first night....right by this beautiful train bridge.  Our camper is parked right behind where the kids are standing.  Many trains went by in the night, and coffee was a welcome sight come morning.

 

 Watching trains.

 

This is what a typical pit stop looked like for us.  If we couldn't find a rest stop with a large pull out for trucks, we found large empty parking lots.  Lunch was made in the camper while the kids scootered.  Not all pit stops were as interesting as the hotel surrounded by a roller coaster, but these kind of stops were key on our long travel days.

 

Two LONG days traveling through the desert and then.......

 

ZION

 When a baby lifts his hands in awe of the huge red rocks and gently raining waterfalls, you know you're in a pretty amazing place.

 

 Arrow loved the slimy rock walls where the water dripped down.

 

 Road School.

We are learning how to identify trees.

NOT as easy as I thought!

 



Here We Go Again

Since starting down this home schooling road, we've never taken a Summer break.  Life has thrown us quite a few curve balls over the last 4 years, requiring me to take breaks from schooling the kids at random times during the years.  Because of those random breaks, I didn't allow myself to take a Summer break.  So we went from one "year" to the next without time to prep or take a mental breather...always feeling behind.  I was again planning to school through this Summer to make up for the break we took when Arrow was a newborn, but I was at my breaking point.  I finally told myself I MUST take a Summer break or I was going to completely fry.  Once I faced that, a huge burden was lifted.  Previous breaks were spent coping or healing, not planning for school.  This Summer break allowed me the time to think about our schooling goals and look for ideas, curriculum, and books to help us meet those goals.  I discovered Ambleside Online and spent the Summer learning their methods and preparing to use their plan.  On September 10th, we started in.  It was the worst week of homeschooling yet.  HA!  I can look back now and laugh but in the moment, ensue freak out!  It wasn't hard because of Ambleside Online.  Partly it was hard because we ALL got sick mid week.  And partly it was hard because of concerns I have that I'm praying about.  So, changes are being made as we enter week 2 and we continue on, thankful for the freedom to have our children home with us, even when its hard. 

 Nap School

 

 Almost 4 years old

Pre School

 

 6 years old

Ambleside Online Year 1

 

8 years old

Ambleside Online Year 1

Sum it Up Saturday Break

I decided to take a break from my Sum it Up Saturday posts.  Mostly, because I decided to take a REAL Summer break.  Since we jumped into homeschooling, 3 years ago, I have never taken a break to just "be" and plan.  All our breaks were forced due to health issues; a crashing thyroid, a healing thyroid (that in itself was a year and a half process), 2 miscarriages, Arrow's first trimester, bed rest, postpartum....phew!  I'm tired just thinking about it all!  After coming out of those breaks, I'd jump right back into home schooling, feeling behind and stressed.  We have never taken a Summer break.  I have never taken time to sit down, think about our home schooling goals, and try to find a program that fits those goals.  Well, correction, I would TRY to do that, but always in a rushed fashion.  I bought boxed curriculum that I thought looked good during rushed research.  Then as soon as it arrived, we'd jump into it without much prep time on my part because I was so worried the children were behind.  That left both the kids and I muddling through the foreign territory of the new curriculum together, and it always failed. 

Still feeling behind, I was planning to again School through the Summer.  It was causing me great stress though as really, I was just completely burned out.  I randomly stumbled upon a method I thought would fit us well and was cramming to figure it out enough to just jump right in when I got to my breaking point and realized I just couldn't do that again.  I needed a break!  The program suggested really prepping yourself first before starting up with the kids, as its more about implementing a methodology than completing a program.  That night I decided to throw schooling through the Summer to the wind and take our first official, HEALTHY break!

So I've been reading through every link, rabbit trail and related blog I can get my hands on.  I've made Pinterest boards to keep things organized, bought books, made notes of what our library has on hand that we'll need, made goals, and am working on sprucing up our home school work area.  Zac is also jumping in with me, reading up on the methodology of Charlotte Mason, and helping me form plans and goals.  We are planning to use Ambleside Online, Year 1, with both Felicity and Logan next year. 

I will plan on coming back to the idea of Sum it Up Saturday posts when we start up again.  It really helped me stay accountable. 

And since this was such a wordy post, I'll leave you with a few random, cute pictures.

 

Happy Summer (almost)!