Family Visits

 The first night Meg and Joe got into town we whisked them away to dinner and a show. We got to see the Watkins Family Hour which was great. They are such good performers and afterwards I got to meet Sara!

 The next day we drove through Avenue of the Giants and met up with Asa.

Then on Wednesday we met up for waffles and went to the zoo! Also, no one in this family can get enough of Mr. Miles!

Then we went to Fern Canyon:

 

 

Ruthie

Ruth has been learning a bit about sewing during our weekly sewing group. Sister Smith has been patient enough to sit with Ruth and help her do things by hand and on the machine. She's also been showing lots of interest in cooking. Last weekend she and Brad made AMAZING gourmet burgers...she even made onion rings (from scratch) to put on the burger!

Summer School Completion!

 Reward time! They finished their entire summer schooling 2.5 weeks before the due date. I'm really proud of all the work they did and the progress they've made. Ruth has read over 40 chapter books including "Phantom Tollbooth" (her favorite book so far), "Matilda," "A Little Princess," and "Alice in Wonderland." She also finished second grade math, most of which was review, but included beginning multiplication!

Will also worked hard, but had much less work to accomplish since he's just beginning kindergarten this year. His great improvement was in reading. He is much more confident in sounding words out and is remembering more sight words. But he definitely LOVES math and puzzles. Reading is hard work for him but math comes very easily to him. He mastered writing all the numbers and can add and subtract two digit from one digit.

They also both finished their pre-test on Let's Go Learn for the new school year. I am anxiously awaiting their results so we know what we need to focus on this year. But I know they both did well, although they both answered a few questions wrong that I knew they knew the answer to, oh well!

Girl Photo Shoot

Leopard Girl and Dino Camp

I've been really busy getting homeschooling stuff ready. You can check out my new homeschool blog here! But this is proof I am still doing something fun with the kiddos too!

 Will has been at Dinosaur camp at the zoo all week. I was worried he would want to come home, but he's loving it and making friends!

Uncle Matt

Uncle Matt came to town! We enjoyed some time at the beach with him

 

We went window shopping in Old Town and in Ferndale

We drove through Avenue of the Giants

Gem and Mineral Store

And at the beach again!

Weekend

Saturday we went down to Ferndale. We walked through some interesting blacksmith shops and enjoyed a picnic in their city park. It was so pleasant to be in a town not overrun by crime. 

Sunday was a lazy day at home watching silly videos, eating rootbeer floats and reading books.

Also, this last week Brad was asked to be the President of the Executive Board of the Humboldt County Visitors Bureau. I'm so proud of my hubby-dos, not because of the status, but because he's a good person who other people respect and whose advice they seek.

Fun Stuff

While we were driving around today Ruth said, "Boy, people sure love dandelions here!" Today Ruth got to go to her first girl scout meeting. She already knew the 3 Boone girls and brought another friend from church with her. She had a blast. While she was gone Will and Claire and I went on a hike through Sequoia Park; we had a blast too.

Summer Stuff

Soccer Camp

Ruth and Will really wanted to do soccer camp, so I put one on for them! We invited a bunch of friends and had a blast every morning this week. Claire usually played at the park with other younger siblings. My super athletic friend told me that I did a great job with the camp and used a bunch of fun games she hadn't seen before. That made me feel so good! I was a bit overwhelmed the first day, but it ended up being really fun, and most importantly Ruth and Will loved it!