Summer Firsts

Last night marked a "summer" first for us. Every year since my son was around 5 and my daughter 3, we have gone outside on summer nights to catch fireflies.

Last night, we were outside about 8:30. We began to see fireflies around 9:00. The fireflies were present then, but scarce. No luck in catching one.

Today was another "summer" first. The first day to swim in still chilly Lake Lanier. The kids jumped right in. My husband waded in and then took the plunge. Me, I kept to my tradition of inching my way into the water. No sudden plunges for me into the icy waters!

Last Day

Today is our official last day of school for this school year. The kids were really excited. They were dancing around singing, "Schools out." I am ready to for a summer break. I am ready to just be at home for a few days. We have no obligations. Feels good to me!

Free Field Trip

One of our (sorta) local museums holds free "Community Days" a few times a year. We decided to take advantage of this free day at Fernbank Natural History Museum yesterday. My son had been dying to go, so for the cost of gas, we got to enjoy.

Field Trip Fun

Last Friday, we had a chance to take a trip to a local fish hatchery with our homeschool group. We toured the hatchery, then moved on to the catch and release pond. This was the highlight for the kids. My hubby got to go too. Fun for the fam!

Nature Walk

At first, I tried forcing my kids to do nature walks. I'd force them to go outside and then tell them to find something, you know, anything, like a flower, bug, etc. These forced walks did not work.

So, I realized we needed to just go outside and be together. When we are just out, being together, we seem to find all kinds of cool things. Here are some cool examples. (One is rather scary)









Yes, this is an opossum and its kiddos. Before you say cute, I say yucky and scary. This concludes our nature walk for the day.

Pictures from SEFF

Watching the planes.


Next to our campsite...convenient, but.....


What Bethany did the whole time we were there, ride her bike.



Ahhhh!!!



One of the planes....

Getting Back into Normal Life

For the last week, our lives have been out of our normal routine. Last Wednesday, ds headed off to FL with his grandparents for 5 days. Last Thursday, dh, dd and I headed out to Southwest GA to camp and attend SEFF, Southeastern Flight Festival. This is where hundreds of grown men come together to fly their RC airplanes and drool over all of the new gear and planes. Funny, huh?
Friday, while we were there, I recieved a call from my mom that my Grandmother had had a major heart attack. She later called back to say my Grandmother had passed. This was a sad time for me and all my family.
We left Saturday from SEFF to head over to my mom and dad's in Central GA. The next few days were a whirlwind as we had to travel to Macon to pick up our son from his other grandparents and go to the town my grandmother lived, further south of my parents. Then, we had the viewing and funeral to attend.
It is hard to think that my grandmother is gone. This ends that generation of my dad's family. Sad to think of her house being sold and all of her possession's divided or sold. The finality of it is hard.
During this sad time, I got to see family and friends I haven't seen in many years Some it had been 15 years...Time is truly fleeting. You really realize that when something like this happens.
Back at home, we (me and the whole fam) have had a hard time getting back to our normal routine. I think today has been the first day that resembled anything close to normal. So is life, yes?