Happy Christmas 2007!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Bean & I had a quiet Christmas, just the two of us. We slept in, opened our gifts, watched "A Christmas Story" and had our traditional Roast Beast and Mash-Your-Own potatoes with gravy for dinner. We really missed Hubby a lot. He called while we were still opening gifts and got treated to the squeals of delight while Bean opened her Wii. I hope his hearing will recover soon. :o)

Pictures from Austria

Geared up for cross-country skiing.

I think she's getting the hang of it!

Austrian Alps = Breathtakingly Beautiful!!

Bean & Tiger at the end of the Rodelbahn!

We survived!!

An answer to the ages-old question: How many swimmers on a train can you fit around one DVD player?

Austria

We are home from swim/ski camp in Austria!! For the most part, we had a great time. One of the swimmers from our team caused quite a bit of trouble, but it wasn't Bean or either of her best friends. The kids had a pretty intense schedule of swimming and learning how to cross-country ski. I think they all learned a lot and had a fun time doing it.

The food was amazing!! Every night, they would serve us a different soup with dinner. Those of you who know me well know about my entire lack of fondness for peas. I actually ate Split-pea soup (yes, Mom, I have MANY witnesses!!). I didn't actually eat the peas, though. I lined them up around the rim of my bowl. LOL But, the soup was amazing. My favorite soup of the week was a Cream of Wild Mushroom soup.

The village we were in was having their AdventMarkt while we were there. That was a lot of fun. I had the most amazing potato soup there (if you are getting the idea that I LOVE soup, you are right!).

The best day was our last full day in Austria. After the kids got out of swim camp, a bunch of us took a bus to the world's longest natural rodelbahn (sled trail): from top to bottom is 14 kilometers! The first few sections were a little steep and a bit scary, but once we got onto the main part of the trail (and IMMonster's mom explained how to stop and steer), it was a BLAST!! Of course, when we got to the bottom, we had hot chocolate with whipped cream on top.

I didn't bring my camera up with me, so I will have to post pictures later.

TTFN~

Another Home Meet (whew!)

We survived another home meet!! Yay!! There were relays this time, so we were back to herding the cats around, but it actually went pretty well. In fact, it went so well that the head official came up to me at the end of the meet and congratulated me on how well it went! LOL

Bean had another awesome meet. She is so on fire for swimming this year. I love seeing her realize that all the effort she puts in at dryland and practice is paying off for her. I've had several parents tell me, at different times, how hard she works at practice. I love to hear that!!

Anyway, here are her results (this was a regular meet, so only 3 individual events):

In the 50 Free, she dropped another 0.28 seconds.
In the 50 Back, she dropped 0.09 seconds to get an A time for the first time (woohoo!)
In the 100 Free, she dropped 1.41 seconds.

She had a blast at the meet, both the swimming and hanging out with her friends. Tiger dropped 0.5 seconds off her 50 Free to get under 30 seconds for the first time -- way to go, Tiger!!

The weather has been super yucky here. Cold, gray and rainy. Ugh! On the plus side, though, it's great weather for having chili, so guess what I had for dinner. :o)

TTFN~

It's beginning to look a lot like . . .

CHRISTMAS!!!

TTFN~

Thanksgiving

Bean and I are so grateful that Hubby got to come home for a few days before leaving for the sandy place.

We celebrated Thanksgiving a couple of days late, but at least the spirit was true!

Kitty is trying to figure out what all those good smells are!

It's official!

They combined the results from our Long Distance meet and the Long Distance meet for the other half of the league and Bean's results stayed the same! WOOHOO! So, officially, her results are:

1500 Free - Silver medal
800 Free - Gold medal
400 IM - Bronze medal

Also, we received the exciting news that our team is the Long Distance Champions for the whole league. Woohoo!

TTFN~

P**p in the Pool?!?!?!?

Ugh! Someone p**ped in the pool yesterday before the kids had practice! Yuck and DOUBLE YUCK!! So, now the pool is closed until next Wednesday! Yep, they are shutting down for a whole week because of this (instead of the standard 24 hours to shock the pool). Now the team is only having Dryland training until pool reopens. Boy, am I glad we didn't have a home meet scheduled for this weekend. That could have been awkward. LOL

TTFN~

First Snow

We woke up this morning to find a light dusting of snow on the ground! WOOHOO!! This is already more snow than we had all last winter, so we are hoping it's a sign of things to come.

Here is a picture of the horses that live behind our house:

TTFN~

Exhausted

Oh my! This weekend was a real marathon for both of us. Saturday was the Long Distance Championship meet. Bean did indeed swim all three events (and was one of only 4 kids on the team to do so). Here are her results:

1500 Free 22:06 (a drop of 28 seconds) for 2nd place
800 Free 11:16.69 (a drop of 43 seconds -- an "A" time would be 11:16.49) for 1st place
400 IM 6:39 (a drop of 12 seconds) for 3rd place

I learned a very important lesson: when you squat down 46 times (30 in the 1500 and 16 in the 800) to stick lap counters in the water, your legs will be *very* sore the next day!

Sunday was the Pentathlon meet. Bean had another spectacular day. The kids had the opportunity to swim all the events that make up the Pentathlon standings. For Bean's age group those were the 100 IM, 50 Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast and 50 Fly (although who decided to put the fly at the end of this thing, I don't know!).

She dropped 3.6 seconds in the 100 IM for a new "A" time, 0.75 seconds in the 50 Free to get a 30.84 (only 0.47 seconds behind Tiger now!), 0.31 seconds off the 50 Back (missing an "A" time by 0.08), and 1.68 seconds off the 50 Breast to get within 1.29 seconds of qualifying in the Breaststroke for the first time ever! By the time she stepped up to the blocks for the 50 Fly, you could stick a fork in her, because she was done! LOL

She fell asleep in the car on the way to the base to pick up dinner. I had a hard time getting my legs to work at all when I got out to get dinner. We went to bed at 7:15 and slept until 9:30 the next morning. We got up, had breakfast, and went back to bed to watch "Smallville" on DVD the rest of the day. School? Yeah, we don't normally take Federal Holidays when Hubby is gone, but we took this one!

Now, there's no meet for 3 weeks (woohoo!) and the coaches are going to start working the kids on speed, starts and turns. Our next meet is another Pentathlon meet (but without Long Distance the day before). It should be fun to watch!

TTFN~

Exam Day!!

By happy (or unhappy) chance, today happened to have two exams fall on the schedule: Chapter Two of PreAlgebra and Unit One of Tapestry Year One.

First came the Tapestry test. There were 15 multiple choice, a bunch of timeline dates and a map that covered all the information we have studied over the past nine weeks. Bean scored 100%!! This is her first year where she's had formal testing on history and I'm so pleased that she did this well.

She also got 100% on her PreAlgebra test! WOOHOO!! The other day she asked me to help her and she missed six problems. The next day she did it on her own and got them all correct. Hopefully, she's getting the idea that she *really* doesn't need my help in math any more!

TTFN~

Her first "AA" time!!

Hi everyone!

Bean did an absolutely amazing job at the meet! She dropped 1.41 seconds off her 100 IM, 1.24 seconds off her 100 Free, 6.42 seconds off her 200 Free and 1.13 seconds off her 50 Free to get her first ever "AA" time! WOOHOO!!! Her coaches were so pleased with her performance.

Tiger had a great meet also, dropping 4 seconds off her 200 Free and 9 seconds off her 400 Free! Way to go, Tiger!!

Clerking went pretty well once I got everybody on the same page. The coach wanted to run a slow meet so the kids would have time to rest and recharge between events. The officials wanted me to speed it up so we could get done faster. Needless to say, the coach won and I really had to drag my feet clerking some of the events. We still finished the meet an hour ahead of schedule and the most of the kids improved their times in every event, so it all worked out in the end.

TTFN~

Way to go, Bean!

Tonight the team finished up their time trials for the Long Distance Championship meet and Bean qualified for all three events!! Yay! So, she'll be swimming the 1500 Free, 800 Free and 400 IM all in one day. I know she's going to do great.

We have a regular meet this weekend, but it will be my first time flying solo as Clerk of Course. Wish me luck!!

TTFN~

Happy Halloween!!!

Hi everyone!

Bean and Tiger had a great time trick-or-treating tonight. They both decided to dress up as woodsy things: Bean was a Woodland Fairy and Tiger was a Druid. They had the best time talking to everyone in the British accents they've been perfecting and seeing everyone's reaction. It was great! After trick-or-treat, Tiger's mom served us the most delicious beef stew for dinner. It was extra yummy because it was so warm and we were SO cold from being outside in 35 degree weather. Brrr! I gave out over 20 bags of candy and still ran out before the official end of trick-or-treat! Next year, I guess I'd better get 25 bags. Zowie!!

Gone Feisin'

Bean had a great time at the Feis in Holland. Of course with it being the middle of swim season, her focus hasn't really been on dancing, but we love going to this Feis and it was for a good cause (one of the hosting school's dancers and her mother were involved in a car crash on the way home from a feis in the UK and the mother was killed, so this feis was to raise money for the family). I'd really love to show you video of her dancing, but all the schools use different choreography and video-taping and pictures while they are dancing is prohibited. I'll be able to video her at our school's feis in February, though.


There were about 20 dancers in her age/ability group and she placed:
5th in the Beginner Light Jig
3rd in the Beginner Slip Jig
5th in the Beginner Single Jig
3rd in the Primary Light Jig
5th in the Primary Slip Jig
1st in the Beginner Heavy Shoe (yay!!)


TTFN~

Check out Tapestry of Grace's new sample

Wow!! Those of you who know me, know that it was Tapestry of Grace's 3-week sample Go to Egypt that sold me on switching to this curriculum. Like I've said before, "TOG is everything I never knew I always wanted." Having everything (history, art, philosophy, literature, writing) woven together and learning how all of it is tied to God's grace has been such a blessing for us. We are nearly finished with Unit 1 of Year 1. Bean and I are learning SO much.

Now, Tapestry has released a new 3-week sample from their newly redesigned Year 2 program. It's the first 3 weeks of Unit 3 and it's called Sail to the New World. Every time I look at it, I get more and more excited about this curriculum. Bean and I are both getting a deeper understanding of how history, art and literature tie together. I hope you'll check it out!!

TTFN~

Away Meet

WOWZA!! Bean had an awesome meet at our first away meet (or, I should say, our first away meet that didn't require a plane trip!). She knocked 9.72 seconds off her 200 IM and 1.66 seconds off her 50 Breaststroke (finally under 50 seconds -- WOOHOO!!).

She had a great day hanging out with her friends. Tiger wasn't feeling too well, so Bean spent most of her day hanging out with IMMonster. I'm glad she has so many good friends on the team.

Our next meet will be at home in two weeks. Next weekend, we are headed off to another Irish Dance competition. There will also be a Halloween party after the first night of competition. They actually have Domino's pizza where we are going, so I know what we'll be having for dinner. Woohoo!

Gone a little Bard-Crazy

Okay, I went a little bonkers at Amazon today. I'm planning to teach a "No Fear Shakespeare" class at our co-op in the spring. My main goal is to show the 7th-12th graders the genius of Shakespeare's writing and storytelling. With that in mind, I got on Amazon and ordered over $75 in books about Shakespeare!! I did have fun.

Another Home Meet

Well, we had quite the eventful day! It started off by me dropping Bean at another swim family's house so they could take her to the meet. Then I had to drive DH up to the airport so he could leave for his training. That was an hour to get up there, then trying to drive on the Autobahn and cry at the same time. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get to the pool from the aiport. Praise the Lord for my iPod!!

Bean had a great meet!! She dropped time on two of her events: 0.35 seconds on her 50 Free (another "A" time) and 2.51 seconds on her 200 Free. I talked to her coaches and they said not to worry about the little drop on the 200 Free (I was expecting a bigger drop since she hadn't swum that since before CHAMPS last year). They said that at the point they are in the training cycle, they are pounding the kids with 6000-7000 meters a day!! Their goal is to make them tired, cranky and hungry at the end of practice. Check, check and check on those for the Bean! LOL The coaches said the goal for right now is for the kids to get close to their personal bests and they will look for huge improvements at the next "rested" meet (which will be the Long Distance Meet and the regular meet the day after). Works for me!

Now, we just have to learn to go about our life without DH. Please be praying for us!

TTFN~

Our first home swim meet of the season

Whew!! We just wrapped up our first home swim meet of the season. It was a long, busy day. It was my first day training to become the "Clerk of Course" (the person who checks in all the swimmers for each event and gets them lined up to swim). The individual events are pretty fun, but clerking the relays is like herding cats!! I'm actually amazed that I have any voice left at all.

Bean had a great meet! She knocked 4.28 seconds off her 100 IM, 3.49 seconds off her 50 Fly (for an "A" time!) and 3.59 seconds off her 100 Free! WOOHOO!!

I'm exhausted, so I'm off to see if DH will go pick up dinner and then I'm going to bed. :o)

TTFN~

Espana

We just got back from Spain and it was SO wonderful!! It was about 90 degrees each day with no clouds and low humidity. Getting off the plane here to find it 42 degrees and rainy was NOT fun!

Our first day we spent hanging out with other members of the swim team at our resort. The kids spent most of their time in the pool (no surprise there), but did wander down to the beach occasionally.

Our second day, the team took a tour down to Gibraltar. Gibraltar has the southern most point in Europe (Europa Point) and is actually a part of the United Kingdom. We all had fish 'n chips for lunch. At one point, if you squinted really hard, you could almost make out the coast of Africa. That was neat. We took a tour up the Rock and met the Barbary Apes that live on Gibraltar. There are about 300 apes living on the Rock. There used to be a special ward at the British Army hospital to provide for their health-care, but the Gibraltarian government has taken over that duty. Apparently, someone told Winston Churchill that if the apes ever left or died out on Gibraltar, Britain would lose control of the Rock. Hmm, sounds vaguely like that "if the ravens ever leave the Tower" story we heard in London! LOL

Our third day was filled up with the swim meet. Bean did awesome and won 2 of her events! Yay!

On the fourth day, we drove into Cadiz. It is the oldest city in Europe. The area has been continuously occupied for over 4000 years (versus Trier which is the 2nd oldest city and has been occupied for *only* 2000 years). It was neat to walk around and see the Moorish influences in the architecture.

We had a great time and we are all hoping the team gets to go back next season.

TTFN~

Another great school day

Bean is super excited about learning this year. What is different from last year? I'm not sure. Maybe she's finally developed that hunger for learning that I've been trying to instill in her since we started our homeschool adventure. Maybe it's a maturity thing. I don't know. All I do know is that I'm so proud of the effort she's putting into her school work.

And, not only that, but she's working her tuckus off at swim practice, too! Maybe this will be the year when she really comes into her own in everything. That will be so exciting to watch!!

TTFN~

7th grade begins

Oh my gosh! I can't believe that Bean is in 7th grade already! We are starting our 7th year of homeschooling. It has gone by so much faster than I ever expected it to do.

One of my major goals for this school year is to help Bean to look at an assignment for the week and break it down into daily chunks. I figure this will help her when she gets to college and the professor tells her she has 8 weeks to read Don Quixote--this way she'll know how to break that massive book down into manageable chunks. We spent about 1 1/2 hours today planning out all her work for the week. Hopefully, subsequent weeks won't take as long to figure out, but we decided we should move "planning time" to Sunday afternoons so that, on Monday morning, she can just buckle down to work. Once we planned out all the activities for the week, I told Bean that the schedule was hers -- time for her to take ownership of the responsibility of making sure the work gets done each day. She can work the subjects in any order she chooses, as long as she gets everything done. She chose to start out with Spanish.

I'll check back in later with an update on how the rest of the day went, but so far, so good!!

TTFN~

Starting our school year on Monday!!

Bean and I are both so excited about finally getting this school year rolling. It will likely take us 3 weeks to get through our first two weeks worth of curriculum with all the traveling we'll be doing, but it will be fun and it will be great to get away with Hubby before he leaves for 14 months. I'll be sure to post on Monday to let everyone know how it's going.

TTFN!

A Family Visit

We just had the most wonderful visit with very good friends (they really are family to us!). We were stationed with them in Hawai'i for 3 years. From the first, we all felt like long-lost family to each other. But, when Auntie and O's kids started looking like Bean,

well, we all felt like it was just confirmation of what we already knew: we all must be related somehow--we just can't find it! LOL

Bean and I drove up to the Hauptbahnhof in Frankfurt to pick them up on Monday. I have to say that is the worst labeled bahnhof I've been in so far. The parking garage may be attached to the bahnhof, but there are NO signs telling you how to get to the train station from the parking garage! Bean and I found a staircase (that, strangely, went nowhere) that must be where all the socks that have disappeared from all the dryers in the world have gone to die their linty deaths. Ugh! Luckily, we finally managed to find our friends! We caravaned back to our house and then we went to the base for pizza. Auntie, O, Sir COB and Princess CC had been having a holiday in the Netherlands before they came to see us and there hadn't been much to eat there other than herring. Needless to say, the kids were thrilled for pizza.

The next day, we headed out to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It is one of my favorite places in Germany and I knew they would love it too. Sir COB is very into knights and stuff and Rothenburg is a walled city that has stood since medieval times.

You can still walk the walls of the town:

The next day, we headed out to the Schloss Heidelberg. We managed to find a great parking spot up near the castle, so Princess CC's legs wouldn't stop working like they did when we girls visited Greenwich last October. Sir COB and Princess CC call Bean their "big sister" and it's easy to see why people wouldn't question that!

Auntie read up on the history of Schloss Heidelberg and gave us a briefing:
Damsel in distress? Do you need to be rescued, Princess Bean?

Pretty in pink roses . . .

It was a GREAT visit with them!!

TTFN~

London!

We are back from London and had a GREAT time (again)! It is definitely my favorite European city and one of my favorite cities world-wide. Yes, it's expensive, but so much fun!

Our first day, we found our hotel and got checked in. Then, we headed over to Harrod's for a true London shopping experience. We paid WAY too much for some dried up burgers, but Bean had some awesome fish 'n chips. We should've ordered what she did! I bought my first book in the UK versions of Harry Potter: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I'll keep adding as we return back to England until I have all seven.

After Harrod's we walked through Hyde Park to reach Buckingham Palace.

Then, we headed over to Westminster to see Big Ben and the Abbey.

The next day, we started out at the British Museum. Hubby absolutely loved it.

He stayed most of the day there and then headed over to the British Imperial War Museum.

After lunch, Bean and I took the tube to go see the Tower of London, which we had missed on our first trip. It was quite pricey to get in, but with so much history there, how could we not go? We got to meet a Beefeater.

There is a legend that says if the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, then Britain will fall. These ravens have their wings clipped, just to be on the safe side.

I had a lovely cuppa with scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam. How could I come to London and not have tea?

That night, we all had fish 'n chips for dinner!

The next day was Bean's 12th birthday, so we let her decide all our activities for the day. We first headed to Leicester Square to pick up our show tickets and saw the theatre where the London premiere of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" had been held.

Then, we headed over to the London Zoo. They have a wonderful gorilla exhibit.

Some big cats.

And the Reptile House is just as it looks in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". However, there is no Burmese Python in the adjacent enclosure. I believe it was a tortoise.

I had a lovely Beef & Horseradish sandwich for lunch (along with some Walker's Cheese & Onion Crisps -- yummy!)

That evening, after dinner at Chiquito's, we went to see "Lord of the Rings: The Musical". There is a three-way split in opinions of the show: 1 for "Ugh!", 1 for "It was okay" and 1 for "The special effects were totally cool!!"

The next morning, it was back to Leicester Square for more show tickets. Then, we took the tube to Westminster and bought tickets on the boat to Greenwich. It was a nice cruise down the Thames. When we got to Greenwich, we were very sad to find that Goddard's Pie House, which we had loved so much on our first trip last October, had closed. We managed to find lunch somewhere else and then walked over to the Observatory.

Hubby and Bean stood on either side of the Prime Meridian so that one was in the Eastern Hemisphere and one in the Western (but don't ask me which is which!)

This was the Queen's House when she came to stay at Greenwich.

After the boat ride back to Westminster, Hubby decided to head back to the hotel for a nap, while Bean and I headed back to Harrod's for some last minute shopping and another lovely tea/scone/clotted cream/jam experience. I love London!!

That evening, we met back at Leicester Square for dinner and then saw The Reduced Shakespeare Company's "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)". It was hilarious!!! It was about 97% family friendly (there were just a few bits) and we all loved it.

We had a grand time and plan loads of return trips!

TTFN~

A Very Harry Birthday Party!!

Today was Bean's birthday party. Since this is the biggest Harry Potter summer ever, we decided to have a Totally Harry party this year. Her dad and I spent all day decorating the house with Hogwarts banners and loads of balloons. We had all her friends meet us at Chili's for dinner,

then we provided the Muggle transportation to get them to the movies to see "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix".

Then, it was off to "Hogwarts" where they enjoyed Cauldron Cakes and Butterbeer.

In the morning, they'll be having Pumpkin Pasties, Treacle Tarts (bleh!) and Pumpkin Juice before they get picked up at Platform 9 3/4.

After a long night of wizard's duels and Harry Potter movies, everyone was exhausted!!