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~