New Experiences {First Day of Co-op}

This morning found the B.L.I.S.S. Academy Beelers full of anticipation, some jitters, and a whole lot of excitement!  Today was our first day at a brand new homeschool co-op.  We were in the bus by 7:45 a.m., loaded and ready to head out for our 50ish minute drive to a nearby town (what the younger children call "Aunt Annette's town" because she lives there - lucky coincidence!).  

The execution of all great mornings starts the night before - the key to us getting out the door on time - that, and the mother rising at 6 to get herself ready so that she can give her attention to the kids at 7 when they get up.

My teacher box and the kids' backpacks.  There is always much rejoicing when homeschool children have a purpose for their backpacks!

An 8x batch of peanut butter, chocolate, oat "healthy" muffins.  Enough for Tuesday, too....and maybe a day's worth for the freezer!  I made 59 muffins Sunday.

Lunches made by Daddy.  Snacks packed by Mom.

The kids did not have their normal huge breakfast appetite - just a little bit of first day jitters!

We had time for pictures...with the backpacks....because #homeschoolers.

This guy - excited for PE, ready to make new friends!  Can't wait for his mini Snickers at lunchtime.

The middle schooler...excited for PE, nervous for Chemistry, ready to make new friends, can't wait to see what they do in Art!

Upper elementary - I purposefully pulled Xavier and Natalee into separate grade groups for co-op this year and I'm very excited for them to each spread their individuality.  He was psyched for all of his classes and couldn't wait to make friends.

The nursery club gal.  She did not throw a fit or cry for mama today and did not get us kicked out of co-op.  Mama's so proud of you, Evie.  She was most excited to take her Spirit bag that was too heavy for her back because of her mini cooler packed with 2 milk bottles on ice, and also insisted on taking this shape puzzle along and holding it for photos.  She asked me to do her hair and that melts me.  #being2isfine

Sweetie fashionista.  She took the longest to choose her outfit last night and was nervous for book club.  Her nerves were unfounded because they made pig cupcakes and she had a blast.  She couldn't wait to experience all her classes.  Her nerves were pretty high this morning, as reflected in her smile.

We had a lovely day.  Everyone was very welcoming to the "new faces" and we won't feel new very long.  We have gotten together with some of the families a couple of times to play, so we knew some names and faces already and that helped.

Mia and Zayden (K-2) had art, PE, and poetry/lit class.  

Xavier (3-5) had anatomy, cultures/geography, and PE.  

Natalee (6-8) had writing, art, and chemistry.

I was the art teacher for the youngest group and then worked 3rd shift in the nursery.  Everyone showed up ready to do their jobs, which was so lovely to see.  

My class was a bit late getting started (first day stuff, you know?) so I did the cutting for my students today (cut out their umbrella color wheels), but they did the rest of their projects.  We learned the primary colors song, read Color Dance, and then charged forward with our project.

When I blog about co-op I'm going to *try* to not share pics of other people's kiddos....try.  So hard.  Pics the other teachers posted.  Natalee in chemistry - she also got to make a lava lamp and declared lava to be "messy!"

Xavier got to make a cell in anatomy.

After morning classes and lunch, the oldest 3 children got to go back for their book clubs (books clubs are the 4th Monday only).  This month Natalee's group read My Side of the Mountain.  Xavier and Ameliya are in the same group and their book was Charlotte's Web.  Zayden, Evalynn, and I went to visit Aunt Annette.  The little ones got to play, wind down, and we had a good chat.  Evie was able to tell Annette that her new friend's (nursery classmate) name is "Sammy."  Pretty good for a 2 year old.

Zayden and Evalynn fell asleep on the way home - the perfect amount of rest for Zayden and not quite enough for Evalynn.  Snuggles when we got home.  Ev plays with her ear when she's sleepy - but she'll also play with the ear of whoever is holding her.

Reviving.  She did go to bed early, though.

I titled this video, "Ev and I spent some time apart today and it shows."  She literally just leaned her body on me wherever I was in the kitchen while I was getting supper on.  She separated from me easily to go to nursery while I taught, thanks to great nursery teachers, and was very excited to see me when I arrived.

This was a great day and we are already excited for our next co-op session.  We meet twice a month, which is perfect to help us not get overwhelmed and keep our anticipation fresh.  The oldest two children have a bit of homework and textbook reading that they need to be personally responsible for in the next two weeks, and the older 3 have a new book to read by the end of October.  

Thank you to our new friends for a great first day of co-op!

Saturday {Zoo + Last Day of Travel & HOME}

Everyone slept hard (except mom, because she's mom) and felt rested and fresh Saturday (Sept 18) morning.  We showered the kids who hadn't showered the night before and had a great breakfast at our hotel.

Complimentary breakfast at a hotel means 2 things for a large family.  1.  you don't have to load and unload your children again which takes a long time.  2.  you can think of the room fee as minus about $40-50 because that's what it would cost to feed our crew a good breakfast out.  I love complimentary breakfast.  The dining room was pretty full but there was a big table outside just waiting for our little sweeties.  Complimentary breakfast for us means dad managing the table chaos while I make one thousand trips back and forth serving our crew, but we make it work and try to make sure the parents eat a little something, too, in the midst of it all.  The kids feasted on pancakes, yogurt, bananas, eggs, sausage, toast.  They love getting to have so many choices!

And then, since we were in St. Louis, we decided we just as well hit the zoo.  I had mistakenly thought that since you had to pre-order (free) tickets for your day at the zoo that it wouldn't be so busy even though it was a Saturday.  This was false, and so I was bummed about that.  We decided to see just the outdoor animals, and not go into any of the buildings.  The exception for that was that we hit the penguin cove first and they didn't have a line yet, so we went in that building.

The zoo was worth is for a lot of reasons, but the main one was seeing Evalynn's reaction to the real live animals in front of her.  I've worried about Evie a little, because she has not had many life experiences beyond her little bubble, and so I can see sometimes that she's not making connections to what we read in books/play toys with, to real life.

Her reaction to the animals was priceless.  So much so that I didn't take many videos or photos because we were all enjoying showing her the world.  She kept saying, "wook, Mama!  wook!"  Her eyes were huge when she saw bears, she was delighted at the penguins, and she couldn't get enough of the elephants.

A napping orangatun.

There was a little baby on this hammock that would stick his head up every few minutes but I never did capture a photo of it.

I've never been at the zoo when the polar bear wasn't in the water!  Sunning on a rock on this Saturday.

I love the penguins.  So. much.  Sure, they are stinky, but also I'm chubby so I'm usually hot and their habitat is cold, plus they are adorable.

Can you see the peek of her smile beyond Mike's hat?  She got splashed and she loved it.

The grizzly was being quite a cutie, also, peek-a-booing above his rock.

lazy lions...

I think the giraffes are pretty, too.

The riverwalk was the last thing we did before riding the train and leaving.  We were all pretty hot and tired by this point but the hippos and elephants didn't disappoint.

My original plan was to buy train tickets and ride to each station, get off, tour that area, and then load back and go to the next station.  This cuts down on walking/exhaustion, gives the kids the fun of the train, and helps us see everything without a lot of backtracking.  We've done this a lot of times.  We fold up the stroller at each station and put it in the seat with us.  Natalee was in her wheelchair, so we knew we'd get to sit at the front away from a bunch of people, but when I went to buy tickets they told us that they no long allow you to take fold up strollers on the train.  Wah, Wah, Wah.  I was pretty hot by the time we got unloaded and into the park - we were juggling a wheelchair and a stroller and were kind of a mess and this was the thing that about sent me to tears, but I reigned it in and we walked the park instead of riding.  The kids were all so big about missing the train ride that we parked the stroller and treated them all to a round trip ride after we got out of the riverwalk and before we left the park.  It took them a long time to strap Natalee's chair in and I was surprised at how the rest of us just sit willy nilly in our rows but the person in the wheelchair has 4 wheel straps + a lap belt.  LOL.  

It was worth it.  Everyone loved it except that Natalee said she felt like we were going really fast.  I suppose being in the very front made it feel different for her.  This was another fun first to give Evalynn and Zayden said he didn't remember being at the zoo when we were there last time, so it was especially exciting for him, too.

In all, we spent about 3 1/2 hours at the zoo.  This is the least amount of time I've ever spent at the STL Zoo before, but it was enough for us for this day.  We hit the bathrooms for a potty break for all and good wash up before heading out to load up.  Obligatory "smile for mom" photo.

Everyone was hot and tired by the time we got loaded back into the bus.  We passed around the sanitizer and drove through and bought all the big kids two fast food sandwiches because they all declared they were starving (fast food = such a treat for these kids who don't get it often).  Little Evalynn fell fast asleep before we got out of Forest Park and stayed asleep through the drive through and all the way into Iowa!  Over 3 hours.

We drove the rest of the way home without stopping, except to grab pizzas for supper in town (because there were no groceries in the house and I had zero desire to try to cook).

We made it in between 5-6 and were so glad to have had our adventure and equally glad to be home safely!

Friday {Leaving the Island}

Friday (Sept 17) it was time for us to load up and leave the island.  It was raining again and I told Mike that must have been our sign that it was time to exit after Thursday had been gentler.  I checked the flags one last time, just on the off chance that we'd get a green and Xavier and Mike could slip to the beach with the boogie boards but no such luck.  Alas.  

Packing is always work but we really didn't do too bad.  I felt really blessed to have had a washer and dryer all week to help me keep up with laundry and had done quite a bit of the organizing the day before.  I loaded all the bags and totes inside the condo and Mike and Xavier used the rolling carts to load up the bus.  The hardest thing when packing out is helping little people understand that they just need to be patient and wait.  Waiting is hard!  God bless TV and that it was only raining lightly and the satellite was working!  Finally we had our last load!  

Little Evalynn, arm full of lighted bracelets, rolling us out.

After a stop across the street to fill the coolers with ice, we left the island and drove hard all day long.  We crossed the island bridge at around 9:30 a.m., and had planned to stop in Cape Girardeau, MO for the night.  I did not have any luck finding a hotel that had a suite that was sized to accommodate us in Cape G or any of the surrounding towns.  I don't know if they were all booked, or if there were not any hotels that had larger suites.  We could have rented two rooms, I know, but I just really hate doing that - not because of the money but just having us split up like that.

Once we crossed into Missouri, we found a rest stop.  Mike and I had noticed this rest stop that was on the northbound side when we were traveling to Alabama so it was on our radar and we were so glad to let the kids out to run and stretch and potty.  Thanks, MoDOT!

We decided to drive on into STL and I booked us a suite at the Holiday Inn right off I-55.  This hotel was so nice.  The staff was kind, the room was clean and big enough for us, and we were so glad to be there.  We got in about 9:30 that night, grabbed the hotel bag, showered the children that wanted a shower, and snuggled down into our beds.

Thursday {The Last Day on the Beach}

Thursday (Sept 16) morning started with a sweet call from one of the condo owners, Darl, reassuring me that we shouldn't have any trouble getting off the island, and that we were okay to stay for our last full day and night.  Wednesday night I was pretty sure we should gather up and head out but the kids were already in bed....anxiety is a feisty opponent.  But Thursday morning I was sure glad we'd stayed....we woke up to a beautiful morning.

We took full advantage of it not raining at the moment and hustled down to the beach, before we even ate breakfast.

The boys getting the good out of the $1 foam whistling football that Mike bought them.  It lasted for the 2-3 days they played with it so I'd say they got their money! 

The water was so tempting but so wild.  No one was allowed to go to it without a parent.  The warnings all said "knee high was too high" and it was another red flag day.

Eventually hunger and a little girl's sleepiness drove us back to the condo for breakfast and a rest.  After they ate and did some light packing while Ev rested, everyone got ready for our last swim at the condo.

We are so thankful God answered this weary mom's prayers to lessen the rain for our last day.

Little Zayden waiting to go to the pool....can you tell his body doesn't do "still" very well?  This was how we was positioned to do a dot to dot.

Mike borrowed Natalee's pink goggles - dreamy look.

She was about too cute in this swim suit.

Playing catch with the worn out football in the pool.

pool fun montage...

We got to see the Coast Guard we think running drills (or doing a rescue).

I went out to lay in the sun and warm up and this little biscuit followed me. 

Photos from our balcony.  Even our untrained eyes could see rip currents in the water and the local Dauphin Island Facebook page was full of warnings from the locals.  Two children had needed rescued just the day before when they got caught in a current and pulled out. 

Thursday's greatest disappointment was when Xavier realized it wasn't safe to boogie board and this was our last day.  My mama heart broke a little and felt a lot guilty.

God did paint beautiful evening pictures for us.

We went down to the beach for one last evening walk, and I gave the kids glow sticks to make it exciting.  Don't glow sticks make everything exciting?

The children with cameras also took their cameras down since we were just walking.  We hadn't let them take them along while we were playing because we didn't want to deal with sand and water in the lenses.

Natalee spots a crab.  Evie spots the water.  My little photogs in the background taking sunset pictures.

We did sand writing during the day a couple of days earlier, but after I wrote "The Beelers" then they all started writing again and I obligingly took pictures with my camera and theirs.  

God is a magnificent painter.

We stayed at the beach until dark, walking, exploring, being together.

finding sand crabs on the way back with the flashlight I took along...

I spent the evening out on the balcony appreciating the almost full moon reflecting off of the water and listening to the waves.  I actually fell asleep out there, wrapped in a blanket, and didn't come in to bed until after midnight.

After a couple of days of hard, heavy rain, we were very very thankful for Thursday.