Our Vacay - Part Deux

One of our ports of call was Cozumel, Mexico. We had snorkeled there before and were looking forward to doing it again. (Okay, for some odd reason that sounds kinda bad, huh?... it must be a post-midnight craziness that is taking over my brain...hehe).

Since it was very very very windy, we opted to rent a jeep and drive around the island instead.

There is really not much to the island of Cozumel. If you drive it, you only need to do it once. In your entire life.

But the one time that you do drive it, please remember to put on sunscreen. If not, you will have this odd sunburn on the top half of your face. Or if you are a crazy shirtless man, you will have a hilarious souvenir of a seatbelt tan-line to show the kids when you get home!

Too bad I don't have a picture of that.

We did make two stops on our whirlwind tour of the 28 mile wide and 10 mile long island. First stop, the Mayan ruins of San Gervasio. I'm such a party pooper. I really didn't like it there. It just couldn't compete with our visits to Tulum and Chichen-Itza on our honeymoon back in the old days! But we made the best of it and explored.

We saw lots of iguanas. Do you see it?

I also had my husband for entertainment. He always makes me laugh.

After passing many an iguana, we loaded up and kept on driving. We found this really neat rock outcropping with wicked waves.

I couldn't resist this dorky picture of us. See how WINDY it is?! (Aren't you impressed with the italics in that word? Pretty clever, huh? I know you're impressed.) That's also the face you make when you're eating hair and trying to not fall to your death. Right past that edge is a 150 foot drop with the waves hammering against it.

Okay, I lied. It's really only a 15 foot drop. But the waves, they really were the kind that would totally crack your skull!

(I'm totally resisting the gone with the wind jokes here. You can thank me later.)

So we left, returned the jeep and got back on the boat ship. (They hate it when you call it a boat.)

Our Vacay - Part Uno

This will be the first post of a few posts about the very recent (as in we got back on Sunday) Caribbean cruise vacation that David and I took. Sans kidlets.

We left on Sunday and by Tuesday we wished we would have brought the boys along. Yup, we finally turned into those kind of parents. Every part of life is just so much more FUN with them around!

So we learned our lesson that 2-3 days is enough time to refresh and reconnect with each other... any more than that and we are bored, lonely bumpkins (the details of which I shall spare you).

Okay, on to our adventures!

***

David and I were walking down a street on Grand Cayman when we saw this:

Just three steps later we saw this:

RUN, CHICKENS, RUN!!! You SO do not want to go through that side door right there!

Although the idea of freshly fried chicken is quite appealing to me right about now... Man, KFC's really are everywhere!

Riding the Cool Bus

We've had many of those kinds of school days before. Y'know, the days where no one is listening, tempers are rising and that stinkin' page of math is taking in excess of 3 hours (and counting).

The concept of the stockade goes from sounding like an antiquated idea to a rather brilliant idea!

Okay, okay. I suppose the stockade isn't the best way to handle those kinds of days, but can I at least reserve the right to consider it a Plan B?

To be honest, a great way to counter the homeschooling-is-currently-whooping-up-on-me blues is to make a list. Not just any old run of the mill list either. But a Hooray-for-our-Homeschool! kind of list.

Without further ado and for my future reference, here is a small sampling of my we-don't-need-no-schoolbus-because-we-ride-the-Cool-Bus! (aka my mommamobile minivan) list:

+ While my kids are not necessarily normal (they can't help it-- they take after me!), they think that having lessons on Saturday is normal.

+ So is going to the (uncrowded!) beach on a Monday.

To see the rest of my list, visit me at HOTM!

Clickety-clack, I'm a typing fool!

96 words

Touch Typing online

I love to type.

I learned how to type without looking at the keys while I was in college. Not on purpose, though. It just happened after my first few last minute (literally) research papers were due.

After getting married and moving to the land-of-no-jobs (aka Cleveland) for a girl with a history degree and no real working experience (unless you count a laundromat attendant, flute lessons or tutoring), I had a 3 year stint as a secretary.

Hated every second of it, too.

In spite of having the most-horrid-job-ever, I love to type.

It's relaxing and the clickety-click of the keys is somehow comforting. I suppose it's because I can immediately see the fruits of my labor and it requires ZERO thought. So I type and my mind wanders and I type and I think about what's for dinner or what the weather is like outside.

Take the test and let me know how you did!

And if you beat me, I will do my best to resist the very strong urge to take the test over and over again until I come out on top...

It's just what boys do

They stack things...

They play in the pond...

They play yard golf...

But this one... well, this one is hard to attribute to the fact that they are boys. It's more like they get these "great" ideas... it must be from their daddy's side of the family! :-)

And just in case you can't read the signs, they say:

bike race
and
free tennis
$5.00

and

bike race open 5:00pm to 5:30pm
$5.00


Who says they aren't learning LIFE skills in our homeschool?

Yup, it took a looooong while, but eventually they figured out that NO ONE will pay $5.00 to be in a bike race, even if it comes with a free game of tennis in the driveway.

Y'all should have heard the arguments about changing the price to 50 cents instead. Obviously one child dreams much bigger than the other one!

And the littlest man? Well, he's smart enough to try to hide his identity and not be a part of this scam plan!

My boys are on the cover!

Looky, looky who is on the cover of the February 2008 issue of The Heart of the Matter Magazine?!

Don't you just love it?! I do!

Even though my littlest man isn't in the picture (or even born when the picture was taken), this is my favorite pic of my two oldest boys.

And I am also proud to say that the indian outfit was my very first sewing project since the 8th grade! Not bad, eh? Just don't ask to look closely at the seams or ask me how many times I had to rip out and redo the arms on that thing...

Click HERE to read the all new and fantastic homeschooling articles in this month's issue.

You can even get the magazine in .pdf form to print out and read at your leisure... because y'know... you're home all day so there must be lots of leeezure going on! ;-)

Walk in the Woods

We really miss Tennessee... and our friends there. It was one of our best family vacay's ever! I think it's time for a repeat...

Snack for the day

Tortilla chips, Rotel dip and brussel sprouts.

I've got all the major food groups covered-- grains, dairy and veggies!

Pretty smart combo, eh? See how the brussel sprouts cancel out the fattening cheese?

And you thought learning was only for our children...

(Just ignore the fact that the bowl and bag are almost empty and yet the plate is still pretty full of sprouts.)