Overdue Updates

A Thing of Beauty

I've been asked about our roof a few times, so let me start off by saying that our homeowners insurance company is no longer breathing down our neck.    Yay!  The metal was installed over a 2 week period (only half of the metal was ordered at first - oops!) and installation was completed about 2 weeks ago.  The same day I submitted the paperwork letting them know it had been completed, they mailed us a refund check - ugh.  Rather than pay them the exact amount of the refund, I was told to wait till we knew what the new rate would be (new roof = discount).  I got that figure earlier this week and paid the insurance company yesterday so we are now good to go.

Front of business card

Back of business card

I also mentioned in an earlier post that I was changing real estate companies.  It's now official (I got my business cards and name tag yesterday), so I am happy to share that I am now working for Sarasota Bay Real Estate!  I also have my own website (KarrieMeHome.com) where you can search for homes in Sarasota, Manatee, and Charlotte Counties of Florida.  One of the really awesome things about this site is that you can set up your own search so that it emails you every time a new home becomes available (and I can see what you've been looking at in case you want to give me a call about a specific house you've seen).  If you want to make an adjustment for some reason, you can do that as well.  This is a wonderful feature I didn't have with my last employer.  Oh, and I can now list homes for sale too!  It's so nice not being restricted by the team I was on before.  And if you are curious... I love my new company!  The people there are wonderful.

Hubby's had some interesting goings-on at work lately too.  A few weeks back he was asked to come in to the weekly management meeting (he's not management).  We thought he was going to get in trouble, but he didn't.  The issue really stemmed from the day guy complaining about hubby fixing things (uh, that's his job) without talking to the day guy first (you want a phone call at 2AM or don't you want the paper to print before you get in at 6AM?).  Upper management gave hubby the okay to keep doing what he's been doing, so we were able to breath a sigh of relief.  In fact the only way the meeting could have gone any better for my hubby was for them to have offered him a raise (from what we understand no one has gotten a raise in 3+ years).  So how surprised were we when last week hubby was called in to work during the day to help the day guy try to fix something he couldn't figure out.  Day guy is almost eligible to retire and claims he knows how to fix everything there.  Guess not.  And how proud was I when they called hubby in because they trusted that he could do it?

As for the kiddos, my son has officially started with his FLL (First Lego League) robotics team.  They have their pre-qualifiying tournament on Nov 22 so they are meeting twice a week for at least 2 hours each day trying to get ready.  Fun times for Mommy and Daddy.

This year my daughter is signed up to participate in a mini-horse class.  She meets every other week for 3 hours each time and is learning how to care for a horse as well as how to train it to jump (and maybe pull a small cart later in the year).  She's having a blast.

My daughter walking "her" mini-horse Headliner

Brushing Headliner

We've also gone on a few field trips already this year to a science museum, aquarium, and zoo.

Making a stop animation film

"They are really soft."

So cute

Needless to say, my family is very busy these days.  Especially considering in a couple days we have grandparents coming into town for a week.  We have some fun stuff planned with them, so I'm sure I will have more pictures to share after that.

Expiration

Last March my family bought an annual membership to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.  For those not familiar, that is where Winter the dolphin lives.  Late in 2013 and early 2014, they were filming Dolphin Tale 2 at the Aquarium and had it closed for filming off-and-on for two months.  Because of that, they extended our membership through the end of this May. 

Last month I also purchased discount tickets to go to Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa and they expire May 30.  So what's a girl to do when you are in the last week of the month and have passes to two places about to expire?  You go to both of them in the same day, of course!

We had been to Lowry only once and that was 3 years ago.  I remember there being animals as well as a few rides for the kids.  We've been to the Aquarium a couple times in the last year so I figured we'd spend less time there so we started at the zoo.

We spent about 3.5 hours at the zoo where we walked just about every path we could.  Being that it was 90 out we also stopped for snow cones.  Aside from the fact that they helped cool us down, we were able to dispense our own flavors.  I had a wonderful tropical fruity concoction while my kids had I have no idea what to call it... a fruity cacophony of flavors.

Unfortunately, the two rides my kids were most interested in were either closed or they were to big to ride  :-(  Did I mention they were water rides which meant our initial plan for cooling off didn't work.  Yay for snow cones!

We were able to see a couples shows, as well as see some animals up close.  So all in all it was a good time and I'm glad we did it.

Lorwy is one of 5 locations in FL that takes in hurt manatees

National bird.  Got to see one fly and heard their call (very different than what you think).

Baby is almost 2 years old.

One of my daughters favorite animals.  Flock flew by us and one right over us too.

After the zoo we drove over to the Aquarium and spent about 45 minutes there.  We got there just in time to see most of a Winter show / training session and got to see some of the changes that were made for the filming of the new movie.  Although this was a really short stop, I know Winter is a favorite of my daughter, so I'm glad we went since I don't think we'll be going back for a while.

Winter is way down there in the middle of the picture.  Down side of getting there late = bad view.

Only thing about the trip I disliked... the drive.  It's a long drive to begin with, but on the way home we encountered 2 separate accidents with overturned SUVs which had traffic backed up big time.  In fact, it delayed us so much that we didn't get to see my hubby before he had to go to work.

Where to Begin?

Someone mentioned to me the other day that I haven't posted much lately.  We've had so much going on, many of which are on a deadline.  Priorities being what they are, blog posts have been put on hold.  So what have we been up to over the last couple months?

• A trip to Sea World with Grandma & Grandpa and a group of homeschoolers

• Nerf party for my son's birthday  (turned out great, will try to do a separate blog about this later)

• Girl Scout cookies sales (booth sales as well as walking through neighborhoods taking orders)

• Field trip to Spanish Point where we learned about the Spanish settlers in Florida (goes really well with their Florida History class this year)

• Spent a few hours at the Southwest FL Herritage Festival where we learned about the Florida pioneers (again, goes really well with their Florida History class this year)

• Karate (My son decided he had better things to do than karate so he quit going the end of January.  My daughter quite the end of February for the same reason.)

• Archery Lessons (these are weekly and have pretty much taken the place of the karate class).  The really cool thing about these is the entire family can go, so hubby's been able to take lessons a couple times and so have I.

• Kittens.  We've been caring for a pregnant cat who was found wandering a nearby neighborhood. Last Saturday she had 6 kittens.  They are all doing well, but we are currently acclimating Mama and babies to the fact that people are friends and not foes. They are doing quite well but have their moments of mistrust (luckily no biting or scratching - just hissing so far). 

• Lots of Showings and a few houses under contract. 

• Real estate licensing. Many people don't know that working in real estate requires continuing education.  If you don't complete the re-certification course by a certain time every 2 years, your license is made inactive and you can no longer practice till it you complete the course.  Well, the end of March is that date for me.  Luckily I finished a couple days ago.  Very important that I did too or those contracts I mentioned above... I don't get the commission.  

• Shift change.  A couple weeks ago, hubby was informed he would be moving from night shift to day shift for 4 - 6 weeks.  He just completed the first week of the day shift.  Considering my husband is a night owl, this shift has been hard on him physically.  It's also been hard on the family because now I don't have him home during the day to watch the kids if I have to head out for work.  Luckily, my parents and some friends have offered to help (and I've taken them up on it).  I've also been showing houses to fellow homeschoolers lately, so I've even brought my kids along to hand out with their kids.

• Taxes.  I've barely started these and they are due April 15 of course.  I think I'll be getting money back but I'm not sure, so I have to at least get some basic numbers imputed so I know if the 15th is really my deadline.  Whatever the case, this will probably have me busy for the next couple weeks so I apologize in advance for going off the grid again.

You Never Know What You'll Learn on a Field Trip

Anyone who knows my daughter well, knows that she loves animals.  She's never been into dolls.  She's always been into stuffed animals and even rubber or plastic animals. 

And her all time favorites for the last few years have been birds (exotics) and dolphins.  Considering how smart these animals are, she knows they can be trained so that is now what she wants to pursue.  So when one of the homeschool groups we are a part of set up a field trip yesterday to a local "zoo" that is known for it's birds, I jumped at the chance.  I guarded that day from work like you wouldn't believe, because I knew she would LOVE this trip.

And I was right!  Not only did we get to see lots of birds,

I'm guessing there were at least 20 - 30 macaws.

We got to see a reptile show,

Seriously not willing to get close to that.

A wildlife show,

This owl had some character.  I loved watching his "horns"

And a bird show. 

One of the more famous birds: Frosty was on the Ed Sullivan show in the 60's riding his unicycle.

And after the bird show she got to hold one of the birds from the show (not Frosty).  Can you say happy?!?

Their claws apparently tickle.  The marks left behind make me think otherwise.

We also got to ask the trainer what she studied in college so we now know what my daughter needs to focus on (biology of course, but psychology too - who knew?). 

Overall, a great day:  The kids had lots of fun, we made some new friends, learned lots, and it was a beautiful day to top it off.

Socialization

One of the questions homeschoolers hear the most is, "How do they make friends?"

Well, for starters, our family goes to church.  That means they make friends at church.  In fact, we get together will a small group of friends from church on a regular basis and the kids have a great time together.

Bowling with friends from church = fun times

Another thing our family does is participate in co-ops in the area.  We have joined 4 groups.  One we joined for the science, history, and Bible classes taught once a week.  These classes are made up of about 20 other kids.

History class

Another group meets once a month and learns about marine biology.  I would say about 20 showed up to the class this month.  Yes, it's a second science class but it's hands on learning at the beach.  We just HAD to take advantage of that, especially since my daughter loves sea animals.

Investigating animals caught near mangroves.

The other 2 groups are all about field trips and fun get togethers.  So far we've gone roller skating, swimming at a local pool, and gone on a tour of the local food bank.  And we're signed up for numerous field trips already with them scheduling more each day it seems (I have to be picky just because of the cost and time - I do have to leave time for teaching too).

Only second time roller skating for the kids.

My kids went off the high diving board.

Learning about how the food bank works.

And after how much our kids enjoyed martial arts camp this summer, we decided to sign them up for this school year.  So far they are having a great time.

Daughter getting recognized for doing a good job during class.

My husband taught a group of homeschoolers about robotics last spring and he intends to do it again this coming spring.  That is something he and our son do together.  And I'm thinking of signing my daughter up for Girl Scouts so that she has something that's her own too.

One thing I really love about homeschooling is that our kids have learned that they don't have to socialize with kids who are their age.  They have friends who are older and younger than they are.  I think it makes for more well rounded kids.  Not only do my kids have the opportunity to interact with and emulate older children, they are given the opportunity to inspire younger children.

I must say, when we first began our homeschooling journey in the Washington, DC area we didn't have all these options.  I had another friend I knew that was homeschooling children of the same age, but that was it.  There were no co-ops, group field trips (those discounts are amazing), and large play dates.  Besides moving to somewhere warmer where our family can (and does) spend more time outside, it has made homeschooling and socializing so much easier for my family.

Coming Out

I'm going to admit something you that may not know about me....  I like love musicals.  I'm not sure when this enjoyment obsession began, but it's goes back as far as I can remember.  The first musical I remember watching over and over was Annie.  You know the one from the 80's.  I'm pretty sure my parents rented that movie just about every weekend for months.  Finally they broke down and bought a copy.  I still enjoy watching Annie on occasion and my daughter enjoys it as well (she doesn't walk around the house singing the songs like I do though).

Of course I enjoy musicals such as Grease, Dirty Dancing, Sound of Music, etc. but one of my favorites is a movie most people haven't even heard of.  Fans of Christian Bale may know the movie I'm talking about... Newsies.

As the title would lead you to expect, it's a movie about newsboys growing up in the early 1900's.  It delves into the lives of the newsboys and how, many of them were orphaned (do you see a theme here) and how they were newsies just to survive.  The producers did a wonderful job of bringing in time period props such as a very old treadle printing press.  You know the kind where they had to hand place each letter and pump their foot to make it move all while manually changing the printed piece of paper for a fresh piece of paper. 

One of the things that interests me about the movie now as an adult is that it was based on true events.  A few years ago my brother got me the collectors edition of the DVD and it has a special feature that lets you in on some of the history behind the movie and it is very interesting.

I think that's why when we were given an opportunity to tour a modern day printing press I jumped at the opportunity.  In fact, I was probably more excited than my kids.  It was so interesting for me to be able to compare a modern day paper printing press with a press from 100 years ago.  It was also fun to see my kids asking questions and learning how things work.

Part of the machine that inserts the sales flyers into the paper.

They keep enough paper on hand to run the paper for 28 days.  This is just some of the rolls they have on hand. 

 

 

There are actually 2 presses side-by-side.  They are both 2+ stories each.

So high above you it's hard to tell where each page starts and ends.

The paper winds through the press like it's going through a maze.

All the kids who were on the trip with us.  Such a great time!

What's next?  Getting my kids to watch the Newsies with me  :-)

My Little Edison

Today the kids and I went to the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford Winter Estates and Museum.  We were able to tour around both of their houses as well as Edison's laboratory.  We also got to make a rubber ball and a Bernoulli ball.  Needless to say my son was on top of things when asked how a light bulb works, but my kids were less than thrilled to walk around the grounds and see the view (which I LOVED).

I have recently been reading a book titled Dreamers, Discoverers, & Dynamos: How to Help the Child Who is Bright, Bored, and Having Problems in School.  Essentially it states that some children are wired differently and therefore think and learn differently than what is considered normal.    Some are very imaginative (dreamers), some are inventors (discoverers), and some are just always on the go (dynamos).  I got the book because I figured my son was a discoverer (and he is) and wanted to see if I could get some ideas on how to better help him learn.  In the process of reading the book, I've also realized that my daughter is a bit of a dynamo and a dreamer mixed into one.  My husband fits the discoverer category as well, so I guess it's genetic.

The book also calls these children "Edison trait children."  That's because they are very smart and can even get themselves in trouble (as Edison did MANY times).

One of the things I found interesting about Edison is that after Edison got in trouble in school (at a rather young age), his mother decided to teach him at home (she was a school teacher so it was an easy choice for her to make).  She allowed her son the freedom to learn the way he needed to.  I wish I could say I would let my son have his own laboratory (with chemicals) at the age of 8, but that's just not happening.

As someone who said I would never homeschool my children (I love God's sense of humor), I recently decided, that public or private schools are not going to be in my sons near future.  After reading what I have about Edison and about "Edison trait children," the best thing I can do for my son right now is to keep him home so that he can learn in his own way.  Who knows... maybe my son will one day be considered an inventor like Edison.

Oh...and in preparation for our trip today we got some books from the library on Edison.  Guess what?  My son shares a birthday with Thomas Edison.  Interesting coincidence don't you think?  My son thinks so because when I mentioned it to him he said, "Maybe that's God's way of letting me know I need to invent things like Edison."

Back in Time

Today the kids and I went on a field trip with some fellow homeschoolers.  We had to travel almost 2 hours to get there, but I think it was worth it.  I think the kids would tell you the same. 

This field trip involved traveling back in time to Florida in the 1890's.  We took a tour of a "town" that was comprised of period buildings that have been donated and gathered together from around the state of Florida.  The tour lasted 2.5 hours, yet kept the kids attention pretty much the entire time. 

We learned about how Morris Code and the railroads worked, how the schools worked, as well as how they made cane syrup from sugar canes (among other things).  We even got to make a rope, butter, and a bees wax candle (we got to bring the candle home and the kids are dying to use them).

One of my favorite types of books is historical fiction.  I love reading about how things were done years ago, so to get to do some hands-on stuff like this was fun for me.  I also know my kids really enjoy hands-on learning opportunities so it was fun to watch them enjoying themselves. 

Of course the end of the trip involved a trip to the "General Store" where I let the kids each purchase something.  My daughter picked out a doll and my son picked out a whip.  No surprise to me, he became quite proficient very quickly.  Unfortunately, it's already being repaired by Daddy.

On the way home I was wondering if there is a place we could go that would allow us to live like they did years ago to get a better feel for it... you know with the wood burning stove for cooking and no electricity.  Then I thought better of it.  I kind of like my modern conveniences.  Seeing them for a couple hours was good enough for me.

Right Place At the Right Time

Saturday, Opa had final sermon and Sunday school preparations to do and hubby was getting back from his business trip.  He's had some long, busy days, so I knew Jon would want a nap when he got back.  Being that both of those goals are more easily accomplished with no kids running around the house, the kids and I went to "The Living History Farm" in Des Moines with Oma.

At one point early in our drive there, we encountered so much rain that we considered turning around and trying again on Sunday afternoon.  I'd looked at radar images before we left, so I was pretty confident that we may encounter some rain but that it wouldn't be nearly as bad as what we were driving through.  Luckily I was right.  The fact that I had brought rain jackets and umbrellas made the decision a little easier as well.

For those of you not familiar with The Living History Farm, it is a hands-on experience that takes you through Iowa farming from 1700 through the early 1900's.  They have "actors" who tell you about how life would have been during that time.  We talked to pioneers from the 1850's who were eating lunch prepared over a wood fire using food grown on the farm from their time period (let me just say it smelled so good I wanted to join them).  We saw how they made brooms and RX pills in a "town" set in 1865.  We spent about 3 - 4 hours at the farm learning all kinds of new and interesting things.

About the time I was expecting Jon to be getting to his parents house, I got a call from him.  Unfortunately, he was experiencing car troubles.  You see, our truck was too big to fit in the parking lot at the airport so he had taken his parent's car.  After calling his dad, it was determined that he would just drop it off at the dealership so they could work on it next week (apparently this problem had happened before and it is still under warranty).

Of course I felt kind of bad that this happened to him, but I was glad his mom and I didn't have that car for our trip because then we could have been stranded with the kids somewhere.  Then I got to thinking some more.  He had been able to limp the car for a while, but made the decision not to drive any further once he got to Des Moines.  What's more, he was only 2 blocks from The Living History Farm and 1 mile from the dealership when all this happened.  If we had turned around and decided to come back another day, he would have been stuck there waiting for someone for much longer than he did (he had to wait for us to finish part of the tour).  Talk about being in the right place at the right time. 

Good help is so hard to find...

but when you do, it's great.  A few weeks ago I mentioned that hubby and I had been having some trouble with DMV.  I then explained that sometimes all you need is to find the right person who really knows what they are doing.  On Thursday I got to experience that again.

You see, the weather was so nice and we'd been learning about the different types of animals (reptiles, mammals, etc) that I decided a trip to the zoo was in order.  Even though Friday's weather was going to be warmer I decided to go on Thursday; that way I could avoid the heavy traffic on the way back home.  Unfortunately I didn't realize there was a bunch of construction, so a trip that Google maps said would take just over an hour took 2 hours.  When we got there we were the 5th person turned away from the last parking lot with space.  Arghh!!!

Then my daughter proceeded to tell me that she needed to use the bathroom.  Of course?!?!  I knew that I would not be able to find a place to park in DC much less a place with a public bathroom, so I ended up parking in the bus zone and found a zoo employee there and told him what happened.  He told me that I could park there while we used the bathroom.  When we got back to the car, he told me to follow him over to a lot nearby, because 3 people had just left the lot.  He ended up moving the cones and let us park (one of the best parking spots I've gotten there too).

We then spent 4.5 wonderful hours at the zoo looking at animals and enjoying the weather.  The National Zoo is still one of my least favorite zoos that I've been to, but this trip certainly did help me to appreciate it a bit more.

Being that I'm a cat person, seeing the 6 and 7 month old lion cubs was a plus too.

Up, Up, and Away

Well, I finally did it.  I took the kids on another field trip.  We meet up with a friend from my MOPS group who happens to home school children of the same age as mine and we drove to the Air & Space Museum located in Chantilly, Virginia.

We decided upon this because 1.  We weren't sure how our kids would do together for a long period of time,  2.  It was the cheapest and easiest option because we were wary of taking our kids on the metro, and 3.  It meant we didn't even have to go near the beltway.

Overall, we had a good time.  My daughter was a little less than enthusiastic about how much walking we ended up doing (I don't have a stroller anymore and they don't rent them out like the zoos do) but as long as she got to sit every once in a while she was fine.

One of our favorite things was the area where you can observe airplanes taking off and landing at nearby Dulles International Airport.  We could even hear the air traffic controllers as they talked to the pilots.  We were also taken to a display air traffic control room where we learned just how important the job of an air traffic controller is.

We also learned about the different things airplanes are made of and why certain materials are better than others.  We learned about the purpose of the lab on the space shuttle and why rockets have multiple segments.

It was a wonderful learning experience for the kids and the moms (at least me).  Yes, I learned something too.  I learned that my daughter is happier at the zoo and my son is just as happy at a museum or zoo.  I'm not sure if it's the age difference or being a girl or that she didn't want to walk, but it's something I hope I can work around in the near future, because I would love to do another museum trip with the same friends taking on Washington, DC next time.