Come to Zion 1: Heading South

When I was around 8 or 9 years old, our family went to a family reunion at Zion National Park. My dad borrowed a converted bus to haul us to Utah from California. Not far outside of St. George, the bus broke down. We managed to figure out a way to fix the problem and rolled into the group campground in the middle of the night. Besides the bus breaking down, my memories of the trip are vague and center around my sister and I floating down the river. 

That was the first and only time I visited Zion's (despite the fact that I lived in Utah for 8 years for college). Once we moved away from Utah, and I realized how much we did not take advantage of our time there, I put Zion's high on my "places to visit" list.

So, when my extended Manning family announced they were planning another reunion at Zion's (30 years after the first!) it seemed like a perfect excuse to get our family down there. Of course, we took our time making our way that far south.

 We weren't in a hurry, so we didn't get frustrated at all the pit stops required with 5 kids in tow.

 

On our first day, we drove to Boise, Idaho and stayed in a really fantastic hotel (La Quinta Inn & Suites Boise Towne Square). The room had 3 queen sized beds, and one was in a room off the main room (perfect for getting little Nellie's to sleep).

After checking in, I snuck back out to grab some dinner from a nearby grocery store while Mark and the kids changed into swim suits and watched TV.

Then it was finally time to swim! I am loving the fact that the big three can now swim well independently.
We plan these elaborate vacations, but in the end it's the swimming that the kids seem to remember best.

When Nellie decided she was done swimming, she and I went back to the hotel room alone. I had just enough time to get her to sleep before Mark and the big kids got back. Perfect! Nellie being asleep meant it was 10x easier for everyone else to get to bed and go to sleep.

While Thane does love swimming, his favorite part about hotel stays just might be the breakfasts. I think he single handedly got our family's money's worth out of the hotel stay with how much he ate.

Before leaving Boise, we drove by the Boise temple and the chapel where Thane famously left his mark.

The second day of driving was much shorter than the first, and we pulled into Colleen's house in Midvale around 3 pm. What a joy to see cousins and be out of the car! In anticipation of our arrival, Colleen made two big pans of brownies. She knows us so well.

The kids wasted no time renewing their relationships.  Nellie was tickled to have someone smaller to follow around and try to mother. Poor little Cohen!

Aubree and Elizabeth, our twin bibliophiles, set up their book reading fort just like our last visit.

The Pied Piper, er, I mean Mark, helped the kids settle down before bed with some bedtime stories. Once the kids were all asleep, Mark, Colleen, Andrew, and I were able to play games.

The next morning, Graham woke up with his face covered in blood. He'd gotten a nosebleed in the night (and apparently slept right through it). It was the first of several over our vacation. Utah is dry, high, and hot! 

Colleen took us outside to play, and we quickly realized that we really are Washington wimps. It was "only" about 90 degrees, but we kept retreating to the shade. 

 

The little kids, with the help of water toys, were able to last a bit longer.

Even when they got wet, they dried in a flash.

We left Colleen's in the afternoon and stopped for a few hours to visit our dear friends, the Jensens.

Mostly, the kids played with their old friends while the adults caught up on the events of the last year. Aubree played a few songs on her violin and Bryce played a few piano songs.

When it was time to go, we recreated the picture we took last year. If we visit every year, we can continue this tradition and track our kids' continued growth.

We reached Kira's in time for dinner. Again, the kids wasted no time reconnecting with the cousins. This time the rebonded over Perler beads and hotwheel tracks.

Once the kids got to bed, Kira and I plotted and planned for our trip down to Zion's. Nothing like waiting till the last minute, right?

The next morning we were back in the car for our final trip south, this time to Zion Ponderossa Ranch. We stopped in the tiny town of Beaver for lunch. We didn't have many dining options, but Mark found a small pizza restaurant and ordered two pizzas for our family. It took forever for them to arrive (we passed the time sharing a 32 oz. icee), but when we got them they were huge and delicious.

We arrived at the Ranch right at check-in time.

Oh, and Graham spent our entire vacation trying to perfect his wink. So if his face looks strange in pictures in future posts, now you know why.

School Year in Review

It always seems crazy to look back and realize a whole school year has passed in a proverbial flash. 

This was an extra full school year. I found myself in my van more than in past years, but I think it was worth it in the end to be able to take advantage of so many wonderful classes, activities, and groups.

Aubree's Homes United Co-op logged it's second full year. I just LOVE this group of kids and parents!

This was our first year having students spanning from 6th-8th grade, which was a bit of an adjustment, but not as big as I was expecting. We are learning a lot each year about what works well and what doesn't.

Our class line-up this year was a little more "serious" than last year, but we still managed to find plenty of opportunities to have fun.

 Art was always a fun class!

 

I taught a full year of Shakespeare. Talk about a learning experience! I thought I had an okay grasp on Shakespeare before this year, but I quickly realized how little I actually knew. So, the students and I learned together. 

 

We covered A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, and Twelfth Night in depth. We covered Hamlet, MacBeth, and Romeo and Juliet briefly. At the end of each play I tried to incorporate fun games and review activities. Once I even tied in Jenga.

We didn't have as many field trips this year (that should be remedied in a major way next year), but we did have a few memorable trips.

We are super excited about next year's class, teacher, and student line-ups!

Bryce, Thane, and Graham had a great year. Graham did our standard (and well-loved) Five-In-A-Row kindergarten curriculum. We were pretty basic is our approach this time around, but our weekly Coberly co-op allowed us to do some really fun and interactive activities.

 

I think the activities were especially well received when they involved food.

I mentioned in my last post that Graham enjoyed his weekly Let's Play Music class. He will continue with that program and be in Year 2 in the fall.

About halfway through the year I started Graham on The Good and The Beautiful language arts level K. He was astounding. He flew through that coursebook and finished by June! He's an incredible little reader.

I've also been impressed with his focus and diligence. The coursebook includes a few art projects and Graham spent hours working with complete attention to finish his projects. 

He will officially start kindergarten in the fall.

Thane also completed his Level 2 TGTB language arts book (and yes, of course he's intentionally holding it upside down in this picture). I had to slow him down to make the book last almost to the end of the year. He wanted to start Level 3 immediately, but I'm a mean mom and am making him wait until September to start.

Bryce had the challenge of completing two TGTB levels in one year. He finished Level 3 in December and is planning to finish Level 4 by the end of the summer (it's on his chore challenge). I really like the art appreciation and applied art lessons contained in the course. Bryce isn't quite as sure (he doesn't love the chalk pastels).

Bryce and Thane loved their outside classes - PE, art, and SteamBoat science. All three were incredibly well done. We also loved our weekly mini co-op with friends where we did a Story of the World project and a math activity. Like their younger siblings, these big kids especially loved activities involving food. In the picture below, we are making jelly doughnuts after learning about JFK's infamous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.

Bryce and Aubree had to take end of the year testing as part of our Parent-Partnership-Program. They both finished their tests lightning fast (we still haven't received the results of the testing, so I can't yet say whether their fast finishes were a good sign or a terrible one). Finishing quickly allowed them plenty of time to play outside with other testers. Aubree helped organize games of Mafia.

And so, another year of homeschooling is in the books.

Wrapping Up the School Year

The end of the school year means parties, celebrations, and recitals. Graham kicked off the start of the end with his Let's Play Music recital.

His cute group of first year students sang a sampling of the songs they learned. On one of the songs, Graham got to accompany the singers with his bells. Graham has learned a lot this year in class. The first semester I had my doubts as to whether or not anything was sinking in, but it really clicked the second semester. That being said, Graham didn't look forward to class because of the music; he just loved the excuse to see friends!

 He was rewarded at the end of the concert with piano key treats.

In Nellie's hands they were messy, messy piano keys.

Bryce and Thane later had their own piano recitals. Their teacher broke her students into two small performance groups, which enabled each student to play three short pieces. This was Thane's first time performing and he did a great job, though he certainly didn't enjoy having to introduce himself or take a bow after he played.

Bryce was more comfortable in the spotlight, but he is super hard on himself for every tiny mistake. He performed a fun duet with his teacher.

I've been really please with their piano teacher, Ms. Nicole. She demands a high level of play without being overly strict. Both boys have responded well to her teaching. Bryce especially really loves piano.

Bryce and Thane's fantastically talented art teacher (who is also our friend and neighbor), put together an excellent art show for her students and their families.

The kids have worked hard all year and have a lot of really great art work to show for their efforts. (Thane was too busy eating the snacks to be bothered with getting his picture taken with his art work.)

To celebrate the ending of the school year, we met up with our dear friends the Coberly's one day at the park. I thought it would be a fun idea to bring the kids popsicles, but I neglected to factor in the weather. Brrrrr!

Clearly the kids weren't too bothered. 

We enjoyed having the playground free from the summer crowds one last time.

The last day of Aubree's middle school co-op we declared a family party day. It was a very low-key, minimally scheduled affair, which ended up being delightful. The kids had a chance to get their yearbooks, play games, play outside, and show off some of their projects.

Aubree took advantage of the extra opportunity to hold baby Jonah. He's her favorite non-sibling baby.

For the first time, we had to say good-bye to 8th graders who will be moving on to high school next year. That was hard. Our co-op is designed to feel like extended family, so it's rough to have some of "our kids" leaving us, even though we are excited for their future activities. Almost all of the rest of the students will be back again next year though, so that's definitely a win!

Yay for summer!

Subzero Field Trip

A friend organized a field trip to a local ice cream shop that uses liquid nitrogen to make their ice cream. She graciously invited our middle school co-op to join in. All we needed to hear was "ice cream," and we were all in!

It was fun to mix our middle school co-op friends with other homeschool friends. The middle school group loved all the babies.

The owner of the shop talked to us about liquid nitrogen (did you know it boils at -321 degrees Farenheit!?) and did a series of neat demonstrations.

One particular experiment ended with a balloon popping with an enormous Bang! Nellie wasn't too fond of that, and she spent the remainder of the time with her hands covering her ears.

We ended the trip getting to taste the delicious products.

It was a perfect PNW spring day, so after the field trip a subset of the field trip group skipped over to a nearby park to have lunch and spend the afternoon.

This was a new park for us and it was fantastic!

We stayed and played for hours, enjoying our friends, the sun, sand, water, and warmth.

Aubree, Jackson, and Lily even spent a good chunk of time swimming in the lake.

We love where we live!