Time away

This week my DH had to go to Myrtle Beach, SC to take CEU classes for his Irrigation License. Now that we are homeschooling we decided to take advantage of the time and take the whole family. We arrived Tuesday to beautiful weather, the kids couldn't wait to go and run around on the beach.

DH had classes each day so the kids and I picked things to do during the day and met up with Daddy during lunch. The second day was beautiful, warm although a little breezy. We got up and headed to the beach to play in the sand. The boys brought trucks and dug in the sand while Pixie and I looked for shells. She was very determined to try to catch a seagull, it was pretty cute watching her run after them. Sand was not her friend, and I remembered how hard it was for little ones at the beach. When she had had enough I had to coax the boys back to the room. They could have played out there all day. That night we had a crazy wind/rain storm move in and I woke up at 12 with wind similar to what it sounds like during a hurricane. We were on the 15th floor and it was insane! I really thought the building was going to blow down. Thankfully we all woke up safe and sound the next morning but the winds were still crazy. The kids wanted to go back to the beach but I was sure Pixie or Wyatt would be blown far away. I had a back up plan if weather was bad to go to Ripley's Aquarium so the kids and I headed that way after lunch. Since it is off season there was hardly anyone there. We spent a few hours exploring and had a fantastic time.

 

Wyatt learning about fossils

Kids loved seeing all the fish

Owen getting to touch a sting ray



It was so windy, but this was the best of the group shots!

Field Trip

It's been awhile since I have update here. Let's see here is a short run down of what's been going on here: Wyatt had his 5th Birthday
          We baked cookies and had a blast with our Elf: Henry
          We celebrated Christmas
          Wyatt ended up in the hospital for 4 day!(diagnosed with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever) 
                 he is doing good, thankfully although it still feels like it was a dream)
          We celebrated Christmas again with my in-laws

Now we are back into a regular routine, and struggling with a little cold with all three kids. Owen and I have been struggling again after the break with school. I am still unsure if it's a behavioral issue or something else.  Everything I ask him to do is a struggle, even when I know he knows the info. My DH and I are trying to find ways to discipline him as I do not want to fight and argue all day to complete his assignments. I have spoken to other Homeschoolers and they all sympathize and have said their first years were very similar. Although a bit of me is relieved to hear this it doesn't make it any less frustrating for me. I feel terrible when my DH asks how school went I end up telling him how hard he is to work with and how bad it really is. I really want to love it, but something is not working and I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what to do.

After a difficult week last week I decided for a change of scenery and we went on a field trip to Fort Fisher Aquarium. I have awesome memories of going to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD., although it makes my standard for them rather high now. The first time I went to Ft. Fisher I couldn't believe that was it. Where were the penguins, the rain forest, the huge sharks? Once I realized my expectations were way to high I started to appreciate how nice our local aquarium was. We have been a few times, and I decided this would be a perfect field trip. My MIL had planned on coming with us and when I found out schools were out we invited our neighbor Kaitlyn to come along as well. Of course the night before Pixie woke up with a high fever and wasn't able to come. Thankfully my DH was able to stay home with her so I could take the others.

We spent the next few hours exploring, listening and learning. It was not too crowded and all three children enjoyed exploring. They have two great touch tanks, one with sting rays, horseshoe crabs and various sea urchins and another that had young (harmless sharks). The older two enjoyed this while Wyatt only wanted to touch the water. I was happy to hear Owen ask lots of good questions.