September birthdays

 It’s time for our September birthdays! David and Laney both have birthdays this month. Laney celebrated with her grandparents in our backyard. She got lots and lots of mermaids, unicorns, and Barbies, which was just what she wanted.

David got to have his favorite cake - German Chocolate - and celebrate with his kiddos. He got a soccer goal for his birthday and has been playing soccer in the yard with the kids.

First Day of School

This year we have two big kids in school! Eliana starts her 3rd grade year and Will starts kindergarten. The 2020/2021 school year is off to a crazy start. Our school district has chosen to start with all virtual learning called "Enhanced Distanced Learning." Hopefully by the end of September, the school will go to a hybrid model of some in-person learning and some distance learning. Because of this large virtual component of school this year, we have decided to pull William from the public school, and I am home schooling him. I feel very lucky that we are in a situation where I am able to mostly stay home and teach Will myself. This is definitely not something that I ever pictured myself doing, but I am surprised to say it is going pretty well so far. I purchased a kindergarten curriculum from Seton Home Study and then am also supplementing with material from Catholic Heritage Curricula. I am excited about being able to do some teaching with all of the kids together. Will's science this year consists of studying animals and their habitats, lots of nature walks, and some experiments. All the kids have been excited to participate in that. The religion class, supplemented with Eliana's PSR program from St. Brendan's, is also something we are doing as a whole family. I can definitely see the appeal of homeschooling - this faith based and value centered learning is not something that can be taught in public school. While the pandemic has definitely made things more challenging, I am actually looking forward to making the best of our distanced learning and homeschooling adventure.

First day of school!

Preschool hasn't started yet, but Laney didn't want to be left out of first day pictures. She wants to "take care of babies with Coronavirus" when she grows up.

Eliana is in 3rd grade with Ms. Moore. She says her best subject is math. She would like to be a doctor or an author when she grows up.

Will is in kindergarten with Mom. We have dubbed our school St. Windermere Home School. Will is looking forward to learning how to read. He wants to be a construction worker or police officer when he grows up.

Our homeschool hub is located in the basement. My mom gave us a great dining room table and chairs to set up for learning. We have added an iPad stand (very essential for distance learning), chalkboard (Will's favorite place to work), and back pack hooks to the homeschool space. It looks a lot like school down there!

Gabby is so cute!

First time trying spaghetti and meatballs. She loved it!

 

Eliana’s First Communion

A view of Eliana's hair. She didn't want to wear a veil, but decided on a "Crown of Braids." Braided into her hair is lace from my mother's wedding veil. (She also wore the lace wrapped around her wrist as a bracelet and around her waist like a belt.) She was so excited for this night!

 Eliana received her First Holy Communion earlier this week. Like many things, this sacrament was delayed due to Coronavirus. Luckily, she was able to celebrate this mass the day before school started. She has eagerly been anticipating this sacrament all year (for years really) and was so reverent when she received Communion for the first time. Her joy is infectious and a wonderful reminder of the sacredness of this sacrament. 

To celebrate, we had ice cream after mass. While we would have liked to have a big party, we couldn't. But we did have a "party" with her cousins via Zoom while eating cookies.

Gabby at 7 months

 

Vacation to Lake Huron

 At the begining of August, our family took a vacation to Lake Huron. We had a wonderful time! We rented a small cabin near East Tawas, MI that was on its own small lake and about 10 minutes away from Lake Huron. There wasn't much to the cabin but it had everything we needed for a low key, cozy vacation. The best part was having lake access to our own little lake with a dock. The kids could just run outside, jump in the water, and then get changed to dry cloths whenever they felt like it. We did some boating around the lake, built many fires, ate outside, and feasted on tons of s'mores. 

First stop was at this farm themed playground.

About halfway through our drive, we made a planned stop in Ann Arbor, MI at this playground. It was a chance to stretch our legs, eat lunch, and get Gabby out of her carseat. She did fairly well on the drive to the cabin. I was able to pump milk, and Eliana gave her bottles on the drive (thanks to that 8th "jump seat" in the Honda Odyssey - worth every penny!). The drive back didn't go quite as well - we made several more stops on the ride back to get Gabby out of her seat.  There was a lot more crying involved.

A view inside the cute, cozy cabin. The older kids slept in one room in bunk beds. David and I slept in the second bedroom with Gabby. She has been in her own room for a long time now, so when we went to bed, we typically woke her up and she would want to nurse. So there wasn't as much sleep going on as you might hope for on vacation. I guess unless you are on vacation with kids. Then lack of sleep is expected.

Lake life can be exhausting!

We roasted lots of s'mores. David took the kids out in a row boat. David also tested out the stand-up paddle board. The kids swam around our dock. We also spent some time watching the sun set and gazing at the stars.

This is the small beach at Lake Huron. Even in August, it was a little chilly here. Will and Laney quickly tired of the cold water and opted to play on the playground instead. David and Eliana got up one morning really early to watch the sun rise over Lake Huron.

 

 

We were very close to Huron-Manistee National Forest and Cosair Trails. This was a truly beautiful area with trees that was don't usually see around us in Ohio. Cosair Trails are actually designed for cross country skiing which we found out makes for excellent hiking trails for kids. The slopes were gentle with no steep climbs. We played a game in which we tried to find a tree exactly the same height as each of us.

We also did some hiking in an area called Lumberjacks Monument, dedicated to all the men who had worked there to provide lumber that was shipped around the country. It was wild to see pictures of the area 50 years ago with very very few trees. Now the trees are growing back, but I can imagine this place looked completely different when all the trees were hundreds of years old and thick and tall. We hiked down about 250 steps to the Au Sable River to see a replica of a floating kitchen that was used to feed the lumberjacks. The kids did surprisingly well with this and didn't complain about climbing those 250 steps back.

A view up high of the Au Sable River down below.

Checking out a dragon fly on the floating kitchen.

One of the best things we did was hike this sand dune a quarter of a mile down a trail from Lumberjack's Monument. The kids had never seen a sand dune like this before. As you can see in the picture, it was incredibly high and steep. It almost made me dizzy looking down to the Au Sable River below. I was a little worried about climbing back up the sand while wearing Gabby in my carrier, so I stayed near the top. The kids went all the way down to the water. Next time we will have to remember to wear swimsuits!

Making a "sand angel"

We had a great family vacation. It has been so fun finding these beautiful places not too far from us that are a little off of the beaten trail.