Eleven! Part 3

We got up early, got dressed and headed out for our trip to the Grand Canyon.  The Grand Canyon is about 1.5 hours north of Flagstaff and I knew we wanted to get there as early as we could.  We grabbed something to eat at Wildflower Bakery and ate in the car.  We arrived at the South entrance just before 9am, got in line and paid our entrance fee, $25 for the week.  That had gone up since the last time I'd been there 4 years ago.


We drove towards the Canyon to Yavapai Point, parked our car (went to the bathroom ;) ) and walked to the edge of the world. :)

A.'s first view of the Canyon

I could tell A. was inspired with her first glimpse of the majestic beauty of the Canyon.  The layers of rock with hues of reds, orange, greens, blues, has inspired many artists, including my own sweet girl.

We started walking down the trail along the rim towards the lodges, missing the observation point completely! LOL  What started out as a quick jaunt a little ways down the walk way turned into a several hour adventure.  I thought we were going to quickly look at this point then go back to the car and drive it down to the lodge area.  Instead, we kept on walking, leaving our water and food and money back at the car!  When we walked the 2.5 miles to the El Tovar Lodge, we jumped on the shuttle to take us back to the spot where our car was.  What I didn't realize at the time was just how many stops that shuttle takes (map was left in the car as well).  It was well over an hour and a rather circuitous route before we finally made it back to our car and water.  It would have been faster if we'd walked! LOL  However, the shuttle ride gave us a glimpse at some wildlife we wouldn't have seen otherwise as well as a lesson on human nature.  We saw all sorts of people on that bus and I'd have to say a good majority of the Americans certainly fit the sterotype of the "Ugly American" :(  Oh my goodness!  The complaining, the swearing, the general nastiness to each other and others around them.  It made me so sad to see.  Here they are at one of the Wonders of the World, surrounded in God's majesty, and all they can do is swear and yell at each other? :(

In spite of the nastiness and the very long bus ride back to our car LOL, we had a lot of fun and were so thankful to see our car and get some water! We drank our bottles and ate some peaches and plums we'd brought along then headed over to the observation deck that we'd missed previously. One wall of the observation station is all glass which gives you incredible views of the canyon.  You can see down to the river and the ranch from this vantage point.  Very cool. :)

When we had walked to the ranger station/gift shop by El Tovar Lodge earlier A. grabbed a Jr. Ranger badge book and started to fill it out.  We were  planning on going back to the station to listen to a program so she could fulfill all the requirements for the badge but by the time we actually made it back to our car and then back to the lodge, almost 2 hours had passed and the canyon was now packed with visitors!  There weren't any parking spaces left.  One thing we learned on our bus trip is that July is the busiest month for visitors to The Grand Canyon.  Who knew? LOL  As we drove further from the lodges looking for parking, the big black clouds that had been to our south much of the morning were now threatening overhead.  The first clap of thunder and we knew a downpour was imminent.  It was now close to 2 in the afternoon, we hadn't eaten lunch besides our pieces of fruit and we were in for a good old mountain downpour.  We decided we'd head over to the Market Plaza in the park and grab something to eat there.  As soon as we parked the drops came down.  Huge, drenching drops.  We made it to the cafe just as the thunder clapped again and the skies opened up.  It was pouring!  We sat in the cafe by the window watching the rain pour down eating our soggy sandwiches and talking about what we were going to do next.  We checked out the gift shop attached to the cafe, bought a t-shirt and baseball cap and decided to brave the storm and head on out of the park to another tourist stop in Williams, Bearizona!  

The storm was pretty bad, lots of rain and ground lightening.  I have since learned that there was flooding not too far from where we were (and where we ended up going the next day) and a 12 year old girl fell into the flood waters and drowned. :(  We were happy to be snug and dry in our car and by the time we made it over to Williams, the sky cleared so we were able to check out Bearizona. I'll share about that next. :)

Here are our pictures from the canyon along with A's painting (she drew it at the canyon and then painted it back at the hotel that night). (click on pictures to make them bigger)

Close to the beginning of the Bright Angel Trail

 We had just been on this ledge a few minutes before

 Hopi House one of the original buildings at the Canyon

El Tovar Lodge, 

another historic building at the Canyon built in 1905 

by the Santa Fe Railroad Co.

Cool old tree along the trail

 Hawk soaring over the canyon

 Elk we saw from the shuttle

 Donkey's all saddled up and ready to hit the trail

 View from the observation deck

 Phantom Ranch seen from the observation deck

W

Western Scrub Jay

A's. Canyon Painting

Eleven! Part 2

With the thunderstorms rolling in, we headed back down the mountain.  It was past 4 by then so we headed to our hotel and checked in. 

Little America in Flagstaff is a great place to stay.  The rooms are dated but spacious, comfy and clean.  The staff is pleasant and helpful and the grounds are nice.  They were doing some construction on the property while we were there.  It looks like they were doing some more landscape design.  The area outside our window wasn't under construction, thankfully.  Our view was quite a welcome sight to our desert dwelling eyes.

Our Room

View from our balcony

 

We unpacked, called home, then set out to walk around the grounds.  We went by the pool, which you can catch a glimpse of in the last picture, just beyond the fir trees.  It was a nice pool area, lots of decking a huge pool and hot tub.  We continued on our walk around the grounds looking for the walking trail.  We found the playground and horseshoe pit, sand volleyball court and just beyond those, the trail head to their walking trail.  

A month earlier there had been a couple of huge forest fires that were around Flagstaff.  We knew one was just south of the hotel but we weren't sure exactly where.  On our drive up to Flagstaff and the little bit of driving around the area, we hadn't seen any signs of recent fires, until we went on our walk. 

In my last post I mentioned one reason we picked Little America was because of this 3 mile trail.  We were saddened to see the remains of the trail.  For more info on the Hardy fire that threatened Little America and the surrounding neighborhoods, click here. 

The beginning of the trail

 One of many huge piles of burned trees

Trees were tagged w/ colored tape for removal

Where the trail begins to loop back around there is a field.  Across the field you can see all the trees in there are burned. :(

Even though the fire had been out for a few weeks, the smell of smoke was still strong in the air.  Instead of the refreshing pine smell, it smelled like a smoky fireplace.  Even with the majority of trees burned and slated for removal, we saw plenty of birds, mainly huge ravens, picking through the trees looking for something.  My nature lover spotted a couple of blue birds flitting around in the trees as well.  

Can you make out the blue blur in the tree? That's our bluebird. :)

 By the time we looped back around to the trail head, it was late and hadn't eaten yet.  We decided instead of going out to eat we'd eat at the hotel restaurant.  We ate over in the lounge area, right by the window and enjoyed the antics of the Abert Squirrels that were scampering around outside.

After a light dinner we headed back to our room where we painted our nails and talked about where we wanted to head the next morning.  Looking through all the information I brought, A. picked The Grand Canyon!  Knowing we had a big drive and hiking day ahead of us the next morning, we went to bed and we both slept really well waking up the next morning early and eager to head out to The Grand Canyon. :)

Eleven!

My sweet gal turned 11 last week.  When our kids turn 11 we take them on a special trip, just Mom or Dad and the newly turned 11 year old.  We ask them where they'd like to go and plan a trip around their interest.  My oldest loves the beach.  When she turned 11 I took her to Coronado Island. You can read about our special trip here, on my old blog. :)

A. loves the woods and hiking and nature.  She wanted to go someplace where we could hike and draw pictures of the nature around her.  We checked out various places and made the decision to go to Flagstaff and stay at Little America.  We picked Little America because it has a 3 mile hiking trail through Ponderosa Pines right on the grounds.  We thought it would be an easy way to be sure to have some forest to get to whenever we wanted to w/o driving anymore.

We left on her birthday after opening presents and getting hugs and sad goodbyes from everyone else.

Flagstaff is about 2.5 hours away from us so I planned to get there by lunch time, hoping to check into our hotel a little early and grab something to eat. 

We had a fun drive up, watching the temperature drop and the vegetation change as we steadily climbed higher in elevation.

                             Ahhh, 70's at last! :)






The hotel's check in was much later than I realized, 4pm, so arriving around noon was way too early to check in.  Instead we decided we'd go eat lunch and go up to Snowbowl to walk around a little and go up the SkyRide.   We had hamburgers at a place a friend recommended then headed up the mountain to Snowbowl.

A. waiting for her hamburger

A. is really affected by altitude so we weren't sure what was going to happen.  Would she be ok, would she feel sick, would she be ok until we started the ascent up the mountain on the skyride?  These were all concerns we had since the last time we were in Flagstaff she passed out due to the elevation!  There might be some reading this that are thinking, "Huh? High altitudes in AZ???"  Yes, Arizona has some very high mountains and we were heading up to the highest point in AZ!   From the top of the sky ride, Humphrey's Peak, the highest point in Arizona at ~12,600' would be just the next peak over to where we'd be going.  To put it all into perspective, when we left home, just a few hours earlier, we were around 1,200' in elevation.  When we got to Flagstaff, we had climbed to just under 7,000'.  A short drive to the base of the mountain and to Snowbowl and we were now at 9,500'.  The skyride takes you to the top and adds another 2,000', leaving us at 11,500'.  Since the last time we were there she had trouble on the trails around the base, we weren't real sure what was going to happen if we climbed any higher.  Having her pass out on an open ski lift wasn't my idea of a fun birthday outing. LOL

We parked and walked to the ski shop where you can buy the tickets.  She was feeling lightheaded and dizzy and her head was beginning to hurt.  Not good signs.  We decided that we'd drive back down a little bit to some trails and just do some slow, gentle walking through the woods.  No running, no sudden movements, just walk a little, rest, walk a little more, rest and drink lots of water.  She was good with that and since she wanted to draw, it was a perfect solution to her altitude issues.  Ironically, we ended up on the same trail that she passed out on the last time we had been there! It wasn't hard to recognize that groove of aspen trees.  This time though, we hadn't been up walking around at the base of the mountain and she wasn't running around on the trail, which turned out to be a much better experience! :)  

We walked a little ways into the forest of Ponderosa Pine and Quaking Aspen.  The smell of a Ponderosa Pine forest is heavenly. It's one of those things that you wish you could bottle up and take home with you so you could smell it whenever you wanted.  It's a mixture of vanilla and butterscotch and hits a memory chord with me of when I was younger and we'd go camping up in these same Ponderosa Forests. :)  We didn't get too far in when A. decided she was ready to start drawing.  We sat down, I opened my book and she opened her sketch pad.  We both just sat there soaking up the stillness and beauty of the area.

What A. was drawing

A's drawing

The ants and flies decided to start attacking us in this spot, so we decided it was time to move on.  We followed the trail back and took the other route through the Aspen trees this time.

Picture for posterity.  
This is where she passed out 6 years ago. Very glad to see she's standing and not face down in the dirt! ;)

What A. wanted to draw next

A's drawing of the Aspen

We stayed in the forest until the thunderstorm started to roll in.  It was so beautiful and peaceful.  Just a perfect place to be with a very special girl.

I'll end this post with these video's I took.  Hope you enjoy the peaceful beauty of Northern Arizona.

 Solitary bird in the pines

Wind rustling through the Aspen

Make sure to come back to see more of our trip!

TOS Review - Travel Kits

Travel Kits:

 A Simple Way to Bless Others

Travel Kits, sold by The Old Schoolhouse in an e-book format was written by Donna Rees.  You can purchase and download your copy for $12.45 at The Old Schoolhouse.

 What are travel kits?  The product description for Travel Kits is  “a collection of items that will entertain and/or delight the passengers (especially the younger passengers), thus making the trip more pleasant for everyone. “  What you get is a 14 chapter, 93 page treasure trove of ideas of how to make travel more pleasant for you and your family. 

There are ideas for all types of travel, be it by plane or car.  Ideas for fun gifts to keep little ones happy on the road as well as get them excited about their destination.  There are even suggestions, complete with pictures, for how to cleverly wrap the gifts and how to distribute them to keep the fun and excitement going throughout the entire trip. 

Donna has also included ideas for blessing friends, be it with a travel kit or possibly a  new baby kit, a birthday kit, a new house kit, etc.  You name it, whatever the event might be, you can come up with a clever way to celebrate with your friends and family.  Travel Kits is a very creative way to bless anyone of any age. 

The book includes ideas on different types of gifts to include as well as places to purchase the items  inexpensively. 

Along w/ the gift ideas you’ll also find links to some interesting websites that can help make your vacation successful, from planning to packing to exploring  tourism sites to best gas prices along route to fun destinations,  etc.  There are also tips for packing food for traveling long distances as well as tips from seasoned road travelers.  At the end of the book you‘ll even find book recommendations for all ages.

We haven't traveled yet this summer but we are planning a trip this fall to California.  Normally our car trips have been filled with various complaints and the never ending, “Are we there yet?” Thanks to Travel Kits I have been thinking ahead and have begun tucking inexpensive items away to share with my family on our journey.  Since I have a few months to plan, I’ve been able to think about each individual and what they might like for their special gift as well as think of fun family gifts that we can all share together.  Knowing our destination is Disneyland, as well as a relatives wedding, I’m also able to gear some of the gifts with those themes in mind, another tip from Donna’s book.  I know this will add to the excitement for everyone involved.  I have most of my gifts thought out, either purchased ones or little items from around the house (ie videos, books, etc.), my next step will be the packaging, which will be a fun challenge for me.  I’m horrible at wrapping but Donna has given me the inspiration to make my packaging as much fun as the fun inside.

If the kids have as much fun opening the gifts as I have had in planning them, I know it will be a fantastic car trip over and back!  You'll have to check back in a few months to see the fun my kids had on their car trip but for now, shhh, I'm keeping it a secret. :)

Check out these other E- books offered by The Old Schoolhouse.  They have books that will satisfy just about any topic you can think of!

To see what others think about Travel Kits, click here. :)

I received this product free for the purpose of reviewing it.  I received no other compensation for this review.  The opinions expressed in this review are my personal, honest opinions.  

What we're reading and other schoolish things

This summer has been a mish mosh of 3R's, swim team and just taking it easy.  We have so many different books going in our house at the moment, I can't keep them all straight!  What a problem to have, eh? :)

My oldest dd is finishing up Apologia General Science and is doing remarkably well considering we've never been overly structured w/ our science curriculum and I'm having her going through it double time to boot.  It will make Physical Science, taken at the pace intended, so much better.  Plus, she'll be doing it alongside a neighbor friend. Labs are always more fun when done with someone else.

My next three are finishing up Zoology 2.  We have one chapter left and we've been delayed for the last two weeks! ACK.  This is our second time through this book, the first time was several years ago when we were doing it w/ another homeschooling family.  We never finished the book then either! We will get this last chapter done this week!  The kids picked Zoo 2, out of all the other  Exploring Creation with series as they still love the ocean.  This by far was their favorite book by Jeanne Fulbright. Edited to add, we finished!  Yay.  What a fun romp through the ocean.  Love Jeanne's books.

They're still working on their respective levels in MUS, plugging along almost every day.  My 2nd dd has been on a swim team and has been pretty wiped out when she comes home from practice.  Math is not her strong area anyway, then add in the exhaustion of getting up early to swim and the actual physical exercise swimming takes, she's wiped out when she gets home.  So, her math has been neglected a little bit.  That's okay, the experience she's getting on the team is worth taking a little longer to get through her math book. Edited to add, she's finished with swimming and we're back to daily math. She's so thrilled! ;)

We've been doing art study this year using Picturing America.  Picturing America is a fabulous FREE resource funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.  The prints are beautiful reproductions and the teachers manual is an incredible, rich spiral bound book that gives the background on the artist, the time period, provides detailed questions for the students at varying grade levels and provides other ways to make connections to the print, whether it be through literary, history, art, industry, etc.  There is a list of optional topics you can use to take the study even further if your students have an interest (or if you're interested ;) ).  Truly fabulous resource that my kids have been loving.  They look forward to each new week as a new print appears on the wall. :)  That reminds me, I need to switch out the print tonight!

Throw in some copywork and handwriting practice and continued phonics lessons for my 7 year old, and that pretty much sums up our 3Rs.

 My post title should probably say, "what I'm reading" as this seems to be a list that is mainly things I've been reading.  A few of the books the kids are reading along or being read to, but for the most part, it's me doing the reading.   Good thing I like to read.

The Literature selections we've been reading have been a lot of fun.  Some have been really challenging while others have been a nice, easy read.  One reason we have so many different books going is we're involved in several bookclubs! I coordinate a couple of them, so I've been trying to make my life a little easier and have the books overlap.  It works sometimes, but not every month. :)

In June, for our Mother Daughter bookclub, we read Each Little Bird that Sings, by Deborah Wiles.  Each Little Bird that Sings is a roller coaster book of emotions.  You feel the main characters ups and downs as though you were there right with her.  It's a bittersweet story that doesn't give you a sugary sweet Disney ending.  It's about life and loss, sorrow and laughter.  I thought the book did an excellent job introducing difficult subject material that allows the reader to feel and sort through the emotions yet doesn't wallow too deep in the morose. A perfect book for 5 grade on up to explore some more difficult aspects of life, which includes death.

Our Mother Son bookclub for June read, Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater.  We had read this book several years ago and laughed out loud at the antics of Mr. Popper and his penguins.  This time around, we laughed just as loud and the story was as fun as the first time we read it.  Truly enjoyable book that everyone should experience.

My three oldest dd's and I are also in a neighborhood girls/moms bookclub.  In June we read The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald.  My girls had already read this book as part of their homeschool curriculum (which means, I read this book three different years! LOL) so we didn't reread for the bookclub this month.  The book is so well written and the characters are so vivid, my girls remembered the story as though they had just read it that week.  Excellent book with so much allegory, it's definitely a keeper and one to be shared through the generations.  George MacDonald was a wonderful story teller. I highly recommend checking out some of his books.  You won't be disappointed.

For July, we are reading The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry with our Mother Daughter group.  It's a sweet story, although my oldest thought it was "weird".  This book was a wild card when I threw it in our line up for our bookclub.  It will be interesting to see what the other girls and their moms thought of the book when we meet in a few weeks.  


Our boys/Moms group is reading The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright.  This is the first book in the Melendy series.  We read a few of these books in our Mother Daughter bookclub several years ago and the girls (and moms) liked it so much, I thought I'd give it a try with our boys group.  The Melendy series is a great, wholesome group of books about a family that lives life to the fullest, gets into adventures together and loves being together.  Great books for all ages.


Our neighborhood bookclub is also reading about the Melendy's, only we're reading all four books, The Saturdays, The Four Story Mistake, Spiderweb for Two and Then There Were Five, this summer, meeting in August (maybe it's September, I don't remember now!) to discuss the 4 stories.  I need to get busy rereading those books. :)


My oldest will be starting in a new bookclub in the fall w/ teen girls.  We're leading the first book meeting in September and we'll be discussing, The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A tale of chivalry and daring exploits of two knights.  I've only begun reading the book.  So far, it's good. :)


I'm also reading through several other books my oldest will be reading next year for school.  I've read The Tripods by John Christopher.  This is a science fiction trilogy set in the future when the earth has been invaded by Tripods. Just what the Tripods are and what they are doing here on Earth, is discovered through the three books.  Not being a huge reader of science fiction, I actually enjoyed these short, quick reads. I've also read the first two books in C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy.  I don't know how I've missed reading these books for this long.  I loved his Narnia series and a few other adult books of his that I've read, I don't know why I put off reading his Space Trilogy for so long.  These books will be one of the months selections for my oldest daughters bookclub starting in September. I'm trying to read the books before she does so I know what she's reading. In this case, I'm glad I did. :)


I've also read some living science books that I'd like my oldest to read that correspond to the subjects and people discussed in  her General Science book.  I found a list at Simply Charlotte Mason of book suggestions to go along with Apologia's science books.  Even though, in my opinion, Apologia text books aren't really text booky (my word :) ), it is nice to have some background, living books to go along with the science.  You can check out their recommendations for living science books here.  So far I've read, A Piece of the Mountain: The Story of Blaise Pascal, by  Joyce McPherson. A Piece of the Mountain follows Pascals life from a young child through his death.  The author details his upbringing, schooling, his faith and his life work.  I found it to be a really interesting story and enjoyed learning more about the man behind the name.  The Fossil Book , by Gary Parker. I haven't read in it's entirety but I have enjoyed the pictures! LOL The pictures are beautiful, very detailed and clear.  This book is from an unapologetic creationist view point.  If that's not your cup of tea, you probably won't enjoy reading the book but you will enjoy the beautiful photography.  I just started, Galen, and the Gateway to Medicine, by Jeanne Bendick.  This is another living history book that follows Galen from his early years in Roman occupied Greece through his informative boyhood years, where he did Geometry for fun, into his adulthood.  Along Came Galileo, also by Jeanne Bendick, is a book that my daughter read last year for school.  I started reading it last year but didn't finish.  I'll have to pick it back up when I'm done w/ Galen and finish before my next daughter starts reading it in the fall.  

My degree is in Biology.  I learned about these men only through their great accomplishments.  I never knew anything beyond the science they were known for.  I have found it really fascinating to learn more about their backgrounds and their lives.  It makes the science seem more real and accessible somehow.  Definitely books to check out if you want a little more info on the men who we still follow in our science and math books from centuries ago.


On a different vein, I've also been reading, For the Children's Sake, by Susan Schaeffer Macauley.  I've had this book on my shelf for years but never cracked the spine. Big mistake!  It took my thinking through our school year for next year and possibly changing our educational "philosophy" to open up this book.  I've been highlighting ever since.  It is quite a gem and really explains the Charlotte Mason philosophy really well.  Even if Charlotte Mason isn't your thing, I think you'll enjoy reading about  Susan Schaeffer Macauley's families journey as they found the key to unlocking their children's potential and their natural thirst for learning.  Definitely principles from this book could be applied to anyone's educational philosophy plan.


I've also been reading through, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God, by Francis Chan  I haven't gotten too far, since I've been reading all these other books and I do have to sleep a few hours a night ;), but I hope to pick it up again soon.  It's been recommended to me by so many different people, I thought I'd give it a try. 

A fun book I read that was recommended by a friend was Notes from the Underwire, by Quinn Cummings.  Oh my, what a good writer!  She makes carpool lanes, hairballs and running into plate glass windows hilarious.  If you are offended by some mild crude humor or an occasional swear word, you'll want to skip this book but if you're not, this is a definite fun, light book that will have you laughing out loud! Perfect for summer reading.


Lastly, I finally read a book that I'd been hearing great things about from many sources,  The Help, by Kathryn Stockett.  A fabulous first novel for this author that is riveting, sad and humorous.  It's a page turner for sure.  Once I started the book, I couldn't put it down.  Much to my childrens delight, they had a day of doing pretty much whatever they wanted as I holed up in my room reading page after page.  You are really drawn into the characters lives and want to find out what happens to them.  Another great summer book.  Just make sure to clear your calendar before you start. :)


That sums up what I've been reading so far this summer!  Summer is only half way over, so I still have plenty of leisure reading time left.  The bulk of my upcoming reading will be to continue prereading my oldest daughters books for next year.  I finished ordering most of the ones she'll need for her first term and they are beginning to roll up to our house daily. :)  She has some great books on tap for next year and I'm looking forward to digging into them before our next school year starts.


What all have you been reading this summer?  Any must reads I should know about?

TOS CREW

A very late notice letting you all know that I will be reviewing for TOS Crew this year!  I'm excited about the year ahead, testing out products on my little guinea pigs, I mean my darling children, and sharing our experiences with all of you!   The crew this year has been broken into two groups, an Older Crew for reviews of products for 7th - 12th graders and a Younger Crew for products for Preschool - 6th grade.  I'm on the younger crew and have lots of kiddos to help me out in that age range!  There are 250 crew mates this year, make sure to check out their reviews as well.


We'll be having a test review coming up mid July, so be looking for a review soon!  The one I chose to review is a Travel Kit that looks like a lot of fun for family use and for blessing friends.


Happy Sailing!

Let the Sun Shine!

 

Don't you love sunbeams streaming in through your window?

 There's something about a sunbeam that just beckons you to, "Come, curl up and stay awhile."