For those who aren't aware, for as long as I can remember I've wanted to travel the world. I recall a specific conversation with my brother when I was 12 (my brother was 17 and going off to college soon) that went something like this:
B-"So Andrea, where do you think you want to go to college?"
Me-"I'm only 12! I'm too young to think about that."
B-"Actually 12 is the age you should start thinking about it, I wish I had started planning before I got to high school, it would have made it so much easier."
Me-"Well, I don't know, I don't think I want to go straight to college after high school. I don't really like school that much and I'd like some time off so I don't burnout, you see that all the time, you know."
B-"That's silly, what will you do instead, work at McDonald's?"
Me-"No, I'll travel around the world, go see all the places I've never been."
B-"And with what money? Mom's not rich you know. Only rich kids get to do stuff like that."
Me-"Well I won't need much money, I'll just buy an RV and travel around the U.S. and then take it to Europe and travel there and Asia, then to Australia, then fly to Hawaii and see it, then maybe I'll go to college."
B-"You can't take an RV to Europe, you have to fly and it's too expensive to ship cars."
Me-"Well then, I'll sell my RV before I leave the U.S. and buy a new one in Europe. I probably won't need one for Australia, I'll just go to Sydney and look around by car."
B-"You still haven't told me where you're going to get the thousands of dollars it'll take to do all that."
Me-"I'll work while I travel, each place I go, I'll stay for a little while, long enough to really explore the area and then move on."
B-"Hmph, that's not practical, you're just dreaming."
And so I was. And I kept dreaming this dream for a long time, when I got married, I included my husband and then the kids. And for a long time I didn't think it was practical or possible. Then I started hearing about people doing it and I met a family who were just settling down in Austin, TX after having traveled for 5 years. They called themselves the Barenaked Family.
Not only did this family inspire me to live my dream, but they inspired me to cherish my children. Not to say I didn't cherish my children before, but it was an entirely different experience to look at my children and not see them as an inconvenience or people who needed to be controlled, but as individuals with their own dreams, hopes, desires, and fears.
From there, the rest was downhill. I started seeking out information and methods for self-improvement that would be in line with my values. I participated in some courses from Landmark Education that enabled me to truly let go of the past and live in the present.
Through that, I find myself with RV in hand; definite, solid plans for income to make the RV livable and then a rough idea of how to make a go of it. While you may think that "rough idea" means we're not ready, quite the opposite...I like rough ideas. I am ever-changing and adaptable. Fortunately my husband and children trust me enough to know that whatever happens, whatever I choose, their needs and wishes will be respected.
We plan to hit the road in the new year, January, to be precise.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
And so life goes on...
So as is obvious, we've just been so busy with living life, we haven't had time to blog.
Since the last blog in August, Aurora and Karma have turned 16 and 15 respectively. Aurora ended up staying with her boyfriend's family in PA for nearly 2 months (just 5 days shy of) and she had a great time but also discovered she doesn't like being away from her family for so long.
Shane has decided the military is best for him, but not the American one. On December 15, he's flying to France to join the French Foreign Legion. He's been staying with his grandma near Amarillo since September, so the rest of us will be driving up there to visit with him and drive him to Dallas for his flight. Keep him in your thoughts for a successful journey!
Oh yes, we scaled down into our smaller place, which promptly flooded and there was mold growing everywhere and the conditions were generally unsafe, so we moved in with Andrea's mom for the time being. Rather than getting another place, we're working to just get an RV and hit the road together.
Aurora and Karma put in a lot of applications at various establishments in the local mall, only Karma has so far gotten a job, though. She works for a cheese steak place and she loves her job.
Andrea is wrapping up her final semester at the local college and will start at University (online) in January. She has decided that pursuing a Bachelor's degree will increase her chances of finding work for pay after we head to Europe, so that's what she's doing. Also, she just loves to learn. :)
Caed is working on teaching himself programming and plans to buy himself a C++ programming book after Christmas. For those who aren't aware, instead of buying each other potentially useless presents for Christmas, we distribute family money to each individual who is then able to spend it in whichever manner pleases them the most. This keeps our consumerism down and helps to ensure that we're not acquiring unnecessary goods.
That's about it folks, we'll keep you posted!!
Since the last blog in August, Aurora and Karma have turned 16 and 15 respectively. Aurora ended up staying with her boyfriend's family in PA for nearly 2 months (just 5 days shy of) and she had a great time but also discovered she doesn't like being away from her family for so long.
Shane has decided the military is best for him, but not the American one. On December 15, he's flying to France to join the French Foreign Legion. He's been staying with his grandma near Amarillo since September, so the rest of us will be driving up there to visit with him and drive him to Dallas for his flight. Keep him in your thoughts for a successful journey!
Oh yes, we scaled down into our smaller place, which promptly flooded and there was mold growing everywhere and the conditions were generally unsafe, so we moved in with Andrea's mom for the time being. Rather than getting another place, we're working to just get an RV and hit the road together.
Aurora and Karma put in a lot of applications at various establishments in the local mall, only Karma has so far gotten a job, though. She works for a cheese steak place and she loves her job.
Andrea is wrapping up her final semester at the local college and will start at University (online) in January. She has decided that pursuing a Bachelor's degree will increase her chances of finding work for pay after we head to Europe, so that's what she's doing. Also, she just loves to learn. :)
Caed is working on teaching himself programming and plans to buy himself a C++ programming book after Christmas. For those who aren't aware, instead of buying each other potentially useless presents for Christmas, we distribute family money to each individual who is then able to spend it in whichever manner pleases them the most. This keeps our consumerism down and helps to ensure that we're not acquiring unnecessary goods.
That's about it folks, we'll keep you posted!!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
You know you're having fun when...
So we finally finished the post today regarding our vacation. If you notice that the posts got less descriptive, that's because we've been back for a month now, we originally started typing the day we got home. So for those of you near the end of the vacation, no we didn't have less fun with you, it's just been longer. We're not even sure we got some events on the correct days, but oh well, you've got the picture.
So you know we're having fun when we don't finish a post for over a month. We've just been living our lives as it works for us.
Andrea's been continuing college, got C's for the two classes she took while on vacation and A's for the two classes she finished last week. Sam's been keeping up the house in Andrea's extreme absence and distraction. Shane has found a good job, met a nice girl and is moving out tomorrow. Aurora has a "boyfriend" though they're not declared yet, but she is going up to Pennsylvania to see him next month. Karma continues her work, both at her art and in her housecleaning business. Caed is 13 today and is growing like a weed. He sits between Andrea and Aurora in height at the moment, we anticipate that he may someday be the tallest person in the house.
We'll be scaling down to a smaller house soon in preparation for even smaller living quarters. We're having a huge yard sale over Labor Day weekend, so if you live near Converse, Texas, come buy some of our stuff!!
So you know we're having fun when we don't finish a post for over a month. We've just been living our lives as it works for us.
Andrea's been continuing college, got C's for the two classes she took while on vacation and A's for the two classes she finished last week. Sam's been keeping up the house in Andrea's extreme absence and distraction. Shane has found a good job, met a nice girl and is moving out tomorrow. Aurora has a "boyfriend" though they're not declared yet, but she is going up to Pennsylvania to see him next month. Karma continues her work, both at her art and in her housecleaning business. Caed is 13 today and is growing like a weed. He sits between Andrea and Aurora in height at the moment, we anticipate that he may someday be the tallest person in the house.
We'll be scaling down to a smaller house soon in preparation for even smaller living quarters. We're having a huge yard sale over Labor Day weekend, so if you live near Converse, Texas, come buy some of our stuff!!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Back from Vacation!
To the best of our mutual recollections, we will give you a highlights rundown:
Day 1 Wednesday June 17th
As we were packing to leave, we got the call that informed us our beloved kitty of 8 years, Cyrano had passed away. Our departure was delayed by picking him up from where he was being cat sat and taking him to the vet for cremation.
We departed close to noon and arrived to Sam's mom's house around 10pm. We had some dinner, some conversation and went to sleep.
Day 2 Thursday
We slept in until about 10am and then spent most of the day visiting with Grandma. We departed Amarillo at about 6pm and drove to New Mexico. We found a state park in New Mexico and everyone went to swim in the lake.
Day 3 Friday June 19th
We spent most of Friday driving from New Mexico to Arizona. We stopped in Winslow, AZ at a Wal-Mart and went down to the corner to stand and see if we could see any girls in flat-bed Fords slowing down to take a look at us, ala the Eagles.
We arrived to a campground in Flagstaff after dark where we parked for the night to sleep.
Day 4 Saturday June 20th
After waking up in Flagstaff, we drove up to the Grand Canyon as Andrea was the only one who had ever been before. We spent most of the day at the Grand Canyon. In the evening, we drove down to Route 66 and went to a restaurant in Williams, AZ called the Pine Country Restaurant...it was tasty!!
From there, we drove up through the Hoover Dam, arriving well after nightfall. Despite the darkness, we recognized several scenes from the first Transformer movie. We arrived to the Valley of Fire State Park in NV just after 1 am.
Day 5 Sunday June 21st
The sun in the Valley of Fire woke us up at about 6 am. We tried fruitlessly to sleep until 7am when it was so boiling hot in the tent and the van that we just had to escape.
Since it was Father's Day, we decided to surprise Dad by taking him down to Vegas to gamble. Dropped the kids off at the mall with money and then had lunch. Dad revealed he didn't like gambling. Eh. We roamed around the MGM hotel instead.
Day 6 Monday June 22nd
Sun woke us up early again. Kids roamed around the rocks for a few hours and then we went down to Vegas to explore the strip some more. We rode the inclinators in the Pyramid hotel (snuck in!), and wandered about the town until we were exhausted.
Day 7 Tuesday June 23rd
We managed to sleep in until 6:30 am. Today, the kids goofed off for hours, Shane and Aurora made a bid to climb the highest peak in our campground. They didn't quite make it. Eventually, we checked out of the campgrounds and wandered down to Vegas to get the oil changed on the van. We were waiting until after dark to drive through Death Valley. Finally, we went down to Circus Circus so the kids could check out the casino with the amusement park. The girls rode a coaster, we were amused. :)
Day 8 Wednesday June 24th
We arrived at Malibu State Park in L.A. around 6 am. We slept in the van outside the gate until they opened at 8am. When the rangers got in, we checked in and found our campsite. We got set up and ran to the nearest little town to do laundry. When we got home, we found some "hippies" setting up camp next to us. We went over, introduced ourselves and went back to our own camp around 3 am, after the rangers broke up the party. :D
Day 9 Thursday June 25th
We went down to explore Wilshire Blvd, etc. We ended up getting pretty lost and drove Mulholland Freeway. We sang alot of Tom Petty.
Day 10 Friday June 26th
Caed went to his first day of the Forum and the rest of us hung around camp and then went to a Barnes & Noble so Andrea could take a test for her online classes. We picked up Caed and went for a dip in the ocean.
Day 11 Saturday June 27th
On our last night in Malibu, we spent the evening at camp, met some ladies from Venezuela and Karma gave them a tarot reading.
Day 12 Sunday June 28th
Caed finished up his Forum and then we headed up to Sacramento to see the kids' mother, Faith. Due to horrendous L.A. traffic, we didn't get up there until 1am.
Day 13 Monday June 29th
Spent the day hanging out with Faith and her boyfriend, Doug. Went to therapy with Faith, discussed the adoption, got everything settled.
Day 14 Tuesday June 30th
Just hung out with Faith and Doug at their place.
Day 15 Wednesday July 1st
Began a caravan with Doug and Faith and Doug's daughter, Kira to Oregon. We stopped alot and had 9 people to feed, so as a consequence, we didn't arrive to Faith's Dad's place until about 1 am.
Day 16 Thursday July 2nd
Got up and explored Gary's land on Larch Mountain, beautiful area! Shane, Karma, and Caed stayed on the mountain to hang out with family; Sam, Andrea, and Aurora went down to Tualatin to visit with Andrea's cousin, Gabby.
Day 17 Friday July 3rd
Sam, Andrea, and Aurora spent through lunch with Gabby and her family, then headed back up the mountain for the weekend. Went up and spent some time talking with Faith's family, good time camping.
Day 18 Saturday July 4th
Continued camping, Aurora went for an ATV ride with Shane, went to fast and was thrown off, only to get run over by the ATV. Trip to the ER! Fortunately, she was not broken, just deeply bruised, days of crutches ordered by doctor.
Went out to fireworks after ER (Aurora was piggybacking with Andrea for the most part), fireworks show was rather lame, all resolved to not attend again. On the walk back to the car, Andrea found a $20 in the road. :)
Day 19 Sunday July 5th
Doug and Faith needed to head home, so they bid goodbye early in the morning. We remained with her Dad, Gary, visiting. Andrea's Dad and step-mom came over and spent some time with the family. Good times.
Day 20 Monday July 6th
Headed down to Portland to stay with Faith's sister, Heidi and her family. Hung out in the basement and upstairs, visited lots.
Day 21 Tuesday July 7th
Went back to Tualatin to visit with Gabby again and see another of Andrea's cousins, Rachel and her two girls. Played at the park with them for a few hours before heading out to dinner at a Mongolian Grill. It was our first time at one, what an interesting experience! Decent food, too.
Day 22 Wednesday July 8th
Spent the entire day with Heidi and family. Stayed up wayy too late for driving home.
Day 23 Thursday July 9th
Woke up fairly early and hit the road for the long haul home. Decided to drive straight through with passengers napping for a turn at driving.
Day 24 Friday July 10th
The days were really all bleeding together for the last week or so, we just built up sleep deprivation over the course of the vacation. We drove home through eastern Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas. We saw a really awesome thunder/lightning storm in Colorado after we passed Denver, it was like surround sound only with an entire storm, it had a huge eye!
Day 25 Saturday July 11th
Arrived to Sam's mom's house at about 6 am and decided to crash for awhile. Adults slept until about 1pm. Spent some time visiting while showering and then hit the road for the final leg home.
Day 26 Sunday July 12th
Arrived home about 3am. We were relieved to be home to sleep in our own beds! We remembered we didn't have a Cyrano to greet us at the door or sleep in bed with us. We still miss him.
Can't wait til we have an RV and can sleep comfortably while visiting! The Nevada sun will probably still wake us up wayy too early, but we bet we could sleep past 7am in an RV. :)
Day 1 Wednesday June 17th
As we were packing to leave, we got the call that informed us our beloved kitty of 8 years, Cyrano had passed away. Our departure was delayed by picking him up from where he was being cat sat and taking him to the vet for cremation.
We departed close to noon and arrived to Sam's mom's house around 10pm. We had some dinner, some conversation and went to sleep.
Day 2 Thursday
We slept in until about 10am and then spent most of the day visiting with Grandma. We departed Amarillo at about 6pm and drove to New Mexico. We found a state park in New Mexico and everyone went to swim in the lake.
Day 3 Friday June 19th
We spent most of Friday driving from New Mexico to Arizona. We stopped in Winslow, AZ at a Wal-Mart and went down to the corner to stand and see if we could see any girls in flat-bed Fords slowing down to take a look at us, ala the Eagles.
We arrived to a campground in Flagstaff after dark where we parked for the night to sleep.
Day 4 Saturday June 20th
After waking up in Flagstaff, we drove up to the Grand Canyon as Andrea was the only one who had ever been before. We spent most of the day at the Grand Canyon. In the evening, we drove down to Route 66 and went to a restaurant in Williams, AZ called the Pine Country Restaurant...it was tasty!!
From there, we drove up through the Hoover Dam, arriving well after nightfall. Despite the darkness, we recognized several scenes from the first Transformer movie. We arrived to the Valley of Fire State Park in NV just after 1 am.
Day 5 Sunday June 21st
The sun in the Valley of Fire woke us up at about 6 am. We tried fruitlessly to sleep until 7am when it was so boiling hot in the tent and the van that we just had to escape.
Since it was Father's Day, we decided to surprise Dad by taking him down to Vegas to gamble. Dropped the kids off at the mall with money and then had lunch. Dad revealed he didn't like gambling. Eh. We roamed around the MGM hotel instead.
Day 6 Monday June 22nd
Sun woke us up early again. Kids roamed around the rocks for a few hours and then we went down to Vegas to explore the strip some more. We rode the inclinators in the Pyramid hotel (snuck in!), and wandered about the town until we were exhausted.
Day 7 Tuesday June 23rd
We managed to sleep in until 6:30 am. Today, the kids goofed off for hours, Shane and Aurora made a bid to climb the highest peak in our campground. They didn't quite make it. Eventually, we checked out of the campgrounds and wandered down to Vegas to get the oil changed on the van. We were waiting until after dark to drive through Death Valley. Finally, we went down to Circus Circus so the kids could check out the casino with the amusement park. The girls rode a coaster, we were amused. :)
Day 8 Wednesday June 24th
We arrived at Malibu State Park in L.A. around 6 am. We slept in the van outside the gate until they opened at 8am. When the rangers got in, we checked in and found our campsite. We got set up and ran to the nearest little town to do laundry. When we got home, we found some "hippies" setting up camp next to us. We went over, introduced ourselves and went back to our own camp around 3 am, after the rangers broke up the party. :D
Day 9 Thursday June 25th
We went down to explore Wilshire Blvd, etc. We ended up getting pretty lost and drove Mulholland Freeway. We sang alot of Tom Petty.
Day 10 Friday June 26th
Caed went to his first day of the Forum and the rest of us hung around camp and then went to a Barnes & Noble so Andrea could take a test for her online classes. We picked up Caed and went for a dip in the ocean.
Day 11 Saturday June 27th
On our last night in Malibu, we spent the evening at camp, met some ladies from Venezuela and Karma gave them a tarot reading.
Day 12 Sunday June 28th
Caed finished up his Forum and then we headed up to Sacramento to see the kids' mother, Faith. Due to horrendous L.A. traffic, we didn't get up there until 1am.
Day 13 Monday June 29th
Spent the day hanging out with Faith and her boyfriend, Doug. Went to therapy with Faith, discussed the adoption, got everything settled.
Day 14 Tuesday June 30th
Just hung out with Faith and Doug at their place.
Day 15 Wednesday July 1st
Began a caravan with Doug and Faith and Doug's daughter, Kira to Oregon. We stopped alot and had 9 people to feed, so as a consequence, we didn't arrive to Faith's Dad's place until about 1 am.
Day 16 Thursday July 2nd
Got up and explored Gary's land on Larch Mountain, beautiful area! Shane, Karma, and Caed stayed on the mountain to hang out with family; Sam, Andrea, and Aurora went down to Tualatin to visit with Andrea's cousin, Gabby.
Day 17 Friday July 3rd
Sam, Andrea, and Aurora spent through lunch with Gabby and her family, then headed back up the mountain for the weekend. Went up and spent some time talking with Faith's family, good time camping.
Day 18 Saturday July 4th
Continued camping, Aurora went for an ATV ride with Shane, went to fast and was thrown off, only to get run over by the ATV. Trip to the ER! Fortunately, she was not broken, just deeply bruised, days of crutches ordered by doctor.
Went out to fireworks after ER (Aurora was piggybacking with Andrea for the most part), fireworks show was rather lame, all resolved to not attend again. On the walk back to the car, Andrea found a $20 in the road. :)
Day 19 Sunday July 5th
Doug and Faith needed to head home, so they bid goodbye early in the morning. We remained with her Dad, Gary, visiting. Andrea's Dad and step-mom came over and spent some time with the family. Good times.
Day 20 Monday July 6th
Headed down to Portland to stay with Faith's sister, Heidi and her family. Hung out in the basement and upstairs, visited lots.
Day 21 Tuesday July 7th
Went back to Tualatin to visit with Gabby again and see another of Andrea's cousins, Rachel and her two girls. Played at the park with them for a few hours before heading out to dinner at a Mongolian Grill. It was our first time at one, what an interesting experience! Decent food, too.
Day 22 Wednesday July 8th
Spent the entire day with Heidi and family. Stayed up wayy too late for driving home.
Day 23 Thursday July 9th
Woke up fairly early and hit the road for the long haul home. Decided to drive straight through with passengers napping for a turn at driving.
Day 24 Friday July 10th
The days were really all bleeding together for the last week or so, we just built up sleep deprivation over the course of the vacation. We drove home through eastern Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas. We saw a really awesome thunder/lightning storm in Colorado after we passed Denver, it was like surround sound only with an entire storm, it had a huge eye!
Day 25 Saturday July 11th
Arrived to Sam's mom's house at about 6 am and decided to crash for awhile. Adults slept until about 1pm. Spent some time visiting while showering and then hit the road for the final leg home.
Day 26 Sunday July 12th
Arrived home about 3am. We were relieved to be home to sleep in our own beds! We remembered we didn't have a Cyrano to greet us at the door or sleep in bed with us. We still miss him.
Can't wait til we have an RV and can sleep comfortably while visiting! The Nevada sun will probably still wake us up wayy too early, but we bet we could sleep past 7am in an RV. :)
Sunday, June 7, 2009
So long, so long...
It happens. Life happens and the blog doesn't get updated despite many promises that it will. Well, here we are, updating you on our life.
Since our last posting in January, we have mostly lived our lives as stated then. Andrea continues her part-time job with the young boy and his older, disabled brother. She also continues to attend school, she received an A in Macroeconomics and a B in English Comp II. She will be taking the first of two required Government and History courses (each requires two) over the first summer semester. Classes start tomorrow, but she's already completing class orientations and reading textbooks.
Shane's position with the tax company ended on tax day and he has since attempted to be hired by the grocery store, to no avail. He is now pursuing a career in the U.S. Armed Forces. His biggest hurdle at the moment is acquiring the necessary skills for the ASVAB, because he is homeschooling, he needs a higher score than most individuals and he continues to dance out of range on the practice. No worries there, Andrea bought him a practice book and they are working through it to increase his score.
Aurora was briefly employed as a child care giver, but the parents were military and were transferred. She now scrapes a small living in the employ of her parents, taking care of the new dog we got. :)
Karma continues her house cleaning jobs, though she earns less than she was (less work, which works for her) and maintains her relationship with her boyfriend in N.C.
Caed continues to be Caed, he has assumed all of his older brother's household responsibilities and with that he receives his older brother's allowance. It's not much money, but for him it's more than adequate, so he remains satisfied financially.
As a family, we have finally begun the legal process for Andrea to adopt the younger three children (legally, Shane is a separate entity). The ball is in their mother's court right now as she has the paperwork to sign to agree to the adoption.
We're planning another family vacation, leaving around the 17th of June and returning no later than the 12th of July. We'll be visiting the western half of the U.S. this time with planned stops at the Grand Canyon, Vegas, L.A, Sacramento, and with family in Oregon.
We'll work to keep you updated this trip, but with Andrea doing most of the updating and also going to school full-time while on vacation...we'll see what gets done.
Since our last posting in January, we have mostly lived our lives as stated then. Andrea continues her part-time job with the young boy and his older, disabled brother. She also continues to attend school, she received an A in Macroeconomics and a B in English Comp II. She will be taking the first of two required Government and History courses (each requires two) over the first summer semester. Classes start tomorrow, but she's already completing class orientations and reading textbooks.
Shane's position with the tax company ended on tax day and he has since attempted to be hired by the grocery store, to no avail. He is now pursuing a career in the U.S. Armed Forces. His biggest hurdle at the moment is acquiring the necessary skills for the ASVAB, because he is homeschooling, he needs a higher score than most individuals and he continues to dance out of range on the practice. No worries there, Andrea bought him a practice book and they are working through it to increase his score.
Aurora was briefly employed as a child care giver, but the parents were military and were transferred. She now scrapes a small living in the employ of her parents, taking care of the new dog we got. :)
Karma continues her house cleaning jobs, though she earns less than she was (less work, which works for her) and maintains her relationship with her boyfriend in N.C.
Caed continues to be Caed, he has assumed all of his older brother's household responsibilities and with that he receives his older brother's allowance. It's not much money, but for him it's more than adequate, so he remains satisfied financially.
As a family, we have finally begun the legal process for Andrea to adopt the younger three children (legally, Shane is a separate entity). The ball is in their mother's court right now as she has the paperwork to sign to agree to the adoption.
We're planning another family vacation, leaving around the 17th of June and returning no later than the 12th of July. We'll be visiting the western half of the U.S. this time with planned stops at the Grand Canyon, Vegas, L.A, Sacramento, and with family in Oregon.
We'll work to keep you updated this trip, but with Andrea doing most of the updating and also going to school full-time while on vacation...we'll see what gets done.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Education for all...
We are now an entirely unschooling family once again. Aurora and Caed, of their own desire, will be working on curriculums to give themselves mode to progress. We do see this as quite helpful for Aurora as she is very specific about going to college and doing so soon, but has seemed unable to progress herself in math and english to a point that will be considered acceptable by a community college.
Andrea is returning to college life, she is registered into two classes for the Spring Flex (short) semester. She will be taking English 1302 (2nd required English) and Principles of Macroeconomics. She is especially excited about the economics class as the class covers the current U.S. economy and discussing this in college sounds like mucho fun to her!
Sam also plans to begin school again, but he is having a paperwork hang-up that may take months to resolve. :(
Shane continues his job working for the tax company and Karma has begun work housecleaning, generally making $100 per week, which suits her spending needs more than adequately. Andrea has begun part-time work tutoring one child and helping with general care for his older, mentally handicapped brother. All in all, everyone is satisfied with the ways in which they are earning money and the amount of money which they are earning.
That's about it for updates!
Andrea is returning to college life, she is registered into two classes for the Spring Flex (short) semester. She will be taking English 1302 (2nd required English) and Principles of Macroeconomics. She is especially excited about the economics class as the class covers the current U.S. economy and discussing this in college sounds like mucho fun to her!
Sam also plans to begin school again, but he is having a paperwork hang-up that may take months to resolve. :(
Shane continues his job working for the tax company and Karma has begun work housecleaning, generally making $100 per week, which suits her spending needs more than adequately. Andrea has begun part-time work tutoring one child and helping with general care for his older, mentally handicapped brother. All in all, everyone is satisfied with the ways in which they are earning money and the amount of money which they are earning.
That's about it for updates!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Jobbin'
Hey all, just checking in to give you an update. Shane got hired to his first job, waving a sign for a popular tax company while wearing their themed costume. It pays better than minimum wage, which he's happy about. He was also called back by the grocery store he applied at, but he told them he has limited availability as it would now be his second job (he applied to the grocery store before Christmas). His present job is temporary for the tax season and he hopes to find more good work after.
Aurora has chosen not to attend school anymore. She spent most of her day sitting around wondering what to do as the students were given assignments in the first half hour of class, then given the remaining hour to complete them. She feels she will get much more accomplished with a home curriculum.
Both girls have created flyers for their home-based businesses and have or will post them around our neighborhood. Karma's have been posted for about a week and while she hasn't gotten any calls yet, she noticed that several of the little pull tabs have been taken.
Caed remains in public school as it continues to work for him.
This concludes our update. :)
Aurora has chosen not to attend school anymore. She spent most of her day sitting around wondering what to do as the students were given assignments in the first half hour of class, then given the remaining hour to complete them. She feels she will get much more accomplished with a home curriculum.
Both girls have created flyers for their home-based businesses and have or will post them around our neighborhood. Karma's have been posted for about a week and while she hasn't gotten any calls yet, she noticed that several of the little pull tabs have been taken.
Caed remains in public school as it continues to work for him.
This concludes our update. :)
Monday, January 5, 2009
Christmas Letter
Dear Family and Friends,
As you well know, Christmas cards are late again this year. We've decided to just post our Christmas letter to our blog since we've been unable to get a family picture as we've done in years past, our eldest hates the camera. We'll add some pictures taken this year to the blog. The year has gone by so fast we scarcely realized Christmas was approaching. We finished our shopping on the 22nd of December. Many exciting things have happened this year, sit down for an interesting read.
We began the year well, living our lives with business as usual. In late February, we received a surprise, Sam’s mom called us and asked if we would like to have Sam’s oldest son, Shane, come live with us. We of course gave a resounding, “Yes,” and Shane arrived the first week of March. The same week Shane arrived, Sam, Aurora, and Karma were working as extras on a feature film entitled, “Will” due out 2009. Shortly after Shane’s arrival, he found work as an extra on the same film and met his new best friend, Austin, who lives in Austin, Texas.
Spring was both bumpy and busy for us as we went through a dichotomy shift with a new member in our household. We also continued our participation in home school socials on a weekly basis and attended monthly field trips that included a hike in a nature preserve.
Summer came quicker than we expected and we found two members of our household participating in the Landmark Forum. This was an exciting adventure for both Sam and Andrea and we highly recommend the experience to all of our family and friends.
August found us celebrating three birthdays in our household, starting with Shane, who went to a movie with friends, then enjoyed dinner at Red Lobster afterward. Caedmon celebrated his birthday at Austin’s Park and Pizza, an establishment that offers go carts, laser tag, an arcade and many other fun activities. Andrea enjoyed a reasonably quiet birthday, planning her own birthday party that a friend hosted and just having a quiet afternoon of food and conversation.
In September we headed out for the open road to keep our promise to Sam’s Grammy and see New Hampshire in the fall. Instead of driving directly to New Hampshire, we drove North out of Texas, stopping to visit with another homeschooling family in Norman, Oklahoma. From there, we drove to Minneapolis, Minnesota where we camped for two nights and visited the Mall of America. We believe the mall is so named because it has every retail store offered in America. After the mall, we drove to Michigan and visited with Andrea’s brother’s family for several days. Our last stop in September was to spend 10 days visiting with another homeschooling family outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While there, we went up to visit with Andrea’s aunts and uncles in Franklin.
On the first of October, we finally headed to New Hampshire to visit with Sam’s family. We had a picnic lunch on the Atlantic seawall, visited a historical festival, had dinner with Sam’s aunt, lunch with his cousins, and visited Grammy several times. We also enjoyed several games of croquet at Grammy’s house. During our visit, we took a drive up into the mountains to see the fall foliage, this practice is called “leaf peeping”. After leaving New Hampshire, we drove to Vermont to see the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory before heading down to Raleigh, North Carolina to visit with friends that relocated earlier this year. We spent a week there and helped celebrate their son’s 16th birthday.
Upon returning to Texas, we have settled temporarily in Converse, Texas, which is just outside of San Antonio. We found a four bedroom house at a very reasonable price in a pretty quiet neighborhood. We intend to relocate outside of Texas, though it may not be until 2010. Karma participated in the Landmark Forum in December and found it to be just as exciting as Mom and Dad did. We had a good Thanksgiving with Andrea’s mom and aunt and spent Christmas with them as well.
See you in the new year!!
As you well know, Christmas cards are late again this year. We've decided to just post our Christmas letter to our blog since we've been unable to get a family picture as we've done in years past, our eldest hates the camera. We'll add some pictures taken this year to the blog. The year has gone by so fast we scarcely realized Christmas was approaching. We finished our shopping on the 22nd of December. Many exciting things have happened this year, sit down for an interesting read.
We began the year well, living our lives with business as usual. In late February, we received a surprise, Sam’s mom called us and asked if we would like to have Sam’s oldest son, Shane, come live with us. We of course gave a resounding, “Yes,” and Shane arrived the first week of March. The same week Shane arrived, Sam, Aurora, and Karma were working as extras on a feature film entitled, “Will” due out 2009. Shortly after Shane’s arrival, he found work as an extra on the same film and met his new best friend, Austin, who lives in Austin, Texas.
Spring was both bumpy and busy for us as we went through a dichotomy shift with a new member in our household. We also continued our participation in home school socials on a weekly basis and attended monthly field trips that included a hike in a nature preserve.
Summer came quicker than we expected and we found two members of our household participating in the Landmark Forum. This was an exciting adventure for both Sam and Andrea and we highly recommend the experience to all of our family and friends.
August found us celebrating three birthdays in our household, starting with Shane, who went to a movie with friends, then enjoyed dinner at Red Lobster afterward. Caedmon celebrated his birthday at Austin’s Park and Pizza, an establishment that offers go carts, laser tag, an arcade and many other fun activities. Andrea enjoyed a reasonably quiet birthday, planning her own birthday party that a friend hosted and just having a quiet afternoon of food and conversation.
In September we headed out for the open road to keep our promise to Sam’s Grammy and see New Hampshire in the fall. Instead of driving directly to New Hampshire, we drove North out of Texas, stopping to visit with another homeschooling family in Norman, Oklahoma. From there, we drove to Minneapolis, Minnesota where we camped for two nights and visited the Mall of America. We believe the mall is so named because it has every retail store offered in America. After the mall, we drove to Michigan and visited with Andrea’s brother’s family for several days. Our last stop in September was to spend 10 days visiting with another homeschooling family outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While there, we went up to visit with Andrea’s aunts and uncles in Franklin.
On the first of October, we finally headed to New Hampshire to visit with Sam’s family. We had a picnic lunch on the Atlantic seawall, visited a historical festival, had dinner with Sam’s aunt, lunch with his cousins, and visited Grammy several times. We also enjoyed several games of croquet at Grammy’s house. During our visit, we took a drive up into the mountains to see the fall foliage, this practice is called “leaf peeping”. After leaving New Hampshire, we drove to Vermont to see the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory before heading down to Raleigh, North Carolina to visit with friends that relocated earlier this year. We spent a week there and helped celebrate their son’s 16th birthday.
Upon returning to Texas, we have settled temporarily in Converse, Texas, which is just outside of San Antonio. We found a four bedroom house at a very reasonable price in a pretty quiet neighborhood. We intend to relocate outside of Texas, though it may not be until 2010. Karma participated in the Landmark Forum in December and found it to be just as exciting as Mom and Dad did. We had a good Thanksgiving with Andrea’s mom and aunt and spent Christmas with them as well.
See you in the new year!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)