Aquarium

We spent some time at the aquarium at the request of Isaiah.  He wanted to do this for his birthday (which is later this week) and we agreed.  It's such a neat place with a lot of hands-on exhibits and plenty of  interesting sea life to keep everyone occupied.  So many pictures, but I'll try to hit the highlights!

We had a blast ... from the giant piranna  you could enter and slide out of ...



to the horseshoe crabs.





We met new friends



and hung out with dear old ones too. 



Inside an oyster shell.



The moving exhibit was on dangers in the ocean.  It was fascinating to learn about the many and varied types of defenses the creatures have been given.  I enjoyed seeing Eliana figure out how to make the exhibits work. 



I think my favorite part is the moving tunnel.  You stand on a moving conveyor belt (like at the airport) and go through a water filled tunnel.  There are sharks, fish, turtles and more swimming to your side and also over your head.  It makes for great views - though not such great pictures.



It was a fun outing.  (Except when we were exiting through the gift shop and accidentally knocked down one of the shelves.  Thankfully nothing broke!  I think it is really ridiculous that you must exit through the gift shop to leave the building.  Oh well.  We made it through with no additional purchases.)

If you are a homeschooler, make sure you ask for the homeschool discount that is available.  Definitely makes it more affordable.  Just be sure to bring proof of homeschooling.

Blessings

Leslie

Beach

Well, it seems I'm having a hard time keeping up with my blog.  Life is just ... busy.  I'm not sure why it seems busier now than usual, but it does.  I'm just trying to live life and enjoy it.  I'm reading books more than usual and enjoying that too.  I'm going to blame one week of not posting on the beach. 

We made our annual fall beach trip again this year.  We left on a Friday as Rebecca had an out of town volleyball game about 1.5 hours from our house - and on the way to the beach.  They won the game for those who might be curious.  We also met our sweet friends from VA down there.  We all look forward to this time together. 

We had amazing weather while we were there.  It was warm and there was no rain.  We had fun playing on the beach and also in the pool.  Here is a glimpse of some of our time there - mostly just pictures with a few comments here and there.  If you have questions - please ask.

Love this picture of these two - so captures their relationship!





Blurry, but still cute.



Hoping that this isn't the last year for our whole family to make a fall trip - even if it is shorter!  I know, change is hard for me and I will try not to talk about it too often.  It makes me tear up to think about it - every. single. time.  I just love having him around!



Friends their whole lives.













There is an inlet where the ocean comes into a "river".  My boys like to go there and catch crabs.  (And ultimately release them again.)



When the tide is out, it is also a great place to play.



When the tide is high, it is tough to cross.  Joshua and I found that out the hard way when we were walking to our friends house close to high tide.  We had to go through chest high (for him) water with a strong current and in shifting sand.  We held hands and helped each other.  I love walking on the beach and Joshua was my walking buddy on this trip.  We made a number of trips together and it was a great time to spend talking with each other. 

Loved this picture of Eliana splashing her foot in the water while she looks at her reflection.



Brothers.











Not sure when we'll make it back to the beach again.  I'd love to go one more time in the fall, but our weekly schedule is just so tight right now.  I think it will ease up during the winter ... we'll see. 

I'm thankful we were able to go and spend time with our family and friends.  It was a sweet time!

Blessings

Leslie

Happy Birthday Joshua!

Happy Birthday my precious Joshua!  Can it really be 11 years since you entered our lives? I remember well the night you arrived.  It was my easiest birth.  It was all that I could have hoped for - and ending it with a beautiful baby was all that mattered anyway.  I remember your chunky thighs as a toddler.  Oh, I loved all those rolls!  Hard to imagine now that you were once chunky!  Look at you now! 



He has always been sensitive - sometime in ways much beyond his years.  I remember that he was the one to comfort me on the due date of a child we had lost to miscarriage.  He was just 3 years old and I knew didn't remember that date - no one really did.  I think it is one of those things that a mom never forgets, but is often something that only she carries.  We were driving somewhere and I was pondering that I "should have been" doing something much different on that date.  I was missing the little one that we had longed for and talking with God about it.  I was sharing with Him how hard it was to have a date that meant something to me - and that nobody else really remembered it.  From the back seat piped up a little voice - Joshua - asking me about our baby in heaven.  Talking with me about the fact that the baby was with Jesus.  God used our little boy to show me that He remembered.  He knew.  I was comforted and stunned. 



Joshua has always been curious.  He asks questions.  Lots of questions.  He wants to learn about so many things.  His interests are varied and many.  He frequently surprises medical staff when he wants procedures explained and processes defined.  I think that they appreciate that he wants to know and understand what is going on with his body.  His questions can at times seem a delay tactic - especially at bedtime.  It's hard to stifle that creative mind - but a boy does need to sleep!  LOL

He is also brave.  He has endured a lot over the last year and learned more than a little boy should have to about needles, pokes, blood sugars, carbs, lows and more.  I'm proud of him and the way he is learning to care for himself.  I hope and pray he will continue to make good choices with his life. 



Joshua loves to read.  He often has his nose in a book.  I love it!  I learned to love reading at an early age and it delights my heart to see my children following the same  path.  There is so much to learn and explore between the covers of a good book.

Joshua also loves to play outside.  There is much to do in the woods and in the backyard - especially in the company of siblings and friends.  Joshua also has a fun sense of humor and loves to make others laugh.  He enjoys being silly - especially if it results in laughter. 

He has his own sense of style and self.  He wears his fedora every day.  It's his "trademark" .  I love that he is comfortable in his own skin.  I pray for my children that they will realize that they need approval from One and that this will allow them to be the person that He created them to be.  I know God has a purpose for each one of them and what a treat it is to watch them grown and learn and start developing the skills and talents they will need to follow the path God has for them.



One of the things that Joshua has been wanting to do - is to play airsoft like his big brother.  To be honest, it wasn't high on my list for him, but then I'm not a huge gun person either.  Joshua was delighted to receive an airsoft gun for his birthday.  I do think that it's a fine things for the boys to do - at the right age (with supervision when needed) and with safety rules in place.



We allow our children to choose what they will do on their birthday.  Joshua said that he wanted to play football and airsoft.  We invited over a family with a bunch of boys and they all headed to the backyard to play.  They stopped for awhile for a dinner of hotdogs, hamburgers and fixings and then headed out for more play time.  We were joined by some neighborhood friends too.  It was a fun day.

I'm thankful for this special child and all that he has brought to our family and our lives.  I prayed for him long before he arrived - often wondering if there would be a 3rd Nelsen child.  What a sweet answer to prayer.  Thank you God for blessing us with Joshua.  Thank you for the gifts and talents you have given him.  Help us to encourage, challenge and nuture him in the way that You have planned for him.

I love you Joshua!



Love,

Mom

Beyond Co-op Betsy Ross #2

Well, I thought I'd blog more over the last week while we were on vacation - but it didn't happen.  Our connection was very limited so I just stayed off the computer.  Not a bad thing to do while on vacation either.  I'll be playing catch-up for awhile though.  Here's a look at what we've been up to.  (Pictures to come!).  We left last Friday afternoon for an out of town volleyball game in Fayetteville.  (They won!)  We went from there to the beach.  Wonderful weather!  We arrived home last night about 1am. 

Early this morning (Thur), we had a field trip and picnic lunch.  Quick run to the grocery store.  Laundry.  Made a large fruit salad to take to a banquet for tonight.  Christopher was inducted into the Homeschool  National Honor Society.  Tomorrow we leave very early for another college tour.  We'll be gone for the day while Roger is home with the rest of the gang.  Saturday, Christopher is taking the ACT and Rebecca and I are going to the consignment sale.  Next week we have a birthday - and I need to get busy planning a party!  Just a few of the highlights.  :-)

Now, on to the co-op from last week.  We spent this co-op on the next 4 chapters of the book (5-8).  We picked 3 topics and it was really too much.  Two topics really seems to work better in this format.  Each person can take a topic to focus on.  It also helps to have one before and one after snack.  We observed this in the past and this was a good reminder.  It was fun - but we went over on our time.

Our first topic was flags from chapter 5.  We had a formal presentation on the flag from two Civil Air Patrol members.  The children were fascintated and loved watching them display the flag. 





They learned about flag etiquette.



They also learned that each fold of the flag symbolized something important to our country.



Each child was asked in advance to prepare a short presentation on another country's flag.  They each brought a picture and stood to tell something about the flag - what the colors or symbols meant or something interesting about the country.





They also looked at various pictures of the US flag over the years.  They each held a small picture of the flag and noted its appearance and then lined up in the order each flag flew for our country.  (No pics, sorry)

Next it was time for a snack.  We had similar foods to last time and also played a quiz to guess the foods.  This time, the quiz was based on the health properties of each food.  (I can post specifics if anyone wants them.  They just aren't on the computer that I'm currently using.)



Our next topic was Benjamin Franklin.  I covered a lot of information on him in last year's co-op and so this time we decided to focus on his weather experiments.  We demonstrated different weather measuring devices like a weather vane.



A thermometer.



Then the children made their own barometers to take home.



Our last topic was  Physical Conditioning.  We had talked some before our snack on eating healthy and now it was time to talk some about exercise.  I explained briefly the Presidential Physical Fitness Challenge.  There are 5 catagories in which you must compete in order to earn the award.  There are also 3 different levels or challenges.  Each of the levels is based on age and gender.  This is open for students ages 6-17.  We demonstrated and had the children work in 4 of the 5 areas.  (We did not do the 1 mile run.)

The first was a curl-up (sit-up). 



The second was a shuttle run.  You had to run 30 feet and pick up one block.  You ran back and place the block outside the line.  (No throwing!)  You did this a second time to finish the task.





The third area was either push-up, chin-up or flexed arm hang.



The last was a v-sit (stretch).


For more information, you can visit their website.  

It was a full and fun morning.  I love this style of learning!  Looking forward to our next meeting - next week!  I'm off to sleep now as morning is going to come wayyyyyy to early tomorrow (5am!).

Have a fun day!

Leslie

College Visits

I'm not sure that 17 years ago, I knew that this day would come quicker than I wanted it too.   I remember those early years so well.  These have been full years - many memories and much to be thankful for.  I know that the future will be different - but can also have many sweet memories and much to be thankful for.  I'm not sure I'm ready to enter this new chapter.  I guess I don't have to be ready yet.  It's close though.  And it does bring tears to my eyes to think too much about it.  So I try not to dwell on it, but there is still much to be done to get Christopher prepared, especially over the next couple of months.  Praying for God to guide us, prepare us and to show us His path.

We have visited 2 college campuses over the last week.  Christopher didn't want me taking photos.  (Imagine that!)  He did take a few photos.  Creative - and definitely not the ones I would have taken.  Care to guess where we've been?  Can you recognize anything familiar?



This is the second campus.



This one might you give more of a hint at the second campus.  I know, it would help more if you could actually see the writing!



We have one more visit next week which will make 4 total that we have visited.  I'm not sure if we'll be going to more or not.  At this point, these are his top choices.  He is looking at 4 Universities.  Three are in-state and one out-of-state.  Three are public and one is private.  They vary in size from 12,000 to almost 25.000. 

It has been interesting to me to see the varied receptions we have received as homeschoolers.  At some, they don't really blink an eye and the expectations are really no different.  At one, we were encouraged to do a lot of additional work to prove what he had learned as a homeschooler. 

This is a lot to take in.  It's a big decision.  It is by far one of the biggest decisions he has had to make yet.  It ranks only second (in my opinion) to choosing Jesus as His Saviour.  I'm not sure that that decision though was as difficult as I think this one may be for him. 

He is planning to take the ACT and the SAT one more time each in the hopes of bettering his scores.  We are both hopeful that perhaps he will get scholarships, grants and aid to help finance his education.  Again, it will be interesting to see what things look like once everything is turned in and the decisions are being made.  I'm hoping that we will be able to apply early to his schools of choice.  A busy next couple of months.

Thanks for any prayers you offer for us.

Blessings,

Leslie