College Visit #1 - Truett McConnell University

 How are we here already? Kayla is dual-enrolling 2 classes with Truett McConnell University this semester, so we thought it would be a good idea to take her there for a visit.  Since she is planning on trying to max out the 30 hours of classes that the state of Georgia will pay for her, we thought it would be good to start thinking about where she wants to go so we can choose the classes wisely.   

The campus was small, but beautiful.  I think she liked it, but we'll see where the Lord ends up calling her to!

 

Soccer Season has Begun!

 Here we go again! Kayla is coaching her own team of 1st and 2nd graders this year.  She's absolutely loving it.

Brooke is the only one we still have playing on a team. 

Macy is an assistant coach on her team.

Kayla started her first job as a referee on Saturdays for all of the soccer games.  She's there from 7:30am to about 6:00 every Saturday.  She is always tired, hungry, dirty, and often sunburnt when she comes home, but she is loving it.

 

First Day of School 2021

 The 2021-2022 school year has begun.

 Brooke - 6th grade

Macy - 9th grade

Kayla - 11th grade (and dual-enrolling 2 college classes)

I'm starting my 8th year teaching 3rd grade, my 12th year homeschooling with our hybrid model, and my 18th year teaching overall. 

Having a driver this year is going to be great.  Since I don't teach until 10:30 she will be taking her sisters to school and I get to go in a little later.

Time sure does fly fast, especially once they hit high school, and I wouldn't change a thing about our choice of a hybrid education with The King's Academy. 

 

Summer Break Comes to an End

 School starts tomorrow - on my birthday- and we are squeezing in as much as we can these days. The pool is always a great option for Georgia summers. 

Lazy days of summer are extra lazy for us sometimes.

Our local deer family keeps growing larger. As long as they keep their distance from the plants around my house, I'm more than happy for them to pay us a little visit.

Bubble tea is always a favorite.

We introduced the girls to Jeni's Ice-Cream while celebrating my birthday a little early.

 Ready or not, summer break is over, and we are headed into another school year.

July Randoms

 Our summer break is quickly coming to a close. We have caught baby lizards (well I haven't), 

watched the dog sleep in weird places and positions, 

acted goofy, 

and gone to a Braves game.

Madison, Wisconson - Day 5

 Cheese.  You can't go to Wisconsin without visiting a cheese factory. We learned so much about how cheese was made and got to try our first squeaky cheese curds.  I don't think anyone loved them, but it was fun to try. 

Fascinating fact!

This girl loves cheese. We even bought her a shirt from Cedar Grove Cheese. We also purchased a couple of cheeses to try, and they were some of the best cheeses I've ever had.  We aren't fancy cheese eaters here, so we just tried a white cheddar and a Monterrey, and we loved them both.

Our final stop of the day was by far the strangest place we have ever been - House on the Rock.  The creator of this home basically spent his whole life collecting thing and adding on rooms to his house.  It is the oddest thing we have ever seen.  I think I'm glad we went, but I'm still debating if it was a wise use of our time and money. ha! Macy is my collector.  She thought it was awesome.

This was the view from the Infinity Room which stretches out above the trees.

A room with a huge Moby Dick scene.

The builder was fascinated with self-playing instruments.  He only traveled out of the country on one occasion and that was to visit Europe to learn about how these instruments work.  He created about 8-10 of these displays that play music.  The displays were very large, and quite detailed.

House on the Rock is home to the world's largest carousel.  You can't ride it.  It is filled with dolls - many of which are quite creepy looking.

When we left, we were all wondering what in the world we had just seen.  It was so bizarre that it can't be accurately explained, but I can also guarantee there is no way we will ever forget our time here.

Lucky for these girls their dad keeps an eye out for their favorite restaurants that we don't have close to home.  Boston Market is always enjoyed.  Well, it's mostly the macaroni and cheese that is enjoyed.

 We drove back to Chicago for the night since we were flying out the next day.  This was such a fun, adventure-filled vacation, and I'm so glad we had this time together as a family.

Madison, Wisconson - Day 4

 We got up early to start making our way towards Wisconsin.  In addition to visiting as many National Parks in our travels, if we can visit another state we haven't been to before, we try to do that.  Our first stop was at the Anderson Japanese Gardens. These gardens were beautiful.

Cave of the Mounds was our next stop.

On our way to our hotel in Madison, we drove through Mount Horeb.  There are more than 30 trolls in this little town, so we went on a scavenger hunt to see how many we could find. We found over half of them before we grabbed some local ice-cream and headed out.  Mount Horab is a small little town, but we enjoyed our quick visit. 

Seeing all of the different landscapes across the country is another favorite of mine. Rolling hills were covered with corn and soybean fields.

We headed downtown for a stroll on the Monona Terrace overlooking Lake Monona. It was a beautiful ending to a fun day.