Fun with friends

A couple of weeks ago our dear friends came to visit before their move back to the US. We'll miss having them almost in our time zone, but it sure was great to get to spend a huge chunk of time together before they headed home. Good memories, indeed!

Above and below, our picnic day at Interlaken, Switzerland. Beautiful views, cold water, and more paragliders than we could count!



Dads and kids enjoying the sparkly view:






And in Colmar, France having a lazy, Sunday walkabout:






Moonshine enjoyed the long conversations:




Sunburst and the boys dream of hats:





Yesterday our friends made it safely back home... to their new home, that is, in the states. We're wishing them all the best-- a quick and easy assimilation back into American culture and much laughter and love in their new home. We'll miss you!! Cheers, friends!!

Back home again... and whew, tired

I don't know where the time is going, but we've been back home for at least a week and I'm still recuperating. I'm just so very tired (the incessant rain and chilly temps hasn't helped). And my plate is full to bursting.

Italy was amazing! I came down with some kind of virus/hayfever cocktail midpoint through our trip, but did that stop me? No. Of course not. We were in Italy! There was way too much fun to be had and so much to see and do!

My plate is still full, but the sun is finally shining again! I'll be playing catch-up in the next few days-- both in reading and posting, so please bear with me as I try to get back into the groove of things. I'm looking forward to seeing what you've all been up to.

Is it feeling like summer where you are?

Homeschool field trip

Yesterday I finally got around to putting some posts on that I had written a week ago just before our friends arrived from Wales. They were here all week, and we had a great time visiting with them. I have some fun pictures to put up from our adventures... but they will have to wait until next week because...

Today we're headed out the door on a homeschooling field trip to Italy. We'll be visiting a few of the Saints that we studied to round up Moonshine's unit on saints and heroes, and then we'll hit Rome to give Sunburst a taste of what's to come next year. Ought to be fun!

See you all next week!!

For the love of books!

I have to admit, I am really enjoying this Saints/Heroes unit study so much more this time than I did with Sunburst. I feel like last time we only scraped the surface, and this time it's as if Moonshine and I have gotten to the heart of it. The stories are breathing inside us both... even Sunburst is curious to hear what we're doing and asking to be included. Even Kitty Bill is taking note of the emergent enthusiasm and confidence in Moonshine, and he is eager to mimic her drawings.

Here's Saint Columba, from Moonshine (8) and then Kitty Bill (4):





The love of books is something we can all really identify with, including Moonshine. After our study of Saint Columba she was seen at most hours of the day doing just this:





Prior to this she had read her way through the entire Cobblestone Cousins series, a few Magic Treehouse books, and at least one Secrets of Droon. But this... this tattered, old copy of Charlotte's Web? The size and heft of it made her feel quite mature, as if she had finally arrived at the wonderful world of book-reading. She finished it in about a week! And straight-away she put it back on the bookshelf and picked out another, just as big, and grinned like mad.

Seeing

I spent last week playing catch up. It's amazing how much housework builds up when you can't see.

The good word is that my eyes have been good all week. I went to my local optometrist for an eye test last Tuesday, and after very minimal testing and a bit of conversation, I was abruptly sent away again. He pronounced that I didn't need glasses, and that perhaps I should never, ever get my eyes dilated again.

He took my eyeglass prescription that I was given the previous week and eyed it curiously. I don't know much about these things, but apparently it stated that I was both near-sighted and far-sighted, and I had an astigmatism in both eyes as well. Stranger still, I could actually see with this prescription when I was still under the effects of the eye drops. I could actually see very well, only I couldn't walk. Everything seemed to be the wrong dimensions.



Fast forward to my last eye test, after the effects of the drops finally wore off, and without correction I could read everything this doctor put in front of me. For grins he showed me my sight with the prescription, and I could see nothing. Everything was a warped blur!

It's just all so curious to me! And I'm sure thankful that things are back to normal. My original eye concerns this doctor brushed away as perhaps indicative that I need more sleep. Mothers of young children don't get enough, he said, they are always tired. Ain't it the truth! So I've been working on that too. Sleep is really a nice thing.

Because of my current eyesight theme, a friend recommended I take a look at St. Odilia for Moonshine's saints/heroes lesson. Absolutely a perfect choice for us this week!