One of the things that has helped me to like living here more is biking. Joe and I have been biking a LOT more lately. When we're short on time, we go on the trails near our house. But most of the time we like to ride along the coast in Monterey, past Fisherman's wharf,
past Cannery Row, and down to Lover's Point.
There is a plethora of sights, sounds, and smells that I will never tire of. The smell of the pine trees across from the Post Naval Graduate School, the smell of the ocean, the smell of clam chowder on the wharf, and other goodies sold along the way. Seeing kites against the blue sky, seeing the sail boats out on the water,
seeing the sea lions and seals sunning themselves,
seeing the cute otters floating on their backs,
seeing the big pelicans congregating on the rocks, seeing all the way to the other side of the bay on a clear day, and seeing all the other people kayaking, surfing, running, biking, swimming, picnicking, and playing volleyball. Hearing the street performers (a.k.a. homeless people) sing and play guitars,
hearing tourists ooh and aah about everything,
hearing the sea lions and seals barking at each other, and hearing the waves crash into the rocks along the shore. Feeling the wind at my back, feeling the sun on my face, feeling the thrill of riding fast, and feeling happy to spend time with Joe doing something we both enjoy. It never gets old.
The other day they were having a sand castle building contest, so we stopped and took a look around. I wished that the kids were with us, because the next time we went, they were gone. But we got some pictures.
Winter is coming, and that means lots of rain, and that means we won't be able to ride our bikes as much. Boo. Well, for all I know we might be moving in December, and we won't have these lovely rides anymore anyway. I will try to appreciate them while they last.
As you may or may not have noticed, I haven't been as good at keeping up on the blog lately. This is largely in part because I don't have as much free time as I used to. This year I have taken on the insane task of homeschooling ALL four of my kids. Seriously, the craziest thing I've ever done. Why am I doing this? Well, for one thing, Joe is supposed to finish up school here in December, then on to Texas for a few months of more training, and finally to our next station, wherever that may be. We wanted to be able to stay together - no separations, not even a few months - but I didn't want the kids to have to be in three different schools in 1 year. Homeschooling gives us the flexibility we want. We could even take a month of leave in between stations if we wanted to.
Ultimately, though, I made it a matter of prayer.......a LOT of prayer, because regardless of all the good reasons, the idea of homeschooling four kids was not appealing. More like terrifying. Or appalling. Perhaps unhinging.
But there was a moment. A moment amid all the praying. A moment that was just for me. A moment when I felt a profound sense of confidence in my ability to do this. Thank you God. So I dived in.
Day one - There is a certain little girl, who will remain nameless, that I'm going to kill. This is not going to work. What was I thinking?
Day five - Okay, things are getting a little better. Nobody has died. We just need some better organization, and we might be able to make this work. Maybe.
Day ten - I think this is going to work. Sure, I barely have time to use the toilet, let alone shopping, cleaning the house, or taking a shower......, but I think this is going to work.
And so it goes.
The kids are doing great. Everyone is on track. My mind is still functioning properly;)
The annoying thing is, now we don't know for sure if we're going to be leaving here in December or not. Joe has been struggling with his reading - nothing new, he's always displayed signs of dyslexia (so has Cora). In fact, they almost tested him for it, but the guy who was going to do the test actually talked him out of it. Apparently it could get him kicked out of the military. Instead, he wrote Joe a recommendation to be rolled back. That means that Joe would go into another class that is a few months behind his. He'd be repeating some of the same material, and have more time to master it. This sounded great to us, and all of his teachers were on board. They made it sound like a sure thing. We figured we'd be here until June. Well, it wasn't a sure thing. There are no open slots in any of the other classes. If a slot doesn't open up in the next 3 weeks, Joe will have to go ahead and try to test out of Iraqi. If he passes, great - we move on. If he doesn't pass......we have no idea. They could keep him on here as an academic advisor. They could send us back to Korea. They could do whatever they want. We have no idea. Aaaaahhhhhhh! The not knowing is a killer.
In other news, Cora learned to ride a bike a few years ago, but we failed to teach any of our other kids - until now! In one weekend the other three kids were mobile.
Since that video we got rid of the rusty, noisy pink bike that Alex was riding, gave him the one that Madelyn was riding, and gave Madelyn Cora's old bike. The all love it! Madelyn LOVES it. She is a natural biker. She loves going really fast, and then breaking hard and squealing to a stop. She's go the balance, the coordination, and the moves of a pro. She was giving me a heart attack, and I told her that she needed to go slower and be careful. She came to me after a while, with tears in her eyes, and said, "When I go really fast I just feel free." I didn't say anything after that. How can I take away her freedom? If she crashes, she crashes - it'll build character, right?
Let's see, what else? Our Relief Society presidency got released, so I'm not longer the 3rd counselor. My new calling is primary teach for the 8-9 year olds. Joe is still the 1st counselor in the Elder's quorum. Cora got her first calling too - 2nd counselor in the Beehive presidency;)
I guess that's about all. I will post later about some of the field trips/outings the kids have done for homeschool.
My kids have wanted to be in a play for a long time. Obviously, they're nothing like me - that's all the Liddell side;)
Being in the military, we have had a couple occasions to watch plays put on by the Missoula Children's theatre, which is a company that tours around the country, as well as the world. They come into a community or a military base, hold auditions on a Monday (all children who audition get to participate in the play), practice all week, and do a performance on Saturday. It's always a musical. It's a great introduction to theatre for kids, and it's a lot of fun.
We've watched their plays, but my kids had never actually been in one. The first time we were in Texas, and we didn't even know about it, and the second time we were in Korea, and the kids had other obligations. We almost didn't hear about it this time, because it wasn't very well advertised, but we got lucky.
The kids did great at the auditions. The musical they chose this year was The Wizard of Oz.
Can you see what parts they got?
Alex was a Fierce and Ferocious Flower,
Madelyn was a Munchkin,
Joseph was the Tin Man,
and Cora was Dorothy.
Pretty exciting:) It's not the best video in the world, and it took me FOREVER to upload to Youtube, but here is what we recorded of the play (broken up into 6 parts).
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
The Play was put on at the Porter Youth Center, and their flyer had this on the front cover this month.
We're glad that our kids had this opportunity, and they all want to do it again...especially Cora:)
