Beach Trip!

The girls have very specific birthday plans, and Pearl's included an all-family Cherry Picking Party.  They love to climb the orchard ladders.

We also took a few days and went to the beach.  We noted, with some pleasure, that it is suddenly much easier to move three children aged four and up compared to the old days. 

All the girls braved the ocean water for the first time, and I had the joy of seeing them bobbing all around me in the waves.  You can guess which child loved the thrill of the unexpected waves the most. 

On the way home we popped in at a Delaware plantation outside Dover.  We don't test much in our homeschooling philosophy, but this tour was the best type of test, as the docent asked them if they knew what the old fashioned things were.  They did.



 Here they are mixing up some syllabub in the kitchen. It would have been served room temperature. Ugh!

Discovering the wonders in our own backyard.

Birthday Cake

We have two big birthdays in June.  The girls brainstormed about gifts for their daddy, and Ruby and I shopped.  Then they created a scavenger hunt for him to find his presents.  We also were able to celebrate the good report after the brain surgeon checked her work on his brain last week.  Everything looked just like it was supposed to. 

Pearl is away at church camp this week, her first camp experience.  There are just 17 kids at the Nature Camp she's in, and she's sharing a bunk bed with a friend from church.  There were nerves before she left, but by the time we entered the cabin she was all smiles. 

Sapphire graduated from Kindergarten last week.  We had a little five minute ceremony for her, where she insisted on entertaining us by counting to 100.  She received a mommy-made certificate and a Frozen balloon.  She is now telling everyone she meets that she has graduated and that she is 5 1/2.  This is apparently part of some kid greeting ritual

Finally, our one big, free-ranging duck has taken to living in our carport, especially when it rains. We're not sure why, since he has the whole yard and pond to himself, but maybe he likes to see his reflection in my shiny car.

At Family Fun Day last week

.

She fell asleep praying

Bring on June

A girl and her duck.  The ducklings are still too small to free-range, at least with a snapping turtle in the pond, so they are safe in their pen, happy to eat the peas and bugs we toss their way.  The girls seem to spend more time with them now that they are bigger. They grab a book and settle in to read beside the merry little outdoor pen. 

Ruby and I had a special day this weekend. Tea with Belle can be pretty overwhelming for a four year old. Why are the big kids wearing the crazy outfits?  And, ironically, this little girl is typically un-phased by her own crazy outfit ensembles.  Her first taste of musical theater went well, even though she couldn't weigh down her chair enough to sit on her own. 

Memorial Day saw Pearl sadly stuck at home with a fever, but the little girls and I enjoyed the Muddy Creek with friends.  Those little girls also had a chance to see their beloved Sunday School helper, home from his stationing in Alaska, for two Sundays.