October 28, 2010 10:35 p.m.

I have to admit, I am proud of myself this Fall.  Last winter, the extreme cold killed so many of our plants.  Our yard was in dire need of some primping, and I planted flowers and flowering shrubs this month.  Plants like Pentas, Plumbagos, Azaleas, Bouganvilleas, Mums, Thryallis, Ixora, Firespikes, Crossandra, and others.  Here are some pictures so you know what I mean...




Not super fancy, but a big deal for me.  I am even remembering to water them all every day.  Pretty good for this girl.

I am beginning to weed places that have been ignored for too long.  We also had to hire a tree service today to do a minor job, but we simply didn't have the equipment to do it on our own.  So within a half hour's time, a work crew came here and cut back the live oak tree from the front of our house, in order to diminish the fire hazard due to a lightning strike.  (Our dear homeowners' insurance company threatened to terminate our coverage if we didn't do this).  So here are some before and after shots...

Before.

AFTER!!  (even the clouds were removed, see?)

Before.

AFTER!!  What a relief!

Another thing, I am bad about holiday decorating.  Really bad.  Every year I think I'm going to decorate, and then I have no time to even think about it.  So I am proud -- no, amazed -- at myself for actually coming up with an autumn decoration.  And it is still just October!  Are you ready for this?

Oooooohh!   Aaaaahhh!

December 10, 2009 3:50 p.m.

Of course the children spotted it first. I didn't see it even after they went "Ooooooh look!"

Osprey on the clothesline. (taken, unfortunately, through a screen).

November 11, 2:58 p.m.

I have wanted to post for several days, but believe it or not, there have been more important things in my life to do than blog. Hard to believe, I know.

In the past month, I have learned of three people I know who have been diagnosed with cancer. One of these is a friend and homeschool mother of six children who was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is only forty years old. She recently moved out of state, too.

So I have been spending some time this week writing letters to some of these folks or their family members. Please keep them in prayer.



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Other than that, we did return from our camping trip this Sunday, and it was an especially memorable trip for one reason that will be covered later in this post. The weather was exceptionally gorgeous throughout the trip, and we were thankful for that.

The name of the state park this time was Silver River State Park, near Ocala, in our great state. I have to say that when they designed and laid out this campground, they really did it right. It is a newer campground, and very popular, which is why we hadn't made it there sooner. The campsites are wooded, spacious, and private! There is plenty of distance between sites, which I love. The facilities are newer and well-kept, with convenient laundry and outdoor sink, that made life much easier for us van folks. This campground has perhaps dislodged Anastasia State Park from first place in our list of state campgrounds.

Every time we head to a new place, I always wonder... are there enough activities there? Will the children enjoy this park? Will anybody be bored? I honestly don't know why I still wonder about this, because they always find something to pretend about when they get there.





Matchbox cars and gravel always make for several periods of uninterrupted campsite play, as the children always make a new network of "roads" wherever we camp.





Other diversions included:




the snapping turtle that the children befriended for two days.







Then there were the chickens that the children discovered at the Cracker village museum.















Although fishing was not allowed at this park, that did not stop Baby Girl and Little Son from making their own "cane poles" out of sticks and pine needles (fishing line). They used these poles to "entertain" the snapping turtle with bits of bread.














Baby Girl was always keeper of the "Feed the Fire Store", selling us from her stash of firewood and tinder. Friday, she announced, was "Free Friday" so we snatched up all the merchandise we could while it lasted.









The children found a clearing in the woods behind our campsite, which they dubbed their "Exploring Office". Baby Girl wanted to make sure that I got a photo of the all important Exploring Office into the blog. So here it is.













And lest you think that camping is all play and no work for our children, never fear. They do have their campsite responsibilities, besides helping to pack and unpack. Baby Girl often has table-setting duties to tend to.














Little Son chipped in with some of the less challenging cooking tasks.















Self-Reliant Man is always the champion burger flipper.














One thing that we can do really well while camping is EAT!














One favorite evening snack continues to be Jiffy Pop...













... but hot cocoa, pound cake, and cookies filled in those spare idle moments around the campfire very well. As did "read alouds" by Yours Truly. Right now, we are reading Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze ~~ a very entertaining campfire read!















And before I forget, we continued to hike whenever we could. The first hike we took was the River Trail, where we obtained a lovely view of the pristine Silver River.














The next day we attempted to hike one of the other many trails: the Swamp Trail, which would provide another fine view of the river, and some baby snapping turtles to observe. We really wanted to complete this trail...








but....




about a hundred yards or so down this trail, we were moving along at a good pace, Baby Girl in the lead, but thankfully within grabbing distance of Breezy Point Mom (that's me). Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I noticed, lying in a straight line alongside the left edge of the trail, a five foot long Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake! The most dangerous rattlesnake in North America. This was a fat one, too, with approximately three inch diameter around the middle. At once, I yelled, "Oh my God, a Diamondback" and reached out for Baby Girl, who hadn't noticed it. When she saw the creature, she panicked and ran to me (mommy!!!) and I turned to Self-Reliant Man, who said "Run!" and the four of us darted back to the beginning of the trail, hearts beating a mile a minute. Self-Reliant Man got the best look at this snake, and reported that he had noticed the rattler, and that the snake had turned its head to see us off as we ran away.

Sorry, I did NOT take up my camera to get a shot for the blog, important as the blog is and all. Actually, the idea didn't enter my mind at that moment, not that it would have made a difference. So the above snake picture is just one I pulled from elsewhere.

The photo above of the children by the trail sign was taken only about two minutes before the snake sighting. How naive and innocent that moment was. Wait ~~ isn't that something slipping through the leaves in the distance behind the kids?? Yikes!

We reported our sighting to park personnel, and to other visitors we saw approaching that trail, and any families we noted with young children.

We learned anew why it is important not to let your little ones get far ahead of you on the trail. Baby Girl had developed a habit of running out far ahead of us, with us unable to keep up with her at times. I don't think she will be doing this again any time soon.

And yes, we did go back a little later and hike.... the River Trail again. Don't know if we will ever brave the Swamp Trail now.

Nevertheless.............

We love camping!

And we can't wait to do it again.

A lot of things have been going on at Mighty Oak Country School lately, therefore partially explaining my relative quietness on this blog.

First of all, I put up a new header photo of our mighty oak. It looks better than the old one did, doesn't it?

Saturday, Little Son participated in a Bible Quiz team from our local AWANA club. We had to travel to the Big City for this event, and there were eight teams in all. Little Son's team came in sixth place, but I have to say that they had a good time. A bonus was the special Ch*ck Fil-A lunch afterward! My favorite memorable moment was when a question was asked such as: "Which scripture verse teaches that God is true?" followed by three possible references. A, B, or C. (multiple choice question). Well, our precious Bible Quiz team held up their agreed-upon answer and it read "false". We moms had a lot of smiles over that one.

One of my frustrations this winter/spring season has been the length of time it has been taking for Self-Reliant Man to rebuild our tractor's engine. Yes, I am sure you are shaking your head, saying "is she still complaining about that?" It is not so much that Self-Reliant Man is incapable; quite the opposite is true... he is, in fact, very resourceful and self-reliant (grin) but the truth is that we are not exactly the kind of folks that have a lot of time on our hands for working on such a large project. Anyway, Sunday evening seemed rather glum around here as we reflected on our failed attempt to press cylinder sleeves into the engine block by cool shrinking them with 14 pounds of dry ice. A lot of money was spent on this ice, and all for naught.

Or, maybe not?

We sure did get a lot of entertainment from a cooler full of dry ice! That is some pretty amazing stuff.


The wonder of carbon dioxide in solid form.













Self-Reliant Man stirring up the cauldron.












So much fun. This stuff just doesn't melt!














Little Son received Mouse Trap for his ninth birthday, and we had a good time playing it together. It is a game I had as a child.











Little Son loves God's creation, and one evening as we were practicing violin indoors, he remarked on the unearthly orange glow outside the windows from a striking sunset. We hurried outside to appreciate it better. It really was beautiful. Little Son and Baby Girl called it "the glory of God".





















We are always trying to capture photos of nature to send in to R*nger Rick magazine. Here is a close up of a lily outside our house.










One more thing. The children are really into writing notes... to their friends, to each other, to us parents. Here is a note I found in our school room just the other day, from Baby Girl to her big brother.

Little Son wrote notes on heart shaped paper for us, too. We found them on our bed, on each side, as we were going to sleep last night. One read: "Dear Mommy, I love you. Good mothers can get rare now! Love, Little Son". The other one said: "To Daddy. I love you. The Dad I love is you."


Definitely gives you a reason to smile as you drift off for the night. This is what being a parent is all about, right?

We returned this weekend from our latest camping trip. We camped at Lake Louisa State Park outside of Clermont, in the central part of our state, not far from W*lt Disn*y W*rld. As state parks go, this one was unique. It was situated among rolling hills with a great variety of vegetation and landscape. The hiking was great, and that was our main activity. So many trails to explore! Some of them were equestrian trails, but despite the lovely weather we had (highs in the low 80s) we didn't see a single horseback rider. We also didn't see many hikers, and I have no idea why.

This campground is not the best choice for tenters, because there is almost no shade, but it was fine for us van campers. We found the other campers to be very friendly here. They were mostly snowbirds, who travel by RV from the northern states and Canada and spend their winters in our state, moving from campground to campground. Some were "full timers", too. Since the campground is only about five years old, the facilities (restrooms and showers) were modern and very clean. We really appreciate that, too.

Here is a collection of pictures which depict various memories from this trip, in no particular order. I have discovered that putting photos in a certain order on this blog can be too time consuming!

Little Son and Baby Girl are gradually learning to be helpers at camp. Here, Little Son is helping out in the camp kitchen.
Violin practice occurs only on the days we eat, of course. It doesn't matter if the location is a campsite. In fact, violin practice brought about some friendly neighboring campers as an audience. The result was that we have made new friends with whom we plan to keep in touch.
At night, right before lights out, we spent some quality time in the van, using it like a real RV. Here the male side of the family is doing some reading. Self-Reliant Man is relaxing after a long hike and catching up on his spiritual reading.
We caught a beautiful sunrise over Hammond Lake one morning.Little Son gets the credit for taking this great nighttime family foto (or is it a phamily photo?).
Both early mornings, over Hammond Lake, we witnessed the flights of between 4 and 9 hot air balloons. They never got much closer to us than this, though.
While hiking one day, we caught a sky writer writing across a strip of sky directly in front of us. Look at the picture. Already the plane has written "JESUS". By the time he was done, the entire message was "JESUS 4 GIVES". It was a case of perfect weather, and perfect timing!
Mommy is bringing up the rear again. There were plenty of hills. Puff puff.
We found a picnic table to snack at both hiking days, just where and when we needed them. Here Little Son captures our smiles after a refill of granola bars, applesauce, and diet soda.
This is what our campsite looked like most of the time.
Can't have a lake without taking at least one sunset photo. This was over Dixie Lake.
Just look at those beautiful cypress trees behind the children!
Here is Self-Reliant Man, once again, catching up on his (ahem!) spiritual reading.
One of the hiking trails was full of wild orange trees, and also a few tangerine trees. The tangerines tasted great, but the oranges were like lemons. They sure looked picture perfect, though. Looks can be deceiving.
I have to admit, it is not easy to keep all our hikers smiling. On account of the abundant sunshine, I did detect some whining in my group. I will chalk up the lessons on being a Happy Hiker to "Character Education". Yes, my children can be real characters, and yes, I am their educator. All of the time.

That concludes our 2008-2009 camping season, but we are already thinking about next year!

I am so looking forward to camping this season. Just two more months until the weather moderates here. Although you wouldn't know it today and yesterday. In fact, as I write, the local temperature is still just 79 degrees. It has been uncommonly cool here in our state these days, mainly because it has been overcast with showers. What a difference - we have barely used the air conditioning.

But I digress. Like I said, I can't wait to go camping again. About three years ago, we ventured into the world of camping. Now those who know us will agree that my DH and I have had plenty of hare-brained ideas over the past three years. Camping was another such idea, another instance of redefining our family identity. Once we had blown $37.50 on a family tent, and splurged on those $20 sleeping bags and $60 Thermorest mattresses, there was no turning back. No sirree, not this family.

I love the cool season, and I love submerging into it by spending all our time outside while camping. I love putting out the checkered tablecloth on the picnic table, and giving the campsite that feminine touch of home. I love mixing up that first cooler full of Gatorade.

I love how hungry I get while camping, and how delicious all that comfort food tastes when we have grilled it, griddled it, or boiled it. It is fun to talk about the raccoon that sneaks a peak at us eating from behind a tree trunk, and the rustling sound it makes when it doesn't think we're paying attention.

I love listening to the children giggle as they play with small cars in the sand, or toss a ball around the campsite, or snap glow sticks aglow and wave them around.

I love when it is beginning to get dark, and the sounds change in the woods. More crickets, more snapping of twigs, an occasional hoot owl in the dark. I love to crunch my way along a shadowy path with my DD on the way to the restroom, playing with flashlights along the way.

I love sitting around a campfire after dark, with the Coleman lantern dividing our territory from the vacant black night. I love reading to the family, while they throw leaves into the fire, or nosh on popcorn or smores. I love sticking a cup of cocoa or coffee into the cupholder of my folding chair, and zipping my fleece jacket up higher around my neck. I love covering my ears with a wool cap, even when it isn't that cold yet.

I love walking around the campground, and checking out all the other campers. I love seeing how they make their fun. Some bring their portable TV sets, others kick up in an easy chair inside their RVs, and all we can see is the glow from behind their blinds. Some opt for simpler pleasures, just getting together with old friends, and their sites are filled with laughter and playing cards.

Some sit outside in loungers, playing Sudoku, filling out the Jumble, and just content to be outside in the chair next to their loved one, waving to the occasional passer-by. Campers are definitely friendlier than the average person. I love to see the decked out campsites, complete with Tiki torches, or Christmas lights, or glowing chili peppers. And then there are the gourmet campers, who grill seafood, steaks and ribs, complete with all manner of fresh veggies and a bottle of wine.

And then there's us, with our burgers and beans, our griddle cakes and eggs, cold cereal, bagels, baked potatoes, and cheese steak sandwiches. Oh well, to each his own.

I love when we are all zipped up in the tent to go to sleep. All four of us in a row. DH and DS sleep so comfortably in their sleeping bags. DD and I are sleeping bag rebels. DD lies on top of her bag, and I have long since rejected a sleeping bag, in favor of an air mattress, flannel linens, and a blanket on top. I need to stretch and spread out when I sleep on my stomach, arms and legs extended in various directions. I like the little night light we hang from the peak of our tent. We talk a few minutes, and laugh at the moving shadows against the side of our tent from nearby campers. My kids are fortunately still at the age when they enjoy everything.
I don't love so much the continuous zipping sound of the front door zipper at 1:30 a.m. when the guys have gotten up to go to the men's room together. Why can't they ever keep 'till the morning? And why is it so hard to fall back asleep afterwards?
I especially love waking up at the earliest light of dawn, hearing the first twittering birds, and sneaking out of the tent before the family to heat up water for coffee and cocoa. I love strolling around the quiet campground before others have waken and enjoying the misty morning peacefulness. Breakfast never tasted so good.

I love family bicycling along trails, and gentle hikes. Trying to fish off a dock. Exploring. Beachcombing. Admiring the mountain views. I am so thankful for the simple pleasures that camping brings to us. And thankful that we have found so many wonderful camping spots, with the promise of more to discover this year.

So I can't want, and I count the weeks until camping season begins again. It isn't far away now.

Now if we could just convince some of our friends to try it out with us!