Taekwondo, First Day of School, and Carpinteria

At the beginning of July, I enrolled Connor and Elise at a Taekwondo studio that had been recommended by some homeschooling friends.  The older kids weren't too thrilled with the idea, but they were good sports and tried it for a few weeks before they realized they liked it!  Evan was scheduled to start in the preschool class, but it didn't start until August, so he had to wait a little while.  By the end of August, Connor and Elise did their first promotion, and earned their white stripes.  I'm already so impressed by how much they've both grown.  Elise is more confident, and Connor has more precision and energy.  Evan is just delighted with his class which has a total of six 4-5 year olds in it.  The studio is really something special.  It's literally a family-run business, with a husband and wife doing all the classes, and their young-adult kids assisting.
  

First Day of Preschool Taekwondo

I love their expressions, contemplating how they were going to break those boards.

Elise's White Stripe

Connor's White Stripe

    

  
One afternoon, Corinne brought this loaded backpack to me and said, "I have my backpack, 'cause I'm going to visit Grandma's house, for REAL!"  So, I sent her out into the cruel world...
    

   

Analytic Investors had their summer picnic around the end of August, as well.  They had kids' activities, the Kogi Truck, and a reptile show at the end.  It was kind of fun to chat with Ryan's coworkers - I hear about them nearly every day, but only see them every year or two.
   

  

Reptile Show

A Toad

September 4 was the first day of Co-op!  Connor started 5th grade, Elise 3rd, and Evan kindergarten.  This is the same co-op we did last year, but expanded.  We've doubled the number of families and grades, plus added a preschool class off-site.  Corinne was probably the most excited of everyone to have her first day of preschool!  I'm on staff now teaching two science classes and an introductory Latin class.  It's kind of stressful preparing everything, but also refreshing to get to pretend I'm an actual professional person once a week!
    

First Day!

Corinne was the only one without a uniform.  They had said they weren't required...

  

"Preschool makes you tired." - Corinne

  

CVLC Students and Teachers

  

  

Miss Heidi is Evan's teacher.  There are six kids in his kinder class.

  

Corinne's First-Day Artwork

Evan's First-Day Artwork 

At the end of that first day of classes, our family took off to go to Carpinteria with all our camping buddies.  It was our first time beach camping, and I can see why everyone likes it!  It has all the fun of both activities, plus the convenience of being in a town full of restaurants.  The only downside is the lack of pictures - I'm nearly always too paranoid to bring my phone to the ocean.  On the last day we took a tour of the Santa Barbara Mission.  It was beautiful, although not as developed as La Purisima.  Much more of a Catholic viewpoint, which was interesting to see.
      

Mission Santa Barbara

  

August

While the kids and I were coming back from Utah, Ryan was experiencing this burger at Grill Em All.  It's sandwiched between two grilled cheeses...
  

The next day, we celebrated Corinne's third birthday.  As usual, she was VERY enthusiastic.  I love her crazy personality, she cracks us all up every day.  She got a fancy cake, some dresses, and a bunch of toys.  Elise made a great illustration a day or two later.
  

  

The next Monday was the first day of class in our school district.  Facebook was filled with kids in their first-day outfits, so I felt inspired to take pictures of my kids.  They were sitting in their pajamas all day, goofing off.  We didn't start schoolwork until the last week of August, thank goodness!
  

Painting

Reading Comics (Before we cancelled them.)

That week we took a day to go visit our friends in Thousand Oaks.  They were babysitting their neighbors' chickens, so everybody got to hold them and gather eggs.
  

I don't know who put the "Skechers" tattoo on her forehead.

Elise continued all summer to go to speech therapy with Ruth Horowitz.  Ruth specializes in tongue-thrust therapy, which is the specific problem Elise is working on.  She has made so much progress, and can now say all her sounds perfectly (when she's paying attention.)
  

I discovered two things.  The first was a pillowcase I thought had been lost years ago.  My best friend in first grade lived two houses down from me, and her mother loved to sew.  She also sewed me play blankets, a cabbage-patch doll, tons of doll clothes, and a teddy bear.  Beth and I played stuffed-animals every chance we got, along with My Little Ponies and climbing her weeping birch tree.  I was her (very inconsistent) pen pal for years after my parents divorced and I moved away.  Beth currently lives in Seattle and works in environmental regulation.

    

The second thing I discovered was that you can make a sugar-free root beer float from low-carb ice cream and Zevia.  It was about as good as you'd expect, but at least I tried.

  

We caught a praying mantis on our pool fence!  The kids fattened her up with houseflies and crickets for a few months, until she was so fat she could barely move.  Then we let her go back to the wild.  Not sure whether that was a favor to the mantis or not.
    

    
Ryan ordered this fabulous pool slide on Amazon for only a hundred bucks.  It lasted about a month, but was still totally worth it.  It had a built-in sprinkler that kept the slide wet, and a cave underneath so kids could scare their parents by hiding.  
   

     

I got this idea that I wanted to make a photographic family tree, and put it on our wall for the kids to see.  I used whatever pictures I had available, but there are still lots of holes.  So, if you're not in here don't be offended - it just means you need to send me a good picture!  Alas, it still hasn't made it onto the wall.  I'm good at doing two-thirds of hard projects.
     

Janet Guymon Walter and Charles Neal Walter

Cloteel Otte Guymon and Dean Guymon

Lois and Neal Walter

Brian M. Murray

  

John James Murray and Maiellen Welsh Murray (Holding Brian)

Myrtle Fundis Welsh

  

Harry Welsh (Holding Mariellen)

Kevin Murray

Kyle Murray and Kelli Anderson Murray (With cousins Felix, Lincoln, and Arya)

  

J. Quinn Murray

Joyce Guymon Smith

Donna Smith Brown

Alger Wade and Virgie Brown Wade

Merrill J. Brown

  

Frances Vicks Brown

James H. Brown (far right)

Helena R. Brown

        

Fred and Ted Brown

Ruth Jewel Brown

Hubert Zemke (Uncle Hub)

One Saturday we drove to the "Wings Over Camarillo" air show.  We met some friends and had a great time climbing into planes and watching things fly recklessly.
  

Cargo Plane Pictures...

Corinne wouldn't leave the cockpit of the cargo plane for about half an hour.

The Red Bull Helicopter Pilot

   
Our exciting adventure in keeping jellyfish finally came to an end, at least for now.  The two smaller jellies dwindled and died, but Yellow Cheese, as if in protest at the flushing of his companions, suddenly disintegrated over the space of two days - first developing huge holes, then turning into this blob of jellyfish goo.  The weird thing was that two pieces broke off and seemed to be turning into their own tiny jellies for a week or two.  Sadly, they never developed proper stomachs, so I guess they starved to death.  What weird creatures.  I'm sure Ryan will order some more in a month or two.
  

Yellow Cheese