Family Fun

Some of the perks of homeschooling include following The King around to his conferences. Last month he had one at the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells. He was able to join us in the water park for the first two hours of the three day trip and then spent the rest of his time working. I called it school. The Kalahari is an African themed resort, so we learned a little about Africa and it's Geography, animals of Africa which counted as Science, Health (why we shower before and after and don't pick up used bandages) and the rest of the time I penned in as Phy Ed (great exercise). Yes, as a homeschool parent I have the freedom to decide things like that!

I didn't think it would be a problem for me to have five kids in the water park alone, but I was sorely mistaken. First of all, the three little ones were too small to go on most of the water slides without me (or one of the older boys) and on most slides there was a two or three person limit. The math doesn't add up for me plus three. Secondly, Prince Charming didn't really like climbing the 90+ stairs to the tops of the slides, so I had to carry him. (Good exercise for mom.)

Keeping track of the three littles ones was a tad bit hard in a 125,000 square foot water park. I lost maiden four times. Once I had to call a code Adam. (Don't worry, I found her every time...she said she was never lost, but I was certainly panicked.)

A few times I forced talked the middle boys into taking the girls around the park so I could play with Prince Charming. His favorite place to be was anywhere water would shoot up out of the floor. He also liked floating down the lazy river with me. (I liked it too.)

This is where the boys took the girls when they were in charge. Yes, I freaked out when I saw my five year old on this. Then I got over it and pulled out the camera to document the fearlessness of my sweet little girl. I could not believe my little Maiden got on this ride.

And Duchess, well I had no doubt she would try it. She thought it was 'the best ride ever'!

Apparently Scribe is now an expert boogie boarder. I lost the pictures of Squire on this ride, so I'll share this one:

This was one of the times he was in charge of his little sister. I was thankful the middle boys were with me to help out with the girls. I don't think they were as thrilled as I.

Oh, and did I mention we had not one, not two, but three, TV's in our suite. Our kids were in TV heaven! Here they are enjoying cartoons by the fire in the living room area. Don't you love how all their necks are cranked up?

We upgraded to a Combination Suite so I would have a kitchen. This was taken our last morning there...yes, I was EXHAUSTED! (I don't like to post morning jammie photos of me--it's a pride thing--but I wanted you to see the kitchen.) I made breakfast burritos so the children would have full bellies for our last day of water park fun. I know, ideally we should have eaten out the entire trip, but it is really not fun for me to take five kids to a restaurant alone. This was so much more convenient. I had prepped most of the meals so I only had to pop them in the oven and serve in the room. Way easier than trying to keep the little ones contained at a restaurant.

Oh, and if you've followed my blog, you know my kids love arcades so they can redeem their coupons for cheap plastic junk. Maiden got purple (her favorite color) vampire teeth. (Don't tell her, but they have since disappeared from our home.) Scribe got these great sunglasses. I think they only cost him about $15.00, but who's counting? Can you really put a price tag on fun?

Have a blessed day my friends!

Making a Memory

Last year at this time, Scribe kept asking me if we could make a Gingerbread House. I was always too busy. I didn't want the mess. The idea of mixing dough, making a template, baking to perfection, finding candy, and preparing the icing was too much for me. So we didn't do it.

I had disappointed my son...the son who loves to create, decorate and thrives on tradition. I felt bad every time I thought about it.





One evening I was talking to my friend, Rapunzel, on the the phone. She was decorating cookies with her son. It was something he really wanted to do. So they did it. I was perplexed. How could she, who worked full time, who kept an immaculate house, who spent her evenings running kids here and there...find the time to do such a thing?




I had to know. "How do you find the time to do things like that?"

Rapunzel replied, "Easy. I go into the grocery store. I head back to the bakery where they sell undecorated cut out cookies and colored frosting. I buy what I need, then I come home and decorate cookies with my boy. He's happy and we've made a memory."

Her words left an impression.



This year I found a gingerbread kit on sale for $8.00. My children were thrilled. But no one was more thrilled than Scribe.

We spent the afternoon creating a Masterpiece. I heard comments like, "I've always wanted to do this." "Isn't this fun?" "Let's not do it like the box shows." And my favorite...."I wish I could live in there."

Thank you Rapunzel for sharing your secret, and to whoever created the Gingerbread House Kit. Now we have made a memory. That makes my Christmas a whole lot sweeter.