Labor Day, No Labor (except the labor of Homeschooling)

Another day at the pool. AFTER my first eye-opening experience with Homeschooling. OMG. Talk about overwhelming. Two full tubs of books and materials, 16 pages of parental instructions for "Day One". I see the slavery ahead. May I just say for the record that there is not one cell of my body that has EVER wanted to Homeschool. Not ONE. I have total respect for it but have absolutely have NO desire to do it. But we want this trip for each other and we want to take the kids and so, we just have to do it. Its going to take awhile to get into the routine and figure out what we really need to do or not. Today, we did Science, Spelling, Composition and Phonics. We did not even get to Reading, Social Studies or Math and I was wiped out!!! (Not to mention my high-fallutin intentions of also doing piano practice, cursive writing, Spanish or reading a book!!!) I am trying to be patient and trust that we can figure out a method to get the schooling in but can I say one more time: OMG! I will keep you posted but I find myself feeling thankful for schools and teachers! On a more fun note, my beloved cousins, Martha and Richard Gurley, and their son Lukas visited us at the pool today for a fun, late lunch by the pool.

Ben and Lukas swam for hours while I got to visit with Richard and Martha. Holm showed up a little while later and took Max out for dinner to celebrate his 51st birthday (Holm's).

Marcus and Pete worked more on the rigging and Pete is teaching Max to splice lines. So funny and so nice to step out of "The Routine". I don't check email or my phone half as much (I am ashamed to say) as I had become accustomed. A very, very good thing. A little unsettling but reassuring all the same. Holm (Happy Birthday today to him, Alexandra del Tufo and Kristopher Reichert!) asked me if I had "left Seattle" and my answer was a solid "yes". Don't get me wrong: I miss everyone, for sure. But we're on an adventure. A BIG one. That is such an amazing gift - for me, for us, for the kids.