Last Day of 9th and 11th

I cannot believe we are wrapping up these grades right now. It feels like only yesterday they were in elementary school. I know I sound like every mom, but its still true.

Makin's favorite subject this year was Personal Finance.

His favorite parts of school were activities like field trips and interactive projects.

Lorelei's favorite subjects this year was First Aid, English, Personal Finance and American History.

Her favorite part of school was having fun while learning - making history portfolios, being certified in safety and first aid, getting to read books like Pride and Prejudice (and go to the dance at the library that was called Mr. Darcy's Dance). She also loved the field trips and the movies.

Last Day Ice Cream Treat

School Happenings (After Spring Break - second half of March - April/end of school)

No, we don't only school watching movies and shows. ;)
Great movie.

This doesn't happen as much as I would like, but sure is nice when it does!
Thankful for spring and beautiful weather!

In case you didn't know, this mom LOVES her a field trip.
When you can see right where a historical moment happened within an hour of home, you go see it.
We headed to The Sixth Floor Museum, which is in the building where JFK was shot from.

All the cameras that had pictures of what happened that day.

The museum is very well done and thankful for the chance to learn in this way.

Makin has loved PE. He especially enjoys any game where he can pull flags.

We have loved having Professor Larry's lectures this year for American History.

Personal Finance

Field Trip To George Bush Presidential Center

This was another local field trip that was a great addition to our American History. Nothing like reading about this era/president and then immediately going to see a museum of what you just learned! We were thankful Robin and Kody had it on their list so we could enjoy our visit with them as well.

This museum is such a hidden gem.

It was so amazing to read the short blip about this election where it mentioned "Florida's voters were confused..." and then to have a person at the museum show us why their ballots were confusing.

The 911 section of this museum is very well done.

This showed the many locations the terrorists were attacking.
This was something that I did not comprehend until seeing this.

So many techy hands-on experiences.

The replica Oval Office is one of my favorites.
We even had to the place to ourselves at one point and it felt
like we were just hanging out in the Oval Office,
so we could ask plenty of questions to the museum guide.

This was a piece of artwork (replica) that President Bush kept in his offices for years, painted by a family friend. It is called "A Charge To Keep I Have" which is based on a hymn.

The Situation Room
This room is another techy, hands-on simulation where you can experience decision-makin scenarios.

Can you tell they are hamming this one up?

Unexpected bonus of the Opening The Vault!

One favorite document - Thomas Edison's patent for the light bulb.

We also learned a bit about how much they work to protect these documents, somewhat showcased here where you can see the temperature and moisture gages at the bottom right. The curator also talked to us about how they had to be careful and take their time turning the lights on in this room every day.

Our field trip even had unexpected art!
Loved checking out these pieces of artwork after our picnic lunch.

We fit in nature too!
Such a fantastic day!

HOPE Prep Lunch Group

Personal Finance
Such a great year and loved this group of kiddos.

Spanish II

Can't remember what this was he was working on but the look is not unusual. ;)

Read each sections of this throughout American History when it lined up with the timeline.

Test with protein shake.

A few favorite American History portfolio pages.

Girls Trip to Fredericksburg

We decided a mother/daughter trip was in order (highly encouraged by Brad) and while we had plans for a trip last fall, we needed to reschedule, so we fit one in this May. When we looked at rentals, the best weekend seemed to fall on Mother's Day weekend. 

Mom and Heather arrived at our place and then we headed further south to enjoy a visit to Fredericksburg.

Wait, why is there a pasture of dinosaurs?
Oh we are going through Glen Rose...should we go?
Lets do it.

It is a running dialog in our family that Heather has to remind us that SHE,
in fact, was the first one to love dinosaurs, not A.J.
SO, this picture makes me so happy we stopped.
Dinosaur-loving girl stepping in a real-live dinosaur print.

Adventure-loving girl stepping in a dinosaur print.
Feel free to notice or ignore my jeans. ;)

Sisters...you guessed it...stepping in a dinosaur print.

Mom enjoyed the beauty of the trails.

Fredericksburg has an amazing Texas/German history that was so fun to learn about.

Loved this.

Hot tub each night.

History tour. Fun seeing the words in German and English.

I love seeing items from history that I've never seen before.
This was a mechanical music box, made in Germany,
and there was a slot on one side people used to put a penny in to make it play.

Something eye-opening to me was how much they would purchase items from Germany.
It never occurred to me until these tours.

Think the stove was big enough?

Another never-knew item...a Welding Sampler.
The local blacksmith created this revolving letter index to show customers their choices for cattle brands. It also included various cowbells of different tones you could choose for your cattle.

Downtown Shopping

Firepit every night.
Fireflies were in the backyard as well, which felt magical.

German Pancake

Wildseed Farms

The history of the town.

Mom and I took a walking tour and also got a chance to look inside this building.
The people used it as a gathering place for church services, school, festivals and anytime it was needed.

Pizza night.

Heather and I went to hike up Enchanted Rock.
Amazing view on the way there.

Yep. You are hiking up a rock.

Worth the climb.

Heather indulged me and brought her espresso maker.
We had an in-house barista each morning.

Mother's Day breakfast on the back patio before heading home.