Baycation

The week following Labor Day we finally took a summer vacation. Summer vacations will never happen for our family during traditional vacation time. We're too busy helping kids and other folks enjoy their summer vacations. And we wouldn't have it any other way. (I miss summer.) :(

We headed out as soon as family camp was over and drove to Hilton Head, SC. We had a house for the week with my mom and dad and brother, sister-in-law, and nieces. By the end of the week we were ready to sign up for the following summer. What a great week! I took a few pictures to prove it.

Avery did his best to dig up the beach.

   

My niece Jordan.

Avery and Jordan enjoyed the water for about the first ten minutes of our first beach visit. Then a big wave finished off their interest.

"Hey Avery, is that a big wave I see coming?"

"Nah Jordan, don't worry. It's nothing." "Yeah, you're probably right Avery."

"Oh crud! It is a wave!" Avery played chivalrous gentleman and did what he could to keep her upright. Not long after they both made a beeline for the sand and stayed there the rest of the week.

The others thought the waves were great. Grandad shared his surfing expertise.

Can it still be considered a "hang ten" when it's fingers hanging over the front of the board instead of toes?

"That was some righteous action, dude."

After the first day we headed off to the store for a second board.

The littlest Himstedt didn't care for getting knocked down by salty water either, but she definitely loved the beach.

Grandmom and the Himstedt girls

Jonathan and Jordan

Here's how crowded the beach was. We could barely find room to put our stuff down. We stayed in a hoity toity gated community (well, gated whole end of the island, really), where all the houses were big and the same color. We hauled most of our stuff on a small trailer borrowed from the Davidson family (thanks, Curtis!), and found out on our way down there that not only were trailers not allowed, neither was advertising on vehicles. If you've seen my Expedition you know it's a rolling billboard. After pleasant, but useless pleading with the gate Nazi, we took the trailer off site to the rental office, and covered our back windows with trash bags. "After all, we can't have it looking like a carnival around here," he said. Gee, everywhere we go FEELS a bit like a carnival with this crew, why not look like one too?

Two of my favorite vacation companions.

A zoom lens is a worthy investment. If you can sneak up on the kids from afar you can occasionally avoid goofy face pictures. I like this one. (The picture and the kid.)

Grandmom and Reagan. She's a one year old maniac around water. That always makes for a fun time for the parents!

We tried to spend as much time as we could in water of some kind. The house had a small pool in the back, just right for the kids. The water was about three degrees too cold for my taste since it was always in the shade, but the kids didn't have a problem with it. I didn't back in the day either, now I'm a weenie when it comes to cold water. I suffered for the cause, though, and spent plenty of time in it.

Elizabeth the juice box scavenger. No unattended drink is safe with her around.

What you're about to see next defies explanation. At least I caught it all on camera.

This one was practicing karate kicks into the pool.

Back to the beach. It was about a block's walk down the quiet neighborhood road.

I love this one. Two boards walking to the beach.

And a random bunny beside the sidewalk.

I'm here! The party can start now.

All of these pictures were taken slightly before The Great Jellyfish Attack of 2010. I was standing in the water with Amelia, Shannon, Jonathan, and my dad. Suddenly Amelia started screaming, then my dad and brother grabbed their legs too. I high tailed it out of the water with the kids in tow, hoping it didn't have it in for me and Shannon as well. It was near the end of the week, thankfully, so it didn't curb too much wave fun. Amelia looked like she had been thrashed thoroughly with a piece of barbed wire. She was very brave though, and it had to hurt more than she let on.

Jordan decided she liked Elizabeth's float system. We sent the yellow tutu looking tube home with them at the end of the week. It did a good job turning Avery and then Elizabeth into buoys the past few summers, but Elizabeth has now decided she prefers just arm floaties minus the spare tire around the middle.

Jonathan's GQ shot. I'm proud of my bro. He's lost nearly 50 pounds this past year and has now participated in two triathalons. James did the second one with him this past weekend, the results of which I'll share in a coming post in oh, say, three years at this rate.

It's nice that we never have to outgrow our love of playing in the sand.

I just thought James was looking pretty hot sitting there so I had to take a picture. I've always liked it when other girls give him a second glance. It's confirmation of my good choice. :) Sorry if that's TMI.

Elizabeth was probably telling my dad how to build a sand castle the right way. She likes to tell people what to do.

Back to the pool.

The kids had fun playing with Uncle Jon. At one point Shannon was standing on the edge of the pool, trying to get Jonathan to turn backwards so he could pounce on his back. Jonathan kept doing exactly what Shannon told him to. "Turn around." So he turned all the way around. "No, go that way." So he moved away the direction Shannon pointed. This went on for quite awhile, and Amelia who was observing the whole thing (and laughing) leaned over to me gesturing toward Jon and said in a low voice, "He isn't very smart."

In spite of the pool's diminutive size, James and Jonathan were able to exchange tips and tricks for triathalon swimming. The upside of the pool being small is that they could say they had swum 2,183 laps in 30 minutes.

Row, row, row your boogie board.

Another great thing about Hilton Head is that there are paved bike paths everywhere. You can pretty much get anywhere on the island by bicycle, as long as you're not in a big hurry to get there. Everywhere a road intersects a path you have to stop. But the highest point on the island is 10 feet above sea level, so it made for flat riding. It was beach cruiser territory for sure, so it was hard to know if we were extra cool or just dorky on our road bikes.

The kids had a blast. On two afternoons James and I were able to leave the younger ones napping with grandparents and take a long ride with Shannon and Amelia.

We rode to the harbour and visited our yacht. Looks like the hired help has been taking good care of it for us

Check it out, I WAS on this vacation! A picture to prove it.

And another one of Amelia and I goofing around, a much closer and scarier picture.

The lighthouse was our destination. Here it is.

Then we shocked our children by offering to buy them ice cream.

The mint chocolate chip Shannon and I both got was dripping and running in little streams off our cones the whole time we were trying to eat. I gave up trying to be neat after finishing off two napkins. This photo doesn't do justice to the amount of green goo that was actually on his face.

We headed back to the house after our trek to the lighthouse, and then went back to the same place in the car to check out the play ground.

The boys were pretending the tree house/deck was a pirate ship. Arghhh.

Aunt Lisa was happy to oblige Amelia's request for a spin.

Her eyes actually crossed a few times when she stopped spinning.

So Shannon wanted a turn, naturally.

He didn't fare quite so well. His face was nearing the color of his shirt when the ride was over and he sat on a bench for a long time afterwards. I was feeling his pain after giving it a try myself. Ugh.

Elizabeth was probably trying to tell Grandad what to do again.

There's our yacht again, on the far left.

We enjoyed hanging out in the house too. I read two books while on vacation, a first in about seven years.

It didn't take Jordan long to figure out that Amelia knew how to read.

Lisa's birthday was the day after we would go our separate ways, so we celebrated in advance.

There's nothing like turning 29 again. Done it myself a few times now.

I love how little kids will always try and help you blow out candles. Look at Jordan in the background. Not sure what Amelia was doing here...looks like she was hoping for bedtime to come soon.

It was a wonderful week, and a fantastic way to end the summer. I decided after vacation that fall could come and I wouldn't complain too much. Because fall always asks me, after all. I do miss swimming weather and I dislike the shortening of the days. It makes me feel claustrophobic with the dark closing in on both sides during hours when it's supposed to be light. But since I said I wouldn't complain too much, I'll quit now.

The days fell back into their regular routine upon our return home, including the school routine.

The trip served to solidify Elizabeth's love of her swim suit. I found her like this one day, with the other kids ready to "go on an adventure," they said. Wow.

Here's some of what we did for school the week after vacation. Amelia may be one of the only second graders studying World History, but we're having fun with it this year. Here she is writing her name in cuneiform, predecessor to hieroglyphics.

So maybe they didn't use pink clay, and maybe they didn't use a screwdriver as a writing instrument. We don't claim to be authentic around here, just resourceful.

Unfortunately we didn't realize our clay wasn't the air dry kind. So much for demonstrating the longevity of an archeological artifact. Oh well, it was still fun.

I hope to post the next installment of The Hopelessly Belated Himstedt Chronicles soon. See ya than!

A field trip, trippin' to Texas, with family camp thrown in

Travel with me back to August, then pretend like we're still in that month. Now we're all ready to proceed with this post.

We started school mid-August, and I've been trying to document at few things here and there both for myself, and for the kids' "permanent record," whatever that is. All I know is that when I was going through public school we all had one.

One day in late August we were learning how a wing works, and did an experiment with home made gliders. It was also to learn about the scientific process, recording data, all that fun stuff.

So will the glider with the shorter, wider wings fly further, or the one with the longer, thinner wings? Throw them both ten times and record the results and average them, and you'll know for yourself.

Amelia was the official data recorder.

And the long/thin wing combo is the winner! We have concepts like "aerodynamics" and "drag" to thank for that.

Also at the end of August a field trip opportunity came through on one of the home school email loops I'm on. It's unusual to have anything worth going to close to home, especially right here in Cleveland. We met up with some other home schoolers for a field trip to White County's Mountain Airpark airport. (Yes, we have an airport. I don't recommend landing your commercial jet here, or any other jet for that matter, but it was still a fun.) Pretty cool that it coincided with our flight/wing study too.

They even let Avery fly a plane.

The lady in yellow is a flight instructor there and gave us the run down of this particular aircraft. It reminded me of what I once heard comedian Ron White describe as "a pack of gum with wings." A kid in the group asked a question about flight, and I was able to impress the instructor lady with my freshly acquired knowledge of the wing's airfoil design, and how it creates lower air pressure over top of the wing, therefore creating lift. Well, I did that in my head anyway. Why home school I've been asked- so you can learn stuff as an adult you never had any interest in as a kid. Give me about five more years of this and I will ROCK some Trivial Pursuit.

Propeller? Check. Flaps? Check. Altimeter? Check. Ashtray? Check.

The Mountain Airpark only has a grass strip, and is very popular with the ultralight crowd. We see them circling overhead a lot on weekends. A nice guy who has turned a hangar into a home and lives at the field showed us several of his ultralights.

Anyone else concerned by the big "EXPERIMENTAL" label?

Shannon and friend Cory from church.

Amelia and friend Sarah, Cory's sister.

In spite of the dire warnings of death stamped on the ultralights, I've always thought it would be great fun to fly in one. Maybe I need to hang around the airport more and make some friends. And if the kids want to ride in one of course I'll say, "THERE'S NO WAY IN HECK."

Shannon has officially achieved snaggletooth status now. Tooth number two came out the week of our fieldtrip.

Perhaps he will be a dentist.

When this goofball sees the camera out she always wants her picture taken and then wants to see it. A disposable camera really throws all of them for a loop.

The last weekend in August was James' dad's 60th birthday. James' brothers and sister, grandparents, and aunt (all in Texas), plus his uncle from Colorado were all driving over for the weekend. So James flew in to surprise them and be a part of the festivities. It was a terrific surprise, only his brother Jason knew he was coming. He timed it to arrive just after the bulk of the crowd got there, and even made his mother cry. (I'm told it was a GOOD kind of cry...) Here are a few pictures.

James and his dad and sibs- Jennifer, Jared, and Jason.

Grandpa and Grandma Himstedt, Dad and Mom H. James was very grateful to get to see his grandparents. Grandpa H.'s health has suddenly taken a downhill turn, and he doesn't get to see his grandparents nearly enough.

Fred/Dad/Papa through the years.

Dad and his parents and sibs- Aunt Frieda and Uncle Dennis.

Laura, my sweet sister-in-law, Jared's wife. They are expecting their first baby who will be born by C-section on Tuesday, October 12. Please pray for them, the baby (a girl) has been diagnosed with hydrocephalus, and there will be a flurry of figuring out what to do and then surgery right after she is born. Our hearts hurt, but our God is big- and so we pray.

All told the weekend was very enjoyable, and James headed back to Georgia on Monday to get ready for our first ever Strong Rock Family Camp on Labor Day weekend. It was a big success, and though the turn out was smaller than were hoping for, the families that came had a terrific time and all promised to come again and bring friends. I know our family sure had a good time.

The first family to arrive had a five year old with a Rip Rider identical to Shannon's. His name is Joshua and he's a Strong Rock School kindergartner. He and Shannon became fast friends and hung out together all weekend. Shannon is hoping we'll say yes to him doing a session of camp this summer and would like to be in a cabin with Joshua.

Our friends the Jennings participated in family camp. Amelia and Meg enjoyed hanging out. This and the next few are pictures I stole from Anne, and for reasons my non-technically minded brain doesn't understand, some are teeny.

:)

Shannon and Joshua.

"Helping" the Jennings family build a fire at their Outdoor Living class.

Families were able to sign up to participate in several classes, including horseback riding, climbing, canoeing, riflery, archery, arts and crafts, and more. They also played camp-wide games in the evening. We ran it a lot like the summer camp schedule, which all the kids loved. Several of the adults, however, were dying and begging for mercy. Next time we'll schedule some more downtime!

As soon as families were leaving from Family Camp on Sunday, we were heading out for vacation. September 6-11 we went to Hilton Head, SC with my folks and my brother and sister-in-law and nieces. Because there are lots of pictures and it deserves it's own post, I'll stop here for now. It was a FUN week, the kind where your biggest dilemma is "Do we swim in the ocean or in the pool?" More on that later.

Before I sign off I wanted to post a series of the kids' latest remarks that I think are worth remembering.

The other day Avery was talking to himself in the presence of the other kids, then looked at a picture one of them had colored. He pointed to it and said, "I change your color, (raises one hand straight up, dramatically) by the POWER OF GOD!" I got cracked up and had to laugh that the power of God had to be invoked for a coloring book page. It's not enough just to get a new crayon...

Lately Avery has also been praying out loud, and goes through a LONG list of things he's grateful for. He asked the blessing this week and thanked God for "toilets to pee in." Thanks, dude, for the reminder to be grateful for all things, but maybe next time we could save that one for a time when we're not at the table?

We went to Monkey Joe's (one of those places full of inflatable jumpy things) a few times when they had free admission Tuesdays in September. On the way the first time Elizabeth said she wanted to go to "Junky Moe's."

She is a kid who misses nothing and her attention to detail is surprising. This week Amelia left the table during snack time and came back to find a few of her crackers gone. She was also working on some math problems left over from school that morning. Elizabeth was sitting next to her, and Amelia kept blaming her for the missing crackers. Elizabeth kept saying no, then exasperated looking finally pointed to Amelia's book and said, "Do your math."

This week Shannon was late to the dinner table. I called him a few times and when he came down one of the other kids asked him what he had been doing. I kidded that he was probably just upstairs putting together a rocket so he could blast off through the ceiling. He shook his head and not missing a beat said, "Nah, I didn't have all the parts."

And now, from Amelia. We were doing creative writing for school the other day, and were playing a game that helps reinforce how a story is put together. She randomly drew a main character, a setting, and a situation or problem. Then she wrote a story including those elements. She drew "princess," "forest," and "battle." Here is her story:

Once upon a time, Princess Bell was in her garden, hiding because there was a battle in the field. Her father was dead, her mother was dead. Her sister took care of her. One day Bell died at battle, but on Sunday, though dead, rose from the dead. She praised God and had fun for the rest of her life. The End.

I congratulated her on her creativity, and then had a good chuckle around the corner. I love this story.

Lots more to come in the near future, including baycation (Avery and Elizabeth's word), both boys' birthdays, and much, much more. But wait! Call now and we'll include photos of more missing teeth! An offer you can't refuse!

For now, goodnight and goodbye.