Halloween

Even Rudy got in the spirit this year~actually it was Vivian who decided that Rudy needed a costume. The original plan that she was going to go trick-or-treating with us. At the last minute I decided that it best that Rudy stay home.

I am so thankful this year for yearly traditions in the mist of change are so familiar and fun! Every year we get together with friends in Lincoln City and trick-or-treat in a real neighborhood.  Every year my friend Jen decorates turns her dinining room into a fabuous "Trick-or-Treat VIP Suite" complete with snacks, drinks and a official Halloween picture backdrop area. I now have a collection of pictures of the girls in costumes with their friends throughout the years. I love that so much.

The girls started off the afternoon at a Halloween party with our local home school group. Then we hit the local elementary school to meet up with some friends. The girls had fun seeing friends from when they attended the local public school. We then moved on to my friend, Jen's house to visit the VIP "Trick-or-Treat Suite" and trick-or-treat in her neighborhood.

Vivian dressed up as a witch, though she looks more like a green faced Cruella Deville. Olivia dressed up as a pirate. I am not big fan of Halloween. I hate the plastic-y, cheap costumes. I hate even more the slutty inappropriate costumes that are marketed to little girls. Worse it seems as my girls get older. I am a big fan of being creative and pulling costumes out of our dress up box and not spending a small fortune. Thought after this year I am going to have to re-vamp our dress up box as it's getting a little threadbare and needs some tender loving care.

We had a great time! This was the first year that I allowed my girls (along with their friends and an older responsible teen to accompany them) to trick-or-treat on their own.  Mr. W hung out watching tv while I got to visit with friends. It was a fun evening. Better yet, we didn't have to worry about hurrying up and getting home because we didn't have anywhere to be the following morning! Another perk of homeschooling!

Anniversary Trip to Fort Stevens State Park

Mr. W and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary with a trip in the Wonder Wagon to Fort Stevens State Park in Warrenton, Oregon. Mr. W and I have been wanting to visit Fort Stevens. We thought this would be the perfect time. I didn't realize until checking in that Fort Stevens is the largest state campground. The park is huge with over 500 camp sites, cabins and yurts. There are over 7 miles of paved hiking and biking trails. My in-laws came and stayed at our house with the girls. 

We explored Astoria and stopped to see the famous Goonies house.  Mr. W and I had to, we are children of the 80's. We enjoyed moment and a snapped a few pictures. We met up with some friends and enjoy a beer at Fort George Brewery. I love the vibe of downtown Astoria. Lot's of cool shops, breweries. There is a cute little trolley that runs up and down the waterfront. Unfortunately it wasn't running as we were visiting during the week, it runs on the weekends.

On the way home my friend Marilyn said that I needed to stop and see the large frying pan. Not sure what the significant meaning is behind it but it was quirky and fun so I had Mr. W snap my picture in front of it.

We decided to go for a walk on the beach to check out the Shipwreck Peter Iredale. What turned into a little walk on the beach ended up being a few hours and an almost 8 mile walk through the forest and back to our campsite through many different trails. 

  
Rudy enjoying the beach. Mr. W took this artistic shot of Rudy on the beach before our epic hike through the forest. 

It was a beautiful day to go exploring. We saw only a few people while hiking. October was the perfect time to visit. We would love to return and bring the girls as well as all of our bikes.

It was a fun adventure. Exploring a park that we had never visited before. It was the perfect combination of exploring, being a tourist and relaxing. It was a win-win for everyone, the grandparents go to spend some time with the grandchildren. Mr. W and I enjoyed some time without the children. The children had a total blast being spoiled by the grandparents. Our weekend came to a close too fast.

So many beautiful areas to explore in the park of Fort Stevens. The weather while we were visiting was beautiful. I was able to get some long runs in mornings exploring the park.

Baking with Nana

Bauman Farms: It's Turning Into a Tradition!

 Olivia feeding a baby goat 

One of the things the girls enjoyed when attending school was the yearly class trip Bauman Farm, outside Woodburn in the beautiful Willamette Valley. It's a perfect place to visit for a fun field trip it has it all, animals, pumpkins, apple cider and super fun dark maze that Olivia and Vivian had a blast exploring with their friends.

 Vivian feeding a baby goat 

We are in that transition part of settling into a new routine but missing the familiar routine of school, friends and the yearly field trip to Bauman Farms. My friends Jen, Megan and I thought it would be fun for us to do our own field trip to Bauman Farms to keep the fun fall tradition alive.

We had a blast. When we were there it was not crazy busy. It was a fun day. I am so glad that we were able to make this day happen. It was a bit of familiar mixed in with the new.  I celebrated with a few gallons of apple cider and a bag of apple spiced donuts. Happy Fall!

Night Away at Beverly Beach State Park

My friends think it's funny that we like to hop in the Wonder Wagon and travel such a short distance to go camping. To me it just makes sense. Why travel hours, spend a small fortune in gas when I can load up, be parked and enjoying a beer in less than a half hour and only spend a few dollars in fuel? It would be stupid to go any further as Beverly Beach State Park is beautiful. I love the beach access, the trails and the peace of being among the trees.

We enjoyed a beach walk before making the quick trip home. So close to home that Mr. W still heads to work once the Wonder Wagon is parked and we are unpacked. We have went so many times now that we have the loading and unloading down to fine science.  We keep a lot of our stuff in the Wonder Wagon so it's super easy to do last minute trips. This is the perfect time of year as school has started and most of the tourists are gone. The campgrounds along the beach have prime spots available. Reason 234 why I love homeschooling so far~opportunities to jump in the Wonder Wagon for a quick trip!

Cells: First Science Lab

Today we started science. I am staggering our subjects. We started language arts in August. Math in September. We are starting one subject at a time to get a feel for each before beginning another. Science is one of the subjects I am nervous about in addition to math. In college it was one of those classes that I dreaded taking but ended up really enjoying. I am hoping that is the case with home school science. My friend Megan spent many hours researching different curriculum. We are using Elemental Science. My friends who I am homeschooling with, Jen and Megan, we were all in agreement that we wanted a secular science curriculum. We will be studying Biology, plants, animal life and the human body this school year. The plan is to rotate houses to host science weekly. The text books and the supplemental books look really interesting. Olivia and Vivian are both very excited. The first science lab was today at Megan's. We are learning about cells this week. Like Megan explained to Jen and I to ease our minds. We are exposing our girls to biology. They do not need to know every little detail in the readings and experiments. We are introducing them to new ideas, concepts and the scientific method. We will cycle back through this again in high school. Still wanting to breath into a paper bag. I can do this. Thankful Google, YouTube and Megan for being our fearless science leader.

Brave Writer Arrow & Girls Only Book Club

In our little mini co-op we are using Julie Bogart's Brave Writer curriculum for our language arts this school year. Megan used it last year. She was so excited when explaining the curriculum and how it worked, it seemed like an easy choice. We are using the Arrow which is for 3rd-6th grade. The Arrow is ten books that are used one per month over the the course of the school year. The above book, Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai, was the Arrow's September's selection.  

Each month, in our monthly subscription comes four selected passages are used for each week. The selected passage from the book that are used for weekly copy work and dictation as well as monthly literary element that is usually a fun writing exercise. You can purchase it month by month. I purchased the entire year in August as soon as it came out. It's still all very new to me. Two months into this the girls are enjoying it. The one thing that we all do is read the book on our own and have the five girls discuss the book together. The first book club discussion was awkward but we have faith as the school year continues that it will become easier and easier.  

It was Olivia's turn to host book club. We had dim sum soup and glutinous rice cakes. We went to a Asian Food Market and the lady helping us suggested the correct noodles to use, Vietnamese tea and the type of incense Vietnamese would most likely use as she was Vietnamese herself.  Olivia was so excited as we put together our dinner. She even found some Vietnamese music to play when our friends arrived. We are loving our little all girls book club. We are looking forward to next month's selection, Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm.