Family Camping at Stone Mountain

For Father's Day, we went camping at Stone Mountain State Park.

Had to try out the new tent!

Breakfast was breakfast burritos I made at home and froze, so we just threw them on the fire to warm up in the morning....potatoes, venison sausage, eggs, cheese...yum!

Some great hiking trails. Here the boys are planning our path.

Can you see the moon in the sky?

An old chimney still left in the woods...we were taking turns telling stories and trying to figure out how old it might have been.

Yep, made me feel realllllly good as we kept on walking!

DON'T lean over the edge, did you not just read the sign?!

The water was moving fairly quickly.

That is a steep drop off.

My sweet boy, rock jumping.

She took a notepad with her and stopped along the way to draw pictures.

My oldest! I cropped the picture, or else you would see how tall he is!

About the middle of the falls.

The resting stop at the half way point...

The kids counted, there were 327 steps to go down and then, 327 to go BACK UP!

My sweet girl, sitting at the bottom and drawing the waterfall.

So very pretty once we got to the bottom.

Shoes off and playing in the water.

All the cuties together.

Look at the rock I found, Mom!

The water splashing.

The view from the top of part of Stone Mountain. There were multiple "peaks" and so I'm not exactly sure which one is the "top"...they all seemed to be about the same height. The loop around was about 3.5 miles. Quite a hike!

They love to do these "jumping" shots. I just love the facial expressions!

This one is cute as well....

And, then our battery ran out. No pictures from Day 2!

It was definitely a fun and enjoyable family camping trip though :)!

Pilot Mountain Thru Gwangi's Eyes

These are some of the favorite photos that Gwangi took last week on our family hike around Pilot Mountain.

The water here was very peaceful

Sister and her walking stick

This might be his first "selfie"

He really enjoyed the stuff growing and climbing up the trees

Look at that bright green bug!

A dead dragonfly

Sister's hand holding flowers

Gwangi really liked the multi colored grass

He liked that he found 2 red leaves in the summer

Krypto looking at something

Some neat trees

Rocks!

Sissi's Dance Recital Rehearsal

Today was the rehearsal for Sissi's dance recital on Thursday night. The night of the production there is no videography or photography allowed, so today was the day for pictures....still with no flash, but I think they turned out alright.

Her tap piece is to the pop song, "I'm not a doll." It's not a piece I'm familiar with, and it's definitely a bit "sassy," but she seems to enjoy it. The dance opens with one of the older teens as the "doll" coming out of her dollhouse.

Sissi and her friend Riya are in the same class.

The older girl that dances as the doll.

There there is the ballet piece. The girls are dancing to "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story.

Here is my girl by the stairwell and chandelier at the Stevens Center in downtown Winston Salem.

She was so very beautiful! I can't wait until Thursday night...to present her with flowers and to see her dance in both the Finale and with her Daddy at the end of the recital in the Daddy Daughter dance. 

When asked if she wants to dance next year in Kyrgyzstan, she says she wants to learn how to ice skate and become an ice dancer. Gwangi wants to play hockey...so, I'm thinking beginning ice skating lessons for 3 kiddos and 2 adults might be in our future!

Learning History with Games

You know that we've begun the cleaning, organizing, packing, and purging that goes along with any major move.

As I go room by room and make my lists, I am not only planning clothing, bathroom, and kitchen items that we'll be taking for 5 people, for 3 years overseas, but also school stuff for the three children for 3 years.

One of the dreams that Indy and I have had for a long time is that when the kids get old enough, we want to play games with them that will teach them about history.

For years, Indy was a history teacher and he loved to use games in the classroom (and play test them over his lunch hour with other faculty.)

This past year we covered the 20th Century, so we'll be coming back around to the beginning of time this next fall. Our plan, to incorporate some gaming fun into education, is going to look something like this...

Year 1 - Covering the beginning of time to the Fall of Rome.
*We'll have a 6th, 4th, and 2nd grader

We'll be playing "Chariot Lords" in the fall to see the rise and fall of the different ancient civilizations as we study them. As we move into studying Rome, we'll play the "Rome" game which is actually 3 games in one. Finally, we'll finish off our studies that year with "The Journeys of Paul" game so that we can see what the apostles went through as they traveled the world, spreading the Good News.

Year 2 - Covering the Fall of Rome to the beginning of the 19th Century.

*We'll have a 7th, 5th, and 3rd grader

"Empires of the Middle Ages" is similar to "Chariot Lords" in that it will follow the chronology of the Medieval time period. We'll also be taking "Here I Stand" (not pictured) to re-enact the time period of the Protestant Reformation. It is an excellent game that we took with us to Tanzania and left there for the student body at HOPAC. We are in the process of getting another copy with Indy's trade credit (he traded in a good portion of his game collection to a game store since we've been home this year.) Finally, "Liberty," as you can see from the cover, it details the period of the American Revolution.

Year 3 - Covering the entirety of the 19th Century.

*We'll have an 8th, 6th, and 4th grader

Indy was able to get some 6mm miniature armies and then we can re-enact many of the Napoleonic battles of the early 19th Century. We're also bringing along "For the People" which covers the period of the American Civil War.

Believe me when I say, we are leaving dozens of games behind, in storage. Many reasons for this...space and weight in taking stuff overseas is probably number one...but, also, our kids are now 11, 9 and 6. These game choices were made for a young Dialectic and an older Upper Grammar student who have gaming experience. Our younger daughter will more than likely play with me, as a team. When we're home on furlough next time, we'll be looking at a rising Rhetoric student and we have many, many more game choices to consider then. It will be a whole new batch of fun to bring the next time.

Enjoy! And, let us know if you've used games in your study of history. Which ones and how did it go?