Strasbourg

This weekend we took decided to take a day trip to France. Strasbourg is a little less than 2hours away by car so we loaded up the car and took a fun family trip to France!




Strasbourg was one of the homes to Johannes Gutenburg, the inventor of the movable-type printing press which made the Bible more accessible for the average person.

Here they have a statue in the Place Gutenburg in his honor. (Notice in the picture Bill the Duck has also joined us on our journey in France.)



There was a carousel right next to this statue so the boys took a ride, they thought it was a little slow though. LOL



(Can you find Bill the Duck?)




It's just a beautiful city!! All of the old renaissance building seem to transport you back in time! At one point we turned the corner and BAM! this cathedral, towering over all, seemed to jump out of no where!



Funny enough this cathedral is called Notre Dame. Personally I think this one is much prettier than the one in Paris but that's just my personal opinion! :)



It took them about 300 years to build this cathedral. When it was finished it was the tallest building in the world until about 1874!

Look at the detail!!



Inside: (sorry about some of the pictures inside being a bit blurry, it was dark in there and I didnt want to use my flash out of respect)





Intricately carved pulpit:



Gorgeous pillar of angels:



Really neat astronomical clock:



Outside of the cathedral was just as beautiful! I couldn't get enough of these charming buildings!





















This one was my favorite. A teenie tiny little restaurant, older than dirt.




At the end of the day we stopped at a little cafe and had dinner. Dennis and I enjoyed a yummy potato and bacon dish that was topped with the specialty cheese of the area Munster - YUMMY!!

On our way home we got off the "beaten path" and here are some of the sites we saw along the way. Such beautiful country!!

A visitor in our home!

We have a been given a special opportunity to help another homeschooling family, in the States, out with a project! If you've ever heard of the Flat Stanley books, it's something a bit like that. They have sent us a visitor, Bill the Duck, who is going to go site seeing with us for a little while and then we will send him off to a new destination to visit with another family. In the end, he will have travelled around the world and make it back home with a journal full of adventures!

Enjoy the Picture story I have included about Bill's adventures so far:

Bill the Duck arrived safely, though he looked a bit weary after his long plane travel. He was held up with many lay-overs and delays because of the Icelandic volcano spewing ash and not allowing any plane travel over here in Europe.

We helped Bill out of his traveling quarters and checked his passport and tickets to make sure all was in order.

Elizabeth gave them a thorough inspection.
Yep! That's Bill alright!

And promptly gave Bill a warm welcome!

We let Bill stretch his legs and rest a bit.
Eventually he settled down with the boys and helped tutor them on their school work.

We are really happy to have Bill visiting us and have a bunch of plans to show him around our area! But first we'll let him rest a bit until the weekend to let the jet lag wear off.
Stay tuned!!

If you would like to see more about this project, check out his home family's blog. They have another friend, Waddles the duck off on an adventure as well!

School? On a Saturday?!

What do you mean, school on a Saturday?!

Yes, you heard that right!
We had school on Saturday, and the boys were just 'miserable' the entire time!! I mean really, who can have any sort of fun while you're running around forced to LEARN about animals at the zoo and eat ice cream at the same time!!!!

Our first visit was to the sea lions!
(the pink arrow points to the children ;) )



Elizabeth was a little taken back by them. They were darting here and there in their pool. We just had to tell her that they were like "doggies" and she started to like them a bit more... from a distance of course.



They have a small aquarium that we walked through. Sean enjoyed the jelly fish. I thought this picture turned out pretty neat.



Monkeys are always good for a laugh. This one managed to get a hold of a baby bottle that was more than likely dropped into the pen. He was having fun filling it up with water, pouring it out, standing on the bottle, rolling it around... all sorts of stuff to see how it "works".






I thought this was sweet, there was a mama monkey laying down nursing her lil'babe.




The boys got a few chances to act like monkeys themselves!!





Sean wanted to go see the Tapir next. Why? I dont know... crazy looking animal this one is!!






Of course we saw the giraffes, they have some cute babies!!



The elephants are always a great treat!!




Elizabeth wasn't all that impressed though, she was more interested in her snacks!




We got up close and personal with the Cheetahs. I did not use any zoom on this picture, he was really close!!
You can always count on the Cheetahs! I think he was enjoy the attention.



We also got a little too close for comfort to the Hippos. On this side there was glass "protecting" us but just a few steps over was the water and you could literally put your hand in the water if you reached over the edge - no bars or glass. Tubbie there, in the picture, got in the water and put on a show for us, which was pretty neat, but made mom and dad a bit nervous how close he was.


I thought this was a funny picture. Not quite sure what it says on the sign, we just assumed it meant not to walk down there. The picture is funny though, what does that mean? No "goose stepping" ?!



Here are some pretty flowers that were in the garden! I love spring time over here, it's so colorful!!!


Finally, just some quick snaps of Elizabeth I took before church this morning. :)

Books, books and more books!

Our first school year is slowly coming to a close here. I cant believe it's only been a year!! (I mean that in a good way.) It's amazing to thing that only a year ago we were battling bus bullies, Sean's stomach problems and frustration over homework lasting all night long. A lot has happened in this past year! I've learned a lot. The boys have learned A LOT - if I may say so! Ryan started the school year out just barely reading the word CAT and now easily reads on a 2nd grade level. Sean's reading has improved greatly!! He still has a few hiccups now and then but he is having a much easier time and is enjoying it a bit more (though he wont admit it ;) ). Both of the boys are able to read from the King James Bible which just impresses me so much! They enjoy it and even ask, "can we read from the Bible today?"

All of our school books have arrived for next year. I was going through the grammar and math workbooks I received from Christian Light Ed. Even the BOYS are excited about these!! The work in these books is a better match for the boys than what we are using this year. The lessons are shorter and not as much as a grind. Poor Ryan has been struggling this year with all the "seat work" he has to do during the day - and I shortened it drastically from what it actually plans for him to do. Sean struggles too for that matter but Sean is a bit older and also more used to it with being in public school for a while.

The news lately has had several very slanted articles on homeschooling lately. Using irresponsible parents as examples of the "norm" and painting a bad light. I can vouch on with first hand knowledge how much better homeschooling is than public school. The boys can't get away with "hiding in the crowd", glazed over eyes during lectures and just mouthing words during recital. Funny story: Ryan is the master of just "mouthing" the words and not actually saying anything when reciting things in a group and especially for singing. Every morning we do phonics drills: Sean, Ryan and I. We read through cards saying as a group things like "E-W says "ew" in flew." Both of the boys hate it! Haha! It only takes 5-10mins but it has helped Ryan get the foundation he needs and Sean's reading and spelling has improved greatly! Anyway!! As we're going through the cards Ryan starts just "mouthing" the words and not saying anything. I laughed and said, "Ryan! That's not going to work when it's just you and Sean saying these words - I can hear when you're not saying anything" Silly boy!!

Well I better go! Elizabeth's not feeling so well today and needs lots of cuddles. I'll end you with some pictures of Elizabeth making an absolute disaster of herself during breakfast the other day.

Happy Easter...Monday

Sorry, I'm a day late. Yesterday was just a busy busy Sunday (when is it not?)

We had a glorious Resurrection Sunday, Easter, whatever term you prefer! We don't do bunnies and easter eggs, we do put some candy in a basket and a small toy for them to enjoy. Then we got dressed up and headed off to church to celebrate the true reason for this holiday.

I have a lot of pictures to catch you up with. I've been holding out on you mostly because I haven't had the time to sit down and take them off my camera. So here ya go! Enjoy!! :)

Dennis and Elizabeth playing :) I love this picture!

This was taken last Wed night before church. I finally got her hair up in a bow and she KEPT it in! *Shock!* (the picture is a bit blurry because it's near impossible for her to sit still)

The boys' new hobby is to build new space crafts for their "guys" out of lego! They get pretty imaginative!
This first one is Ryan's:

And Sean's

And another of Sean's :

And another of Ryan's:

Easter Sunday:

We tried to take a quick picture before leaving for church. This is the best one I got... everyone kept moving, crying, looking in the wrong direction... you know, same ol' story!

We tried again at church, after service. We had a little more success this time.

On the way home Sunday night there was the most spectacular rainbow!! It has to be the brightest rainbow I've ever seen. They boys exclaimed, "you can even see the purple color". The pictures dont do it any justice but here are a few I took along the way!
What an amazing thing to see on Easter! God's promise, a rainbow, on Easter!! :)

It looked like it ended right into the city! Notice the double rainbow with it.

This is the road leading up to the base where we live, it was starting to fade by then but it was really amazing looking at the end of the road.