Vacation Photos ...

I apologize in advance, but this is a photo-heavy post!


Traveling by train:

(the girls in the upper bed of the room on the way there)


S'mores:



daddy kissing a sweet boy's messy face!

Playing Games:

(Setting up for Fill or Bust - which everyone should get!)


Seeing Thomas:



Looking at the model railroad that daddy helped build in his late teens:



Playing in the sand:





Kayaking:











Swimming:









Skipping rocks:



Reading:







Boating:







Lobsters:





Hanging out:



Water Skiing:





Sleeping:





And of course, it was just plain beautiful out there:








You can see more photos here

Today I will be ...

over at the Heart of the Matter Homeschooling Virtual Conference (as a listener and not a speaker) and doing laundry - because isn't that beauty of doing the conference virtually? I can listen and do laundry at the same time! And oh, I'll probably be knitting as well because I need to hurry up and finish!!

And when I get a chance I'll pop on and discuss vacation and I have lots of e-mails I need to read and respond to as well!! =)

Home again ....

Home again ... jiggity-jig-jg!

Well, we made it home.
Vacation was a LOT of fun. The train ride rocked (literally and figuratively).
I will have pictures to show soon and lots to tell. For now though ... I am tired and will save all of that for another day! =)

Just wanted to say hi and let you know that we are home!

Greetings!

We survived the night here on the big train! It was iffy there for a bit - little man and I are together in the sleeper car but there was room for the oldest too.
We finally slept at about 2 am! And I'm pretty sure I woke up about every 20 minutes!
But breakfast was good and I think my bout of motion sickness has passed. In about 5 hours we switch trains and have another 4 hours of train travel.
Riding the train has been fun so far. We are loving the freedom to walk around (or take a nap!) and draw, knit, read, color, etc!
I have a feeling we will indeed do this again!

I'm leaving on a ...

Big train!
Yes folks! Vacation has officially begin. I am live blogging from a Chicago metra train. We will arrive in Chicago soon and then we will board the big amtrack train.
I will send another picture of the sleeping car!

I'm alive!!!

Phew - I continue to be quite busy and because of that, off-line for the most part.

This last week has probably been the busiest I've had so far this summer. But, I got what I needed done - although I still have lots more I need to do in the upcoming week too!

We threw a garage sale (with my mom) and I earned a little bit of money. I'm saving for a new camera. I am not sure specifically which camera I want to buy, but I want a digital SLR - well, I've wanted one for quite some time now - but I decided that it was time to get serious and save up for it! I still don't see me getting one for quite some time, but hey, at least I have something saved for it! LOL

I also had 24 pounds of strawberries to deal with this week! Yes, that is a lot of strawberries. I have a TON of jam now, a couple pounds just frozen in the fridge. Can I just say - I LOVE canning now. I just love it. I really enjoy it. I do feel slightly guilty - it takes a bit of water and lots of stove time - but I just love it. I love being able to take strawberries and making it into something else. I can't wait to work with other things - tomatoes, different berries and fruits, vegetables! I have so many plans! I filled 24 1/2 pint jars this week and 8 pint jars! Yummy!

Next week is another crazy busy week again. In August things will start to slow down a lot though and that will be absolutely fabulous! Not that all this business lately has been bad! It's been fun. But I do look forward to relaxing more and getting more sleep and "me" time! =)

Sorry again I've been so scarce. Expect it to last through the end of this month and then I should be back more!