Peggy's Trail

On Saturday we went on a little hike/walk on Peggy's trail here in Ames. I've been trying to get my family out in the great outdoors more with hopes of camping trips in the future. This little hike took us about two hours with Reagan walking most of the way, stopping for potty, snack, and a Bible reading break. We had a great time and the fall weather was perfect.

 

The most fun thing about hiking is occasionally going off the trail to investigate fallen trees!

Caedmon found a log that he thought looked like a crocodile head. I thought it looked like a big snake head. Do you see it?

Caedmon is part monkey.

 

The High Trestle Bridge

The High Trestle Bridge in Madrid makes for a fun evening ride. Especially when you're with wonderful family including a sweet daughter to sing made up songs into the night. This is definetly a must see for any cyclist or even someone just wanting to enjoy a fun evening walk. My advice though, make sure you have a light on your bike! Part of the trail gets VERY dark.

I really want to take a ride out there during the day so I can see the view...not just the lights. Pretty cool huh?

Mutton Bustin!

About a month ago Caedmon did mutton bustin again at the Dayton Rodeo. It had rained the day before and also when we got there which made a giant mud bath to compete in. Caedmon said that the sheep were so wet and muddy that they seemed much harder to hold on to this year. And the sheep seemed to not want to run much through the mud but it made for a very memorable rodeo.

School starts and a fun outing!

Now that the first few weeks of home schooling are over and we are finally starting to work through the shock of this giant change I feel like I can post these pictures without a grudge. It has been a huge adjustment for all of us. One with lots of tears from Caedmon and Mom the first few days. As the days have gone by we've all started to see some of the benefits of this big change. There have been many very hard days, but also great ones. I'm learning that God might have been nudging us in this direction for reasons far more important then academics. I believe He's daily refining me to love my children in a more purposeful, grace giving way and it's slowly but surely causing me to become more specific with my schedule. For Caedmon, I believe that God wants him to learn to submit better to his parents and be joyful even when that is hard. This could have been learned while he was going to public school, we just have an all day opportunity now...which is wonderful and exhausting! :)

This was the first Monday of Classical Conversaitons for Caedmon. The girls go to Grandma's house every Monday morning.  Notice all the hugs from Caedmon to his sister? These guys are surprisingly getting along way better. All the time together is forcing them to become friends...which Momma loves! We have our fair share of fights around here but considering how much they are together now, I'm pleasantly surprised at how much they have been playing great together!

They are getting so big!

A benefit to home schooling is that we get lots more freedom as a family. We have way more time to go visit people, take fun outings, learn math and spelling while grocery shopping, do school in the tree house, learn home economics while cleaning together or baking muffins, and most of all incorporate God into everything we learn. Just to name a few. It's still been a difficult change and I've sacrificed a ton of "free" time, but these good things outweigh the not so good things by far!
Here are some pictures of one of our outings with Caitlin, Ki, and Ella. A trip to downtown on Cyride for a visit to the pet shop, Great Plains pizza, and the Library. It was a good day!
I hope we are all close to get an adult picture of this someday!

I hadn't been on a Cyride in years! It was actually really nice to just sit there are not think about driving.

Payton didn't like the smell in the pizza place and had a hard time focusing on eating. 

I was wishing I was napping right about then too.