Randomness

This will be one of those winding, odd posts with a dash of this and that.  I finally received my battery charger for my camera and could retrieve some photos off of Olesya's camera, so I'll share a few of them here with you as well.

We started back to school on Tuesday and actually got a lot accomplished for a short week!  The math books were broken open, and the results showed that the kids didn't forget much at all over the course of our 2 month hiatus.  We are studying Colorado History this year with the girls and Joshua, while Matthew and Kenny dovetail in with other related topics, as well as developing our field trip ideas.  They are already researching "must see" places and are creating a research document for us.  We will have them track mileage, create a budget for our travels around the state, evaluate points of interest and their academic bang for the buck, and lay out routes.  We figure this will be good practice for them as they apply skills in real life situations.  We are all studying an overview of history and politics and history and economics as well this year.  Tough stuff and a LOT of work ahead of us, but it will be a ton of fun as well.

Here are a couple of photos from this weekend:

As I worked on trying to enhance these photos via photoshop, I realized I was very grateful to have my "real" camera and wished been able to use it this weekend!  Oh well, probably no one else notices the difference but me anyway :-)

Although on paper it looked like we didn't have much going on this week, it sure felt busy!  Always seems I am never quite caught up with anything, and with the beginning of school came a lot of paperwork and data entry for me on our web site for our public school program.  Hours of work creating learning plans and copying curriculum was done, and creating ideas in my head for the coming year is still an ongoing project.  While still in it's evolutionary stage, I can say that there will be lots of photo ops from upcoming road trips this year as we traipse around our magnificent state learning all we can!

Interestingly, as I have done a little research myself and stumbled upon a few blogs about RVing families, I am finding myself drawn back to a years old dream of mine...that we would somehow find a way to take several months off and see the US.  While we certainly took a step in the right direction to achieve that goal this summer, I keep coming back to the thought that it would be amazing to do what a few extraordinary families have somehow managed to do and that is travel around for several months to a year in an RV.  Skimming the blogs of families who have undertaken such a challenge is an intriguing thing to read, and Dominick and I talked a little about that this afternoon.  I don't see how we could ever pull off such a thing, but then we never thought we could adopt from Kazakhstan either...so I sit here tucked in bed tonight with books titled "Colorado Curiosities", "Frommer's Exploring America by RV" and  "Immersion Travel USA".  Because after all, aren't Mom's allowed to have a few dreams of their own???  I envision a service oriented, discovery centered, soul filling sort of journey, not just a "Let's see the touristy places" sort of vacation.  It seems like even if we do set out to have a typical vacation, it is just not in the cards for us to have ordinary experiences.  There always seems to be some sort of underlying lesson to be learned or deeper and more meaningful encounter attached to anything we do.  Actually, I kind of like it that way :-)

Speaking of trips, here are a couple more photos from our DC trip that I liked:

You know, every once in awhile I get a good case of Blog envy.  I actually don't read many blogs on a daily basis as I just don't have time to.  But there are a couple I follow regularly, and I do hit blogs as a source when researching a topic.  There are women who totally showcase on their artistic and creative talents!!  They have the most beautiful blogs filled with professional level photographs of their adorably clothed children, all perfectly coiffed as well.  They have fancy blog buttons on their side bars, wonderful backgrounds and color combinations, and modified layouts that make me cringe when I open ours up.  The lighting is always perfect in their family pictures, and they always capture these beautiful moments which they display as professionally as any web site designer could do.  They also capitalize on their blog's popularity and know how to market and "Sell themselves" as Mommy Bloggers, turning a blog into a true business venture.

I have never thought about making money on our blog, never really considered adding links or Amazon bookshelves, or any of the usual money making ideas.  I have tried to create cutsie little blogs to no avail, as I simply don't have the talent or time to devote to designing something that would be really appealing.  We also have moved well beyond the realm of cute toddlers and young elementary aged kids whose every move is so stinking cute you just have to capture it and share it with the world.  And I'll never be the kind of photographer whose photos make someone catch their breath.

mojo to really correct it well, and hit "post".  It's NOT pretty and sometimes I really do wish it was.  Other times, like when I see the smiling eyes of our children staring back at me in all their less than perfectly coiffed moments, I like it just the way it is and find it perfect in it's own unique way.

On to another tid bit, I have contacts again and am seeing waayyyyy better than I have in a very long time!  While I am still adjusting to the feel of them, my vision is certainly corrected and it is a blessing to see like most of you see.  I really, really dislike wearing glasses, as I see horribly with them and feel distanced from the world with them on my face.  I am not sure if we have the fit perfected yet with these, but it is awesome to read the clock from across the room again, or to clearly see road signs well before my car is right beside them.

Tomorrow is another camp packing day as we get Kenny, Olesya and Angela ready to head off to La Foret on Sunday.  Thankfully this is one trip we are not having to make as friends volunteered to give us a break with the driving and take them over for us...and neither of them have any kids of their own going!   The cool thing is that the 3 are as excited about spending time with our two wonderful friends as they are about going to camp!  So tomorrow will be spent getting everything ready for them to go, and working on the RV a little.

We are making little repairs here and there to the RV, and need to do some work on the flooring.  Carpeting is the single worst idea ever in a Colorado RV, where every afternoon there are rain showers during the summer and mud gets tracked in making it a nasty walk into the bathroom in your sock or bear feet at night.  We are hoping to replace the flooring with linoleum tile squares.  We also are going to work on restuffing the couch so the couch/bed is level and more comfortable.  We have added hooks everywhere for hanging towels after showers, flashlights, dog leashes and a bathroom organizer.  Dominick added in wire shelving as well into two of those large cupboards, and that should help a lot as we try and pack up for our next trip and not have to haul along luggage to keep everything together.  All in all though, Big Bertha works well and as we modify a little at a time it will make her more functional too.  She's orange, she's old, and she's AWESOME!! Hahahaha!  Now all we need is one of those large decals for the back of her saying something like "Big Bertha - The LaJoy's Rolling Yurt" or some such thing.  Oh yea, that would mean we would have to do something about the messy peeling stickers already on there.

Well, it is now officially 1:30 AM and I am pooped, time for bed.  Hope you all have a good weekend!