Between Alaska and Camp

 Letter to Cami:   June 25, 2017

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Hi, Cami!

How has your week been? Are you back up and running with a new ipad yet? Hopefully you've been able to see the photos and videos we've shared over the last couple of weeks. If not, let me know what the last thing you got was and we will try to re-upload whatever you didn't receive.

So, we can't wait to hear about this upcoming transfer. We assume that you'll likely stay there since Soeur Wadsworth is going home and you're a STL, but who knows? Let me know if you think I should send all of your letters to the mission home this week just to be safe. I already mentioned this in my previous email, but please also let me know where you'd like me to send your next package to and if there's anything specific you'd like me to include in it. I can wait to send it until you hear officially where you'll be.

Dad's at the cabin in Idaho this weekend. It's been a little sad not to have him home on his birthday, but I think he's really enjoying the time he's been able to spend with his siblings. He comes home tomorrow.

 

Adam heads to scout camp bright and early tomorrow morning. Emma goes up to YW camp tomorrow afternoon and Ellie and I head up on Tuesday! It should be a fun week full of camping. I'm happy at least that the weather forecast doesn't look too horrible for my 5th YW camp in a row!

It was fun to officially meet Madeleine M. on Thursday.

 

 I felt bad because the only day she was available was the day our AC was getting replaced, which meant we were stuck at home in a stiflingly hot house, but she was a good sport and came anyway. She is beautiful and very prim and proper and we loved her British/French accent. She is doing much better health-wise and actually attended Julliard part-time this past semester. Apparently she still has to undergo regular treatment for her AML and travels back-and-forth quite a bit for that, but it was great to see her healthy enough for a visit! Spencer seemed to really enjoy meeting her too, and I enjoyed seeing Spence act "grown up" in her presence.

Here's your weekly update on everyone:


Dad--got home from Alaska, got sick with a bad cold (which made it hard for him to breathe), worked his tail off for two days, then took off for Idaho. We've seen very little of him this past week and will see even less of him this upcoming week. :( Hopefully it'll be a bit quieter after camps are over.

Me--I got all excited to start cooking again when we got home from vacation, but unfortunately the only thing cooking was us! Our AC broke while we were on vacation and it was 85° in here when we got home. It was a loooooooong couple of roasty toasty days, in which I forbade anyone from turning on the oven or stove. We've had a few homecooked meals since it was fixed on Thursday night, but I daresay our kitchen is feeling somewhat neglected currently.

Spence--I think he really enjoyed Alaska. He's been playing a lot of video games since he's been home and seemed to really enjoy Madeleine's visit on Thursday. He needs a purpose.

Emma--She loved Alaska and missed cooking even more than I did. When I finally gave the green light for using the stove/oven again, she went on a cooking super spree. She not only planned the menu for the next few days, but she also went to the grocery store and did all the shopping herself, and she's been making every item of food herself (until tonight, when I finally got to make something).

Adam--He's always been pretty mature for his age, but recently he's been extra mature. He still loves to make sure everyone is following the rules, including being the main enforcer of Ellie's medicine intake, but he also is calm and likes to make sure things are running smoothly. He doesn't complain when we ask him to help out and I've gotten several compliments lately on how mature/helpful he is. He's also quite the calm social presence as well. He's not girl-crazy, but loves to go to every dance and ask girls to dance for every slow song. He's also good at recruiting his friends to come and ask girls too.

Ellie--As usual, she's growing up fast. You will be surprised at how grown up she is when you get home. She talks about fashion and boys and music, and all other sorts of teen-agey type of things to talk about. She's also still a little obsessed with her dystopian novel du jour, which means we hear all about Divergent too! She wears high heels to church (now that her feet are SIZE 9!!!!!!) and loves to curl her hair.  

We love you and hope you're having a wonderful week! I was happy to hear that G. was happy with his MCAT score! Hope they're having a great trip to Italy!

LOVE YOU!!!!!

Love,
Mom


Here are another couple of random photos:

This one was taken on a Saturday morning hike with AnnaLisa from Carderock to Great Falls and back (about 7 miles).    

 

 

This was at a little swimming hole we went to with friends....

 

Spring Break: Visiting Sunny Florida!

After leaving Atlanta, we got on the road and headed to sunny Florida!    This was state #42 for Ellie and Adam,  and #44 for Emma!   Glen, Spence, and I had been there before, so it was not a new state for the three of us.  

As much as we would have loved to have driven into the heart of Florida and explored it more, we didn't have enough time on this trip.    Pensacola was where we stayed the night and Perdido Key State Park was the beach we decided to visit!   

It was a tad too chilly to swim for most of us, but Ellie and Emma stayed in the water for quite a while...

and it was absolutely beautiful weather for walking along the beach.  

The sand there was so soft that it squeaked underneath our feet.  

After the beach, we ate dinner at the seaside Harbour Grill.  

The food was delicious and even matched up to Emma's standards, which these days is saying something significant. 

We went to church there in Pensacola the next morning and afterward tried to go on a hike...


However, the trails were poorly marked and all seemed to dead-end quickly, so we ended up unsuccessful in that quest.    

It was lovely anyway though and before long we were off on the next part of our adventures! 

A Day at the Beach

June 7: Today we gathered with Ellie's little girly book group, who had just read a book about Mary Anning and her fossil finds,  and headed to Flag Pond State Park in Maryland for a day at the beach.

Zoe E., Ellie, Simone T., Miriam P.

After a stressful couple of weeks since returning home from our trip, this was exactly the laid-back, social kind of day we needed.   

And it was just as social for me as it was for Ellie!   

 Martha E., me, Katherine T., and Sarah G.

The kids were finding fossilized shark teeth, cool seashells....

and even jellyfish!

The weather was exceedingly lovely (low 80's and sunshiney)...

and it ended up being a perfect day....

for everyone!

Priscilla G, Simone T, Zoe E, Haven T, Abigail G, Lydia G, Ellie, Hannah G, Miriam P

 The only downside is that we apparently are out of practice on applying sunblock on a frequent basis, because Adam, Ellie, and I  all ended up with a little sunburn, despite a good slathering of it at the beginning.

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Beware the Ides of March

March 15:   

"Beware the Ides of March," Shakespeare warned us hundreds of years ago.   Still I woke up today and attempted to function!  And only a couple days after the advent of Daylight Savings Time at that!  

It was not pretty.    

I yelled at the kids.  I tore into a project, only to get half-way done and abandon it, leaving a bigger mess than I started with.   I backed out of a commitment.   I worried more over the situation with Mr. Jerk Bully.  I never put on make-up or changed out of my sweats.  I obsessed over a weird new mole that randomly appeared on my foot.  I was anti-social when a friend was over.  I laid down on the floor to do sit-ups and fell asleep.  I had to put myself into time-out several times.  

In a small victory though, I did manage to eat well for the day.   We are off the Whole30 diet now, but we are still trying to be better about watching what we eat.  Tonight we had baked salmon over chopped spinach with a fresh fruit salsa.   It was delicious and made me *almost* forget about wanting to eat a decadent dessert too!   I held fast though, even if it probably contributed to my general state of nonfunction today! 

Later, in an attempt to salvage what was a fairly crappy day, we went to the gym to at least try and get some exercise.   

Too bad the kids were so excited about rock climbing and swimming (things that need chaperones), that I didn't get an ounce of exercise. 

They had a great time and can't wait to come back again.  

I, however, will forever shun gyms and interactions with all humans, projects, and productivity on all future Ides of Marches that come along!    I think it probably best for everyone that way.  

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Hiking to Calvert Cliffs

Oh what do you do on a Saturday

when all the world is soggy?  

Do you stay nice and dry at home

while you play with your doggy?   

No!  

You pack some food, bundle up the kids, pick up a couple of friends along the way, drive for an hour and a half, then go for a hike! 

At least that's what our crazy crew does!  

We drove through driving rain and arrived to Calvert Cliffs State Park right as it started thundering.   We briefly debated not hiking, but quickly decided that we'd come that far, a little thunder wasn't going to stop us.  Especially since the thunder was in the distance and there didn't seem to be even an ounce of lightning.  

 It was a pretty soggy walk, but we still enjoyed seeing a real deal beaver dam along the way, along with its accompanying beaver-made reservoir.     I, of course, had to use our proximity to a dam to throw in a little dam humor.   I commented to the kids on how the trail must now be called the Dam Trail and weren't the dam water lilies lovely and such.   

It  is almost a 2-mile hike to this beach...famous for it's beautiful cliffs and abundant fossils.  Lucky us, it stopped raining right as we arrived, although I think the kids would have had just as much fun even if it had kept raining!    

The kids swam in the warm water of the Chesapeake Bay...

and found some awesome seashells and fossils!  

After a couple of hours of fun... 

we trekked back to the car.

Then we drove to the very cute seaside town of Solomon's Island, got lunch, ate some delicious ice cream, and watched these threatening looking clouds roll by without so much as dropping one drop of rain on us.  

All in all, it was a fun day with the kids and we would gladly go back to Calvert Cliffs again someday, although it won't be anytime too soon!   Now that the soccer season has started, our Saturdays are about to be jam-packed again!  

(we did this hike on 9/12/15)

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Emma's 8th Grade Trip!

When I homeschooled Spence in 8th grade, my parents invited him to go on a trip to British Columbia with them.   It ended up being a great trip and he loved having  the opportunity to go somewhere that he likely would not have been able to go if he had been in school that year.   We liked the idea of it, so when Cami got to 8th grade two years later, Glen took her on a trip to Denver.

Now we had two official 8th grade traditions--homeschooling and a special trip.  

We had a few years after Cami before Emma's 8th grade year rolled around, so there was plenty of time to concoct something big and exciting for her trip.   My sister, Heather, is an attorney who loves to travel, so we put her on the task of trip planning.  She got excited about Emma potentially accompanying her on one of her trips and thus began Emma's exciting 8th grade trip  plans!

Emma and Heather discussed at length different options for their trip, but in the end the super cheap plane tickets to TURKEY made that their winning destination.    And less than two full weeks after returning from New Zealand, Emma hopped on an 11-hour flight to Istanbul!

They just returned from their trip after enjoying an exciting 10-days there and although there won't be quite as much commentary as there normally is here on the blog, since I wasn't there, but here are some pictures from their amazing journey.

Since we were a little nervous about the two of them traveling in Turkey by themselves, we convinced our brother Tim to go along and be the intimidating male presence!

Istanbul

ISTANBUL

The first stop on their journey was Istanbul where they saw amazing sites like the stunning Blue Mosque...

Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque

Here's the famous Ayasofya...

Ayasofya

And yet another shot of the Blue Mosque!

Blue Mosque, Istanbul

The spice market for a chef like Emma was a colorful and exciting place to visit….

Spice Market, Istanbul

Getting a treat wasn't as easy as she expected...

Ephesus

Next they took an domestic flight (which are super, super cheap) to Izmir so they could visit  Ephesus…

Ephesus

Ephesus is an ancient city that over the centuries has been ruled over by the Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires.   The temple to the goddess Artemis, four times larger than the Parthenon,   is considered one of the "seven wonders of the ancient world."    

The ruins were spectacular, the carvings intricate, and they were amazed at the artisanship of the ancient people who had built this great city.

AFter Ephesus, they drove to Priene, which was also a cool ancient city full of ruins…

Priene

but Priene is a little more off the beaten path and didn't get the Mediterranean cruise tour group traffic that Ephesus did...

Priene

They loved how much less crowded it was there and enjoyed exploring the beautiful ruins.

Priene

Next they drove to Pamukkale where they saw the stunning, world famous travertine hot spring terraces...


The terraces are naturally created by the calcium deposits in the hot springs and can only found a few places in the entire world.  

Travertine Terraces, Pamukkale

Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone is an American example of it, but these terraces in Turkey are absolutely one-of-a-kind in the world because of their pure white color.

Travertine Terraces by moonlight, Pamukkale

They look like snow banks, but are in reality covered in warm running water (watch the video above to see an example of it).    Read here if you want to see where there are more travertine terraces in the world.  It's actually pretty interesting.

Travertine Terraces, Pamukkale

At the top of the travertine terraces is an ancient city called Hierapolis.  In Hierapolis they swam in  Cleopatra's Pool...

Cleopatra's Pool, Pamukkale, Turkey

According to legend,  Cleopatra's Pool was crafted by Marc Anthony and then presented to Cleopatra as a gift.  However sometime in the 7th century an earthquake toppled nearby columns into it, creating a unique blend of what are considered "healing waters" of the natural hot springs and ancient ruins all melded into a really cool one-of-a-kind place to swim all year round!    

Cleopatra's Pool, Pamukkale, Turkey

Next they drove to Aphrodisias to see some more cool ruins...

Aphrodisias

Aphrodisias

Then they ended up on the shores of the Aegean Sea in Bodrum.    Bodrum is a beautiful seaside town with narrow steep roads that made driving a harrowing experience.    

Bodrum Castle

They didn't get to spend a whole lot of time in Bodrum before taking off to their next destination, but they all raved about the beauty of the area and the clear blue waters of the Aegean Sea!

Aegean Sea on the Bodrum Peninsula  

Next they flew to Cappadocia where they stayed in a hotel cave.   Because of the naturally soft rock (called tuff) that formed from ancient volcanic eruptions, people have been crafting their homes out of rock for thousands of years.  

Cappadocia Region (Goreme Open Air Museum) 

At sunrise they took a little hot air balloon ride….

Hot air balloon over Cappadocia

…you know….just for the purpose of seeing the most gorgeous views in the universe!

They were a tad cold after their little jaunt in the stratosphere (or maybe it was the troposphere)….

After hot air balloon ride, Cappadocia Region

After that they stayed a little more down to earth and went for a little camel ride...

Cappadocia Region (Goreme Open Air Museum)

and visited some other beautiful places in the area….

Valley of the Pigeons?? (Cappadocia Region)

…by horse drawn carriage!

Cappadocia Region

Ihlara Valley (Cappadocia Region) 

The last thing they did in Cappadocia was visit the underground city, Derinkuyu,  which, in a City of Ember-ish sort of way, was carved in the aforementioned soft rock to be a place of refuge for the people in Cappadocia during times of war and danger.  

Underground City (Derinkuyu, Cappadocia Region)

Emma had a fantastic time on her 8th grade trip and will never look at the world through the same eyes again!    It was years of education all rolled into a week-and-a-half.  

Cappadocia  

The only problem with the trip was that it sets a pretty high bar for Adam who is already mulling over ideas for his 8th grade trip in a couple of years.   His top choice right now?    Antarctica!  

Heather and Tim, are you up for it?    


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