Day 22: NC Favorites!

After Yorktown, we drove to NC and found a spot near this lake to sleep for the night.

We got up the next morning and after breakfast and getting ready for the day, we drove through the mountains to visit one of our favorite spots from when we lived there.

Skytop Orchard, home of our favorite Gold Rush apples and . . .

apple cider donuts! These are the BEST donuts, especially when they are fresh and warm.

We don't usually pick apples (by the point in the season when the Gold Rush apples are ripe, the trees are kind of picked over), but we always buy a few varieties from the shop.

And then we took a walk around the farm. The colors were past their peak, but it's still so beautiful up there.

Found some geese.

And one decided he needed to protect the group.

After we were done at the orchard, we stopped for lunch at Harry and Piggy's in Hendersonville for some NC barbeque--YUM.

On the drive, we went past a few different spots that had some serious damage from Hurricane Helene. 

We weren't even sure we'd be able to get through the mountains to Skytop just a couple weeks before, but they had opened the roads and we figured giving the local places some business would be good for everyone.

And then, Charlotte, here we come!

We haven't been back to visit since 2018.

And when we got there, we were way too busy catching up with our old neighbors to remember to get any pictures that afternoon. We had hours of reminiscing about the little kids we raised together, who are all so grown up now, in high school and college and thriving. Some friends are more like family and even going 6.5 years isn't enough to ruin the dynamic.

 

October Schooling

October meant lots of reading, including books to go along with our election unit, our science studies, and math. We listened to Little House in the Big Woods, 5 Children and It, and the 2nd Harry Potter on audio, and read a ton of other seasonal picture books.

Peanut went to work with Daddy-o one day and got to do school in a different environment.

Daddy-o put him to work, too. And I realized why Thursdays are so stressful for me--because even without Peanut around all day, I was going hard all day, teaching science classes and all the other work that is involved with that, running to the farmer's market and taking kids to water polo. It's a lot of work even without a 9 year old who needs attention fairly regularly;).

The air started clearing up and most of the second half of the month was nice, so we took our school outside as much as we could.

It still counts as outside time, even if you're on a screen, right?😂

As always, this kid read a LOT. I love it when I find him lost in a book somewhere in the house (especially if it's not at a time when he's supposed to be doing something else, like brushing his teeth or helping with the dishes.)

We did some fun science experiments, working with yeast and bacteria and starting our plant unit.

We played new games--10 Days in Europe was just as fun as the other 10 Days games we've played, and a good stretch for geography. This will be perfect while studying more modern world history.

Another new game that was lots of fun, and good for the spatial reasoning.

We combined our read aloud, PIE, and it's recipes for every chapter, with our election unit and held a vote on which pie we should make for dessert one night. The buttermilk pie won,

and so Peanut and I baked a pie together. It was really tasty (and no one complained even if the crust wasn't quite up to level that Daddy-o usually serves us. We're still beginners.)

We took our multiplications table outside, too. Seriously, anything I could think of and convince Peanut of, we took outside. We're still really trying for those 1000 hours, but we've had some serious setbacks between the bad air, and then Peanut had some sort of allergy issue going on this month so we had a few days of avoiding most of our outside activities again.

Finally, this kid and I went on a Halloween themed field trip one day--a visit to Forest Home Farms where they had a themed scavenger hunt set up through an app that taught us little bits of Halloween history and about nocturnal animals. Then, we went to a nearby park where they had a scarecrow scavenger hunt. We found all 25 in an hour and a half, enjoyed some absolutely perfect weather, and Peanut didn't even end up with itchy red eyes at the end. Great day all around!

 

All Types of Outside Time

Not a lot of pictures from this week, but lots and lots of outdoor activities. Besides the normal reading, eating, and playing games in the backyard, we had a few excursions:

On Thursday, Bean and I went to the protest in Downtown Livermore. It was a very positive experience--peaceful, lots of participation, and everyone was wearing masks. Social distancing was a bit harder, but we did the best we could. Bean was in a bit of a slump most of the week, with school done and nothing very purposeful to do, so this was a great mood booster for her. We're trying to get involved and stand up for something important. After the speeches at the park, we marched a loop that ended at the main intersection downtown and everyone took a knee for 8 min and 46 seconds of silence. It was extremely touching--it was a LONG time. Hard to imagine dying under someone's knee in that time.

I didn't take the boys with us because I honestly wasn't sure how Peanut would handle the whole thing. He's not doing very well around lots of people and he doesn't handle being hot and tired on a good day. But there is a car parade protest tomorrow that I may take everyone to so he can be a little part of this as well.

That evening, we got to swim for the first time this season. We have friends who are incredibly generous and understanding. They had invited us to swim in their pool, but when we explained that we weren't totally comfortable hanging out with people in close contact yet, they offered for us to use it without their kids swimming.  So we finally took them up on the offer. Bean and Bug spent a couple hours in the water while everyone else cooled off and then sat around the pool talking. 

Daddy-o's friend hung out nearby so they were able to have a good conversation. We're trying to get used to these new ways of socializing, and getting the boys comfortable with ways we can safely see people. We can't live hidden away forever, but we can be careful. That's what we're working on right now.

Friday, we went blueberry picking again. It was much, much cooler than the rest of the week had been, so we also went for a walk in a park near the Stanislaus River while we were there. I was joking that I was going to make the kids fall in love with Ripon so we could buy a house with a pool (much more affordable out there than in Livermore.) Well, there were a few pretty spots along our walk, but tons of garbage everywhere and the kids were not impressed, haha. I think we'll keep renting without the pool for now.

Saturday was another Bay Area Ridge Trail day. The whole family came and we did another 5.5 miles in the Oakland hills with beautiful views of the green canyons. It was a perfect temperature for hiking and there were a lot of hills so quite the workout. Best part--very little complaining from any of the kids, so it really was a lovely hike.

On the way home, I had to drop off something for my one science family that lives in Castro Valley. They are a the very top of a very windy road up into the hills and by the time we drove up and back down, Peanut was completely sick and threw up in the garbage bag. Poor baby. But it didn't stop him from wanting ice cream when we stopped at the Meadowlark Dairy a few minutes later :). Perfect follow-up to a good hike.

Daddy-o joined a couple of the other husbands at my usual Saturday social distance hang out. He's gotten to see friends 3 times in the last week, and I think he's really enjoyed it. The first few months, he didn't really talk with anyone in person for any length of time. We just keep teasing him that he needs to sit down while he talks because he gets so animated and is drawn towards whoever he's talking with. It's hard to unlearn many of our normal social behaviors!

To Grandmother's House We Go

Sunday, we did our first social distancing visit with family. It's been a few months since we've seen anyone and we've been missing everyone. It's hard to visit and stay apart, but we did our best and it's certainly better than nothing. Grandma and Grandpa live close enough that we can go up for the afternoon, so we brought lunch and had a nice afternoon outside.

After lunch, we got to pick cherries from Grandma's orchard.

So many cherries, and they are delicious!

Very different than picking blueberries or strawberries, which are really the only fruits the kids have a lot of experience with.

We brought home a huge bag of these--going to have to make ourselves sick on cherries this week!

 

We found a few boysenberries ripe enough to eat, but most won't be ready for a couple more weeks.

And grandma let the kids pull up a couple potato plants as well.

It's pretty much like being at a farm at their house. We cut some asparagus to bring home, along with everything else. And the kids went to visit grandkid trees (each of them have a plaque on a tree they picked out) and over to the neighbors fields to see the llamas. They love being up there when cousins are around as well, but we're not quite ready for that type of interaction yet.

One of Grandma's beautiful flowers.

And the tree frog we found on the gate.

It was really nice to see family and get to visit in person for a little while. I'm glad that we've got good weather right now for all of this outdoors interacting. Not sure what we'll do when it's 105, or if this is a problem next winter (which I'm assuming it will be). Not as fun to sit outside for visits when it's raining or 40 degrees. But for now, we'll happily spend time outside. Peanut was excited to add 4 more hours to May's total (and he ended with 104 hours, Bug had even more!) We're chipping away at that 1000 hour goal.

We got home in time for a short fireside with our bishop, dinner, and a quiet evening. Daddy-o dropped some cherries off at a friend's house and caught up with him while the kids and I all read. I've been listening to The Book of Lost Friends while I run or walk in the mornings and was finally down to the last couple hours and when everything started to get tied up, so I volunteered to do all the dishes if the kids would just not talk to me, haha.

I love historical fiction, and right now, a book about the post-Civil War south and all the injustices the freed slaves still had to endure seems like a good fit considering the most recent police killing, and all the other videos and stories surfacing showing blatant racism--hard to read at times, but so important to understand. We're in a pretty scary place right now as a nation, a society, a larger community.  Growing up, when we learned about racism, it always felt like something we had largely overcome--maybe because of the racial diversity that I lived around, or maybe just because I, as a middle class white girl, was ignorant of what others were experiencing. But it's clear that we still have a LONG ways to go as a country. And it's clear that a lot of people are (understandably) fed up and angry and scared. Our family continues to pray for comfort for all those who are hurting. I think our summer school may spend some time on learning how we can help. Should go along nicely with our Civil War unit coming up.

What's Up Wednesday

(Peanut has this whole script that we have to say each night, called the nighttime words, and it ends with "I hope you have a . . .[Marvelous Monday, Terrific Tuesday, What's Up Wedensday, Thrashin' Thursday, Fabulous Friday, Super Saturday, Sweet Sabbath Sunday]

Today started out beautifully and just got better from there. I was up early enough to catch the sunrise on my walk. I've always liked my a walks in the quiet, early hours, and it's just gotten better through this quarantine. This hour is just what I need to start the day.

Today was a gorgeous day and perfect for picking blueberries. We went out to Jessop Farms, just like we do every year. We did miss being with friends, and no one was crazy about wearing the masks that the farm requested (and then, as we were leaving, we noticed that pretty much none of the other customers were wearing masks. Apparently the valley doesn't really believe in masks. But we'll still do our part and show some respect for the workers there are the farm who have to interact with so many of us.)

The blueberries were gorgeous as always (and delicious, too!) I'm pretty sure I picked fruit in another life. It's a very satisfying activity for me and I could have stayed for hours, but Peanut had an 11 a.m. art class, so we had to get going with 10 pounds of berries.

We stopped by the RV storage facility so Peanut could do his class in Daddy-o's office, and then spent a few minutes playing around. 

Too much fun at work, for sure!

By the time we got home and had lunch, everyone was tired and had a hard time getting focused on anything we needed to do. Bean and I were happy with the interruption of visitors who stopped by with a birthday present for Peanut, and then hung out talking with us for over an hour. 

Eventually, we had to get back to schoolwork, science class prep, science homework, chores and cleaning. So much real life stuff getting in the way of some good quarantine living. Although, I think the boys are living a pretty good life.  Peanut built the Lego set he'd just received and Bug had his bi-weekly D & D zoom meet-up.

The evening ended with dinner out back, watching our scrub jay visitor poke around the lawn for his hidden acorns. I'm feeling very connected with nature these days. This jay comes by pretty much every afternoon and evening while I'm outside and doesn't seem very afraid of us at all.

A Day on the Farm

When our charter school scheduled a field trip for the historic Forest Hill Farm, I jumped at the chance. This farm has been on my list since we got here and I first looked for a replacement for our beloved Latta Plantation. We always loved their homeschool days, and this looked like it would also be a fun place, but after almost 3 years, we still hadn't made it.

 

We had a friend join us for the morning of classes on the farm.

First up, we went on a tour of the various fruit trees and learned more about what the farm would have looked like in the early 1900s.

The kids got to eat orange slices while standing under an orange tree.

and walked along the creek to learn a little about the different types of seeds all these trees produce.

Then, we had a class about farm chores and what types of work had to be done each day--churning butter and doing laundry, building fires to cook with and emptying the chamber pot.

We went on a tour of the meat house which was kept cool thanks to 1 1/2 foot walls!

And then the kids got to take turns doing the wash.

Peanut had so much fun, he asked if we could do our laundry this way, haha! I wonder how long it would take for the charm to wear off?

Then, we moved over to the sheep class, which was the one I was most looking forward to.

The kids met the sheep

and had a chance to feed them a little.

Then, they walked through the steps of preparing the wool for a project. They each washed and hung a piece to dry.

And then saw how to card the wool, and work with it depending on if they were spinning, or doing a hand project. They made a little bracelet with their own piece of wool.

And, at the very end, we got to watch a sheep dog in action. She did a great job herding the sheep, who, after 2 other groups, were getting a little tired of being rounded up :)

This was a fun, outdoor field trip--and probably the best use of our morning after the sugar party of Halloween night. I was saying that planning a field trip first thing in the morning after a late night isn't a great idea, but it did get us up, moving, and outside. And it's not likely that we would have had a very productive morning at home, so I'm sure this was all the best choice.