School Days

For some reason, Coyote decided her REALLY like Christina one day.
He wouldn't leave her alone.

Caleb is working on writing a "book" during his break from school.

Ever helpful, Isabelle is reading Writer's Inc to give him some tips.

Coyote, as usual, wants to be in the middle of things.

School Day

A typical school day in February.
We had a little visitor part of the time, which reminded me to snap some pictures.

Coyote loves to be in the middle of things.

The kids look very intense.
They are watching an art DVD and trying to copy what the woman in the DVD is doing.

The Headstrongs Travel

While we were flying, Isabelle wrote a story about "the Headstrongs."  I suspected that it was autobiographical.  The fact that "we" was crossed out and replaced with "they" many places supported that idea.  I'm not sure why she called her imaginary family the Headstrongs.

The Headstrongs- by Isabelle

We The Headstrongs flew today.  It took a long time.

Here’s how: We They each got to have two bags.  Then we they got a taxi to the airport.

At the airport, it took forever to get to an area to sit.  Then they boarded the plane.

They got drinks and ate sandwiches.

Then they landed.  They went into the airport.  And got our their bags.

Then we they got a taxi and went to our their hotel.  We They checked in and put our their bags in our their room.  Then we they went swimming.

Boarding pass says boarding time is 6:30, sign says 8:30.
Reality 9:15.

Lion Park

We had an amazing week in South Africa.

The last day we were able to go to a lion park-

highlight:

petting the baby lions.

The Hike

The Hike

by Isabelle

We went on a long hike.  We drove the first part standing in a truck.  Then we hiked up very far.  Then we took a break.  After we drank some water and ate an apple or two we started hiking down.  On our way down we saw the lodge and a lake.  We hiked towards the lake.  (The hill was very steep.)  Finally, we reached the bottom, but we weren’t there yet.  We walked back to the lodge.  I saw three ostriches and one horse.  When we reached the lodge, I took a shower.

The End

Bombazi- 3

 We took lots of hikes that started and ended along this road.

Bombazi- 2

Our outdoor deck/viewing area

From the viewing area, we looked out over the lake,
and we saw many areas there.

Bombazi- Rooms

 Our recent conference was held in South Africa at Bombazi Wilderness a 10,000 acre game reserve.

They make "roughing it" a vacation!

The kids' bedroom

One of the many animals on display.  They did cause some concern the first night at bed time.  Isabelle was having trouble going to sleep because she felt like their eyes were watching her.
I managed to distract her and get her to think about some other things.
Then it true younger brother fashion, Caleb had to bring it back up.
"I like the eyes watching me.  I feel like they're protecting me."
Back to square 1!

Even the door handles fit the theme

Mine & Stephen's room

This time last year

At the Langstons' house

Recess usually meant taking Achilles for a walk

Going to Chick-fil-A on Valentine's Day.
Can you tell who likes the cold weather?

Lots of snowy days in Chattanooga!

We also took quite a few trips to the library.

Making cake pops for Valentine's Day

This time last year

Cold and Snow

Roller-skating with Rowan & Amelia

Lots of books from the library in downtown Chattanooga!
We went at least once a week to check out books and sometimes stayed for Lego Club or other activities.

Caleb's birthday

 It's hard to believe that Caleb is 9 years old!

Isabelle put his candles in the shape of a "C"!

Ian's Birthday

Ian's birthday was last Sunday.
He wanted to have chicken noodle soup.
We added homemade fries & pringles to round out the meal.

15 candles!
I told him to blow them out fast so the wax wouldn't melt onto the cake.
He did it so fast that we didn't even get a picture!

It's hard to believe he's 15 now!

Christmas Day

Opening stockings Christmas morning

Ian with his candy & pringles from his stocking.

After handing out presents at the hospital, we had lunch with Amanda Volkman and Christina and Rebecca Warkentin.

We opened presents as a family in the afternoon.
The kids each gave each other a few little things that they had made or toys or cards they had that they knew the other person would like.

Stephen got some fabric with bright colors and spiderwebs.

The fabric got away from him!

Just what I wanted- Cookies with chocolate & peanuts!