Volcano...

Ben is interested in volcanos. Noah and Hannah are too but this was Bens project today. He wanted to build a volcano. We found a bottle and went to the backyard. I gave him the option of building around it with clay which might take a bit longer or we could go to the back yard and pile dirt around the sides of it to make it look like a volcano. He opted for the dirt so he got digging. We couldn't get the dirt to the top but that didn't matter to Ben. He put baking soda (didn't measure), a little dish soap, and then some food coloring -red, blue and yellow- and finally Ben pour vinegar into the bottle and it bubbled out the top and ooozed down the sides. It was pretty cool to see. Hannah and Noah came to see the results and liked it. We might try the clay version in the future, but for now this was great!

Sunday...

This morning the kids took part in some more funshops like the bean bag toss and such but mostly we took advantage of the pool and went swimming. Everyone seemed to be out there getting some family time in or hanging with newly made friends. I went to listen to some of the presenters and everyone else tried to learn how to contradance. The kids were playing with each other and their new friends and didn't want to leave. But at the end of the day we had to come home and leave our fellow unschoolers. The end of the conference came and we can't wait to go to the next one!

Hannah and Hutton playing on the grass

This afternoon...

This conference is awesome, especially with all the stuff available for the kids to do and participate in. We aren't worried about missing the presenters because everything will be available on a download so we can catch up later. This afternoon Ben went to the Lego funshop (pic below) but before he did, he built this bowling lane for his mini bowling set. It is pretty detailed even with the ball return area and a table for sitting and having a drink....

Hannah loves the artsy funshops. This afternoon she did some art before going to the funshop that she really wanted to go to: the baby doll funshop. She brought her twin babies along and could not wait to share and have tea with the other kids with baby dolls.

Here is Ben in the Lego funshop. They dumped a bin of Legos on the table and the kids just got busy. They built and built for a long time and came up with some pretty cool stuff!

Here's Hannah enjoying her baby doll funshop. She was sharing her tea sets too. They set them all up with water and some fig newtons on the plates. So cute!

Good Vibrations...

We are at the Good Vibrations Unschooling Conference this weekend for unschoolers and it has (so far) been awesome for both the kids and adults. There are so many people from all around the world. The activities are pretty terrific too. Yesterday, there was arts and crafts, international candy tasting and a family fair that were big hits. There was a concert last night with Amy Steinberg and she was awesome! Everyone celebrated, danced and played together. The kids fell asleep as their heads hit the pillow.

This morning the popular activity for Ben was rope making and he LOVED it. He ran to the room to get his bag of yarn and made a nice rope with it. I think we'll have to try to figure out how to make one of the contraptions to make rope and make some on our own. Hannah's favorite activities this morning were the journal making and binding, the drawing and rock painting. This afternoon we are all going to be busy doing dress-up, legos, baby doll fun and I'll sneak in some of the presentations too.

We are staying in a hotel so there is also swimming and playing in other rooms, meeting friends for lots of play time and exploration. Ben and Hannah have found some friends and are off discovering different things with them. Noah loves to hang out in the room, not much to do in there except for what we brought along but he's having fun.

We can't wait for this afternoon, a fun-filled schedule! I hope to get back on and blog about it later!

Sample painted rocks

Making rope

Ben and his rope

Colored pencils

Hannah and her drawing

The girls painting their rocks

Pics...

Here we are being silly with the camera today. 

BBQ...

We invited some friends over to BBQ this afternoon and it was so much fun! We got the pool ready for the kids to play in and cool off in. The kids played and swam and jumped around in the water. It was great fun for them. We ate and then the kids (& adults) had s'mores around the little grill. We broke out the glow-in-the-dark bracelets we had reserved for a special day like today. It was so much fun for everyone that we think we'll do it again and again! Great company :)

the pool set-up

the way Rebekah likes to be carried around these days

waiting for....?

it's on fire!

mmm.....

Foam play...

We can't be outside when it's hot, well technically we can but it is way too hot and the kids automatically migrate inside to the a/c. So, we took a trip to Michael's Craft Store this morning and found a project for them to do. Foam crafts! They are really into pirates and there was a pirate ship that the boys really wanted and a cute girly garden that Hannah wanted, so we took all three home. 

After we opened all of them I realized that we needed a glue gun and I am pretty happy that I knew where that was! It was just so lucky that I had just unpacked the box that it was in! (yes, still unpacking) I helped Ben get his ship together and then showed him how to safely use the glue gun and he finished the rest. Hannah's garden needed some major help in the beginning but then she was really busy with putting the flowers and butterflies on it. I did 95% of Noah's, he was really tired of waiting for it to be finished. But they all played with them and are pretty happy with them. I'm pretty sure that all the Lego men that we own are now pirates.

It was fun for them. Next time they want the $20 pirate ships and the princess castle...I'll have to have someone else here to help me out.

Ben working on his ship

Ben's ship is all finished

Noah's ship with a Lego pirate man

Hannah working on her fairy garden

Swim day...

Boy has it been hot! During the heat, it is fun to go swimming! Everyone went in today even the baby! She just sits there and sucks on her fingers. She doesn't scream which is good, I am pretty sure one of our kids didn't like the pool as a baby, but I can't remember which one that was. Today was a special day because Hannah showed me her newest moves in the pool, she can swim. She has been able to for a while but I haven't been around to see it...until today :) Check out the video below. I think Noah is on his way to doing it without the life vest too, we'll have to see if he'll swim to me next time we go. 

Ben practiced surfing on the inflatable board that my parents have, he wants to learn how to stand up and not get toppled over by the waves, like he did last month at the beach. He'll get it soon, he's like that. He will practice something until he has it perfected and then he'll call himself a pro :)

Cheese!

Ben practicing surfing

Rebekah snuggled up after the swim

and a video,

Hannah can swim! No swim lessons for her, she's taught herself :)

Ice cream...

Today we went on our monthly field trip with our homeschooling friends. It was by far the most popular field trip yet (besides the farm tours and the train trip) and the yummiest. One of the families owns the Tomberlies ice cream company which is a raw and vegan ice cream, delicious. It is available locally at OB Peoples, Jimbos, Whole Foods and other stores (local and non-local). We got an introduction about how they make the base ice cream and it really is raw ingredients -no dairy! The kids got to create their own cups and take home to eat. Ben and Hannah made a strawberry creation, Noah added blueberry to his and I made mine with maca (caramel-like), macademia nuts and blueberry. It was yum. Everyone loved their creation and sadly they are all gone tonight.

Pouring into the machine to be frozen

Everyone patiently waiting for it to come out of the machine

Hannah watching the ice cream come out

Noah ready to put his creation in his cup

Words...

We let the kids buy their Nintendo DSi's with the hopes that we could get them educational games to play. While they do have a few educational games, there aren't many. But there is a feature that allows them to chat with each other in the same room and we tried it out today and they started sending each other some words that they could read and write. There's the ability to write out the word free-hand or type it with the keyboard. It was pretty fun for them and now they know another thing to do with their games! We will probably use them with them too.

Pics...

Just a couple of pictures of the early risers in our house. For some reason these kids wake up early in our house...even though the rooms are darkened. I haven't figured out how to help them learn to sleep in yet.

look at those gerbil cheeks!

Water Conservation Garden....

We went to Cuyamaca's Water Conservation Garden today with our Daisy Scouts. It was one of our last meetings for the year. The older girls are going to Brownies next year and we decided that the troop needed to break for the summer. We'll come back all fresh and new in the fall.

Anyway, today was great! The kids enjoyed learning about ecosystems, gardening, bugs and composting. I'm pretty sure that they now understand that everything works together, and needs to, in the garden. Afterwards we met some of the girls and their families at a nearby park with water sprays. They had fun playing together and keeping cool.

Ecosystem

Compost

Picking carrots

Daisies

Water park (Noah is in front and Ben and Hannah are in the background)

Early...

Another morning with the early risers in our house. This morning was with Ben and Rebekah. Ben decided to read to his little sister and she really liked it. She sat there on his lap for a long time. It was so sweet that it made my heart swell ♡.