The Week in Photos

This was the weather ten days ago. Merrilee was flinging herself off the diving board to cool off, I was sitting on the porch with my Diet Coke cracking pecans, and Jacob was off playing with neighborhood kids (and wondering why they disappeared everytime he came in the house for a drink of ice water....why do boys do that? Girls usually wait for their friends.). Anyway, it was about 91 degrees here that day.

Today is a different story. We went to bed feeling chilly, since it was chilly yesterday in the 60s. But I'll do all I can to hold off turning on the heat. Using the heat pump officialy marks the end of summer for me (yeah, I know summer ended in September, but you know what I'm talking about!), and I just can't bear the thought of saying goodbye. But last night it got down to 64 degrees...in the house! I gave in and turned on the heat upstairs so the kids wouldn't turn into popsicles. It wasn't until this morning after I got up at 7 am that I turned on the heat downstairs. I crumbled. It was just too cold. Our digital outdoor thermometer said it was 39 degrees out there. UGH!!!!!

So this is what the kids look like today:

Fall is officially here and I will finally concede to the change of seasons. And as you can see, Jacob has apparently grown a bit since last winter. His jacket sleeves didn't keep up with him. Time to pull out the size larger hand-me-downs.


Aside from the weather, we finally got around to making our first pecan pies from our own nuts. I shelled about 1.5 quarts in a little over an hour. I'm now able to shell them without breaking the nut meat inside. I just need to work on my speed.

On Tuesday I took the kids to the Flint RiverQuarium. Albany amazes me with it's small town atmosphere, but it's big-town amenities. There is an aquarium, a zoo, and a planetarium (which I haven't found yet). It's really easy to find my way around here, and I seem to take to driving around on my own much more comfortably than anywhere else we've lived. I really do like it here.

The aquarium has a lot of fun things to do, including homeschool days, discovery days, and toddler activities. We went ahead and got a family membership, so for those of you who might like to visit, we can take you to the aquarium as our guests! You're already looking at your calendars to see how soon you can get here, aren't you? http://www.flintriverquarium.com/



After her initial fears, Katie Mei was rather interested in the American Alligator.

On Thursday evening, Jay got dressed up in his blues and took us to the Civic Center to see the USMC Silent Drill Team from 8th & I in Washington DC. The program wasn't very long, but it was perfect for the kids and all three of them seemed to enjoy it.

I don't know what we'll be doing this coming week, but I heard that Wednesday is supposed to be a bit warmer. I'm thinking about heading out to the zoo. They also have educational programs and a fantastic playground. http://www.parksatchehaw.org/education.htm . That's the fun thing about homeschooling...it doesn't always have to been book learnin' or scheduled activities. We can get up and go on field trips whenever the weather bids. Here's to a lovely Indian Summer...which can't get here soon enough.

Hope you are all keeping warm and enjoying the autumn.

Love,

Petrie