Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Homeschool Rocks/Kotikoulu rokkaa!!!



Homeschooling is great!! Especially with our homeschool program Monarch. Here's just a couple of reasons why:

- The lessons come with Monarch, so mom/teacher doesn't have to create the lessons
- The program grades most of the problems, quizzes and tests
- The lessons are web-based, so you can do school anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection
- Students and teacher don't need to be in the same room, or same house, or same state, or even the same country in order to do school, as we have proven this week:


The Captain & 5ennie are in Adelaide, Australia


And our students are back in the States!





Our goal during this time is to do at least half days of school, with mom checking on schoolwork daily from Australia. Today worked great!

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Perheemme on matkustanut paljon viimeisen kahden vuoden aikana, ja se on ollut mahdollista vain kotikoulun avulla. Tällä viikolla kotikouluohjelmamme on todistautunut loistavaksi: Kapteeni ja 5ennie olemme Adelaidessa, Australiassa, lapset Yhdysvalloissa, ja silti pystymme pitämään kotikoulua! Tavoitteena on puolipäiväiset koulupäivät, ja tänään ainakin onnistui loistavasti, sain käytyä läpi kaikki tehdyt oppitunnit ja kokeet täältä Australiasta käsin.

Photobucket

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thanksgiving Funny/Kiitospäivän hauskuus



Playing Telephone today. I whispered: "Pumpkin pies are baking in the oven." In our line of callers it turned into: "My butt is bigger than yours."
(Beware of eating too much pie...! :)

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Leikimme tänään Juorua. Minä kuiskasin: "Kurpitsapiirakat ovat kypsymässä uunissa." Kun juoru pääsi loppuun asti, siitä oli tullut: "Minun takamukseni on isompi kuin sinun takamuksesi."
(Varokaa liiallista piirakan syömistä...! :)

Monday, November 22, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving Week/Hyvää Kiitospäiväviikkoa!



Mothership Adventures Crew would like to wish a Very Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers!

Mothership Adventures-blogin väki toivottaa oikein hyvää kiitospäiväviikkoa jokaiselle lukijalle!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Moments/Hetkiä



When I saw this picture of Little Miss I was startled: she is looking so tall and big! Where is my little preschooler, stuck to my side (always)?

Kun näin tämän kuvan Pikkuneidistä ihan hätkähdin: hän näyttää niin pitkältä ja isolta! Missä on pieni kerholaiseni, minussa (aina) kiinni?



And next month my big kids turn twelve. Twelve! This will be their last year before becoming teenagers. I am not ready.

Ja ensi kuussa isot lapseni täyttävät kaksitoista vuotta. Kaksitoista! Tämä tulee olemaan heidän viimeinen vuotensa ennen teinivuosia. Minä en ole valmis.



Could we just stay right here? Freeze the time?

Voisimmeko jäädä tähän hetkeen? Pysäyttää ajan?

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Surprise Trip/Yllätysmatka!



- This post will truly prove how nutty we can be (if it hasn't been clear until now...!). -

We need to replace the original, ratty curtains in our 1991 Airstream RV, so on Sunday a trip to the RV storage was in order to take some measurements. That trip turned into a surprise two night get-away to Orlando.

We had actually tried to go to the shuttle launch all week, and had our bags packed and ready to go, but the launch was postponed every day (I canceled a lot of appointments for nothing). Our bags, however, were ready to go, every day.

So on Sunday morning we drove to the Mothership, packed it up and headed East toward Orlando with no idea where we'd end up or what we would do once we got there. Who needs plans, anyway??!!



These two Disney images were found here and here.

On our way to Orlando we called Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground - our favorite!, to see if they had availability, and since they did - that's where we decided to go! The kids knew we weren't going to any of the Disney parks, but it didn't matter, they love this campground as much as the Captain and I do.







Pulling in Sunday afternoon was cold, and as the sun set, it got even chillier. As you can tell by looking at the lifeguards by the pool. Brrrr!!! I don't know what the pool temp was (too cold for me!), but the air was about 55F at this point and dropping.

All we did Sunday night was dinner in the RV, swimming & then attended Chip & Dale's campfire sing-a-long. There's no extra charge to attend the sing-a-long, and you can bring your own s'mores (or buy them there). They also have a free movie (see the screen next to the stage in one of the photos above), which we decided to skip, and watched Toy Story 3 in our RV instead, cozy warm in our pajamas. What a sweet movie to end a great day!




The internet & cell coverage at the campground wasn't great, so on Monday morning we checked out and parked at Downtown Disney. The Captain could spend a couple of hours working in the Mothership while the rest of us visited the huge Lego store and some of the other stores as well at the Marketplace.

Soon it was time to make decisions again: try to see an attraction, head back to the campground, or go home. We really had enjoyed ourselves, and weren't quite ready to go home yet, but felt too tired to do anything major, so we decided to call it a day and head back to Fort Wilderness.

At the campground we picked up pizza and salad for dinner, did the Chip & Dale campfire sing-a-long & s'mores again, then two kids stayed and watched the movie of the evening (Princess Diaries II), and the rest of us spent a heavenly soak in the hot tub that fortunately was open.




And right now? We are outside the Captain's office, working on school. We have a couple of stops planned for the day, but will get home tonight. All the unpacking & laundry has so been worth taking this little trip. We had a fantastic time!!

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Kääks, nyt just loppui aika kun olisi aika kääntää teksti suomeksi. Olemme lähdössä ajamaan taas ja netti ei ole pelannut hyvin ajaessa.. Mutta siis pähkinänkuoressa: sunnuntaina lähdimme ihan ex tempore reissulle, tietämättä mihin päädymme. Matkalla soitimme Disneyn leirintäalueelle Orlandoon, ja koska heillä oli tilaa, ajoimme sinne. Ensin yhdeksi yöksi, sitten takaisin vielä toiseksi. Emme menneet mihinkään huvipuistoon tällä kertaa, meillä oli ihan tarpeeksi kivaa leirintäalueella ja Disneyn Downtown-alueella shoppaillen. Nyt siis takaisin kotiin. Kylmyydestä huolimatta meillä oli hauska ja onnistunut reissu! Mikä taas todisti kuinka kaheli meidän perheemme on :-D

Friday, November 5, 2010

Cool Greetings/Viileitä terveisiä





Pictures from last night at the beach - temps in the 70's. Well, that was actually warm! Today has been in the 60's, and tonight it is supposed to drop down to the 40's. Good thing we brought down all the ice skating gear, looks like we'll need it this weekend!

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Kuvia rannalta eiliseltä illalta - lämmintä oli jotain +20 C. Mikä oli siis lämmintä! Tänään lämpötilat ovat olleet noin +15 C, ja täksi yöksi on luvattu noin +5C. Onneksi toimme luistelukamppeita mukaamme, näyttää siltä että tarvitsemme niitä tänä viikonloppuna!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Four Years Ago/Neljä vuotta sitten



Four years ago today we received a much anticipated phone call: "What we have is, a little girl..." Seven months old, waiting for us in Southern China. Two days later we received our referral package with photos, and a month and a half later she was placed in our arms in Guangdong, China. Happiness!!!

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Neljä vuotta sitten tänään saimme kauan odotetun soitin: "Teillä on pieni tyttö..." Seitsemän kuukautta vanha, meitä odottamassa etelä-Kiinassa. Kaksi päivää myöhemmin saimme lapsiesityspaketin kuvineen postissa, ja puolitoista kuukautta myöhemmin saimme hänet syliimme Kiinassa. Onnellisuus!!!