August Jumps/Elokuun hypyt

The question is: Will there be "September Jumps" blog post? The water this morning was 68F and outside temp was 57F. Definitely feeling the chill, already.. And yes, I still swam for about thirty minutes this morning - we'll see how long that continues:)

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Kysymys kuuluu: Tuleeko olemaan "Syyskuun hypyt" blogipostaus? Veden lämpötila oli tänä aamuna 20C ja ilman lämpötila 13.9C, eli jo alkaa viilentyä. Minä uin vielä, tänäänkin noin 30 minuuttia, mutta saa nähdä kauanko sitä huvia riittää...

August Yummies in Maine/Elokuun herkkuja Mainessä

Pretty much every day in August we have been busy in the kitchen. Whether it has been our guests transforming our kitchen into a tempting haven full of exotic and tantalizing aromas, or the girls whipping up their famous Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookies, or the boys cooking up crayfish they caught from our lake, it is safe to say we have been enjoying all this kitchen activity.

Some of my favorites have included three-ingredient chocolate bars (recipe here), blueberry pies (recipe here), biscotti (one recipe here), crockpot applesauce (recipe here), and making soups and stews. There is something about the approaching fall that calls for pies and soups.

September and October are typically big pie months for our family, so stay tuned for more recipes.

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Meidän keittiössä on ollut ahkera elokuu. Niin omia kokkaamisia, kuin vieraiden myös. Yllä kuvia ja reseptilinkkejä, suklaa on ollut ehdottomasti oma suosikkini (onkohan yllätys kenellekään??:). Syys-ja lokakuussa yleensä leivomme paljon piirakoita, joten niitä (ja reseptejä) tulossa myöhemmin.

Look Who Is Sailing/Katso kuka purjehtii?!

Who is that sailing with the Captain?
Kuka on purjehtimassa Kapteenin kanssa?



Yes, it is Missy! Finally.
Kyllä, se on Missy! Vihdoinkin.



How was it?
Millaista oli?



Yes, I think she actually enjoyed it:)
Kyllä, uskon, että hän oikeasti tykkäsi:)



And here's the proof: she has gone twice with Mr D since she sailed with the Captain.
Ja tässä todiste: hän on mennyt kahdesti Mr D:n kanssa sen jälkeen, kun purjehti Kapteenin kanssa.

PS1. That felt like a Finnish lesson. Pay attention now and in no time you'll be speaking Finnish like a native! (Tuo tuntui ihan suomen tunnilta, kohta enkun kieliset lukijani puhuvat suomea:)

PS2. After procrastinating with blogging, I can't believe I just cranked out three blog posts in one day. And I have two more in my head ready to go. I'll just keep posting them as long as I can as I like having these August posts show up in August.
(Ja nyt näitä postauksia tulee, kun olen koko kuukauden ollut hiljaa. Kolme jo tänään, ja kaksi muuta jo päässä valmiina. Annan tulla vaan niin kauan, kuin niitä on tulossa:)

Cryptic Mind Benders Review

In exchange for a blog review, Critical Thinking Company sent our family these two math books: Cryptic Mind Benders Classic Jokes and Cryptic Mind Benders Famous Quotations.

Both math books are geared toward 3-12th graders, and they develop algebraic thinking and teach basic programming operations. Each book is $10.99 (at the moment), and an electronic version is also available at the same price.

These books are chock full of activities where the student needs to break a secret code so he/she can solve a joke or a famous quotation. To break the code, the student will have to apply logic and mathematical reasoning to three sets of clues. Once he/she breaks the code, the cryptogram can be solved by substituting the numbers to their corresponding code letters.

We've had these two books for a few about a month now for reviewing. I think they are fantastic! I love how they teach math and algebraic thinking without the student even realizing they are learning. It is actually fun to crack the codes.

I was really surprised at my four 8th graders reactions, though. Missy has been the one who has loved cracking the codes. She is really enjoying the joke book, and has finished more than half the book already. She just keeps checking with me:"this is just for fun, right? - not for school?", and I affirm her: "yes, it is not for school, it is just for fun", and I chuckle inside. (Heh.)

I really thought my boys would love these books, but I have to be honest, they have not really been interested. I have waited the month to see if they would start cracking codes, but so far they haven't. Mr. D had helped Missy on the first one, but that was it. (They are really missing out.)

Missy has done the first activity in the Famous Quotations book, but she doesn't find it as interesting. My guess is she'll get into it, too, as soon as she has finished the Classic Jokes book. (Unless they boys realize how much fun these books are, and take over for her.) The jokes have been very cute, appropriate, and fun to crack. In the Famous Quotations students will find quotations from famous thinkers such as Albert Einstein, Voltaire, Socrates, and many more.

Despite my boys' current lack of interest, we heartily recommend both Cryptic Mind Benders Classic Jokes and Famous Quotations books. I think they would make a wonderful addition to any homeschool curriculum, or would be great as No-School-Books-Just-For-Fun for anyone:)

Thank you, Critical Thinking Company for providing us with these books. All the links are non-affiliated, and our opinions are entirely honest, and our own.

Hooked On Phonics

Little Miss has unofficially started first grade already (in fact, all my students have unofficially started school already, even though this mama is not ready yet, and hasn't declared school year started).

We are very happy with our Critical Thinking K-1st grade book bundle, with the exception of the Language Arts book. Little Miss is just not ready for it, at this point.



I had forgotten I had purchased the Kindergarten Level 1 Hooked On Phonics set way back when Borders had their big going-out sale. Little Miss found it recently, I hooked the dvd on my computer, and while I was busy cooking yesterday, she had done four lessons. Wow!



So today we sat down together to do the workbook. She did great! I think we found a replacement for the Language Arts!

Below a short video of Little Miss working on the workbook.



PS. If anyone is selling their Hooked on Phonics Kindergarten Level 2 or First Grade kits, let me know.

Another Sailing Lesson/Toinen purjehdusoppitunti

The Captain had another lesson for our sailors: Capsizing. Which was a very important lesson, as later that day Mr. D took the boat out by himself, and to his mother's horror, capsized the sailboat. He was pretty far out, too. Too far for mama to swim to.

There was a lot of prayer from the dock. A lot. But before I ran to the kayak to head out there, the boat started to come up again, slowly. Thank you, Jesus!!!!!

I don't have that event on video (I was praying, instead), but here is another one from the lesson:



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Kapteenin seuraava purjehdusoppitunti oli kuinka saada purjevene takaisin pystyyn, jos se on kaatunut veteen. Ja hyvä oppitunti olikin, sillä myöhemmin samana päivänä, kun Mr D meni yksin purjehtimaan, purjevene kaatui. Aika kaukana rannasta. Liian kaukana, että tämä mama voisi uida avuksi.

Hartaat olivat maakrapumaman rukoukset laiturilta. Ja ennen kuin lähdin kajakilla pojan luokse, purjevene alkoi hitaasti nousta. Kiitos, Jeesus!!!!

Sitä tapahtumaa en saanut videolle (rukoilin sen sijaan), mutta tässä kaksi videota oppitunnista. Ensin he kaatuvat, sitten nousevat takaisin ylös.

And We Are Sailing/Purjehtimassa!

Saturday was finally the day!



Sailboat is all rigged up and sailors are ready to go.



Maiden voyage by Captain and Mr D.



There they are, a dot on the horizon..



They sailed back and picked up Mr A, who was the first to try the trapeze. Well done, Mr. A!!





I think he was pretty pleased with himself.



As was the Captain ;-) It has been quite a few years since the last time he sailed, and what a treat to do it with his sons on our 'own' lake!



Not sure if Mr T had a good time - what do you think?



Or Mr D?



Who actually managed to sail all by himself for a good while. Capsized the boat, too! On Sunday - but more on that in another post...



Here's Mr T and Mr D working together to sail around the lake.



And look who got in, too?! Little Miss LOVED sailing.



Peer pressure: since Little Miss went sailing, this Land Lubber had to, also.
(I only felt queasy for a few hours, afterward.)



Thanks, Captain! I think we have found another fantastic homeschool PE family sport!!

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Lauantaina vihdoin purjevene oli valmis, ja saimme veneen vesille. Kuvista näkee kuinka onnistunut päivä meillä oli:) Seuraavassa postauksessa kuvia sunnuntain kokeiluista, mm. kuinka kaadetaan purjevene ja saadaan se ylös taas!

Thrill of Trapeze/Trapetsin taikaa

The Captain located an old piece of junk an older used sailboat for our camp. And while our older kids have sailed before, they have never been on a sailboat with a trapeze on it.



That's the type Captain used to compete with in sailing races, so he is the perfect teacher.



This vessel isn't even sea lake worthy yet, but it didn't stop getting a lesson on sailing this Laser II. (Homeschool PE, anyone??:)



As brothers intermittently rocked the sailboat, our trapeze sailor got to learn the art of balancing the boat. (Please pardon the signs of lunch in the background, and just look at the faces thrilled with learning a new sport!)



It was thrilling to see the joy and excitement on our boys' faces, it was thrilling to see the Captain's skills come back to life, and it was thrilling to do all that together as a family!



New parts have been ordered, and there are high hopes on taking this baby out on the lake soon!



Little Miss was all eyes and ears during the lesson, she will make a great skipper. Missy declined on this fun, but came out and watched for a while. She enjoyed sailing the smaller sailboats, so there is hope yet:)

I'm linking these pictures to Sunday Snapshot at Ni Hao Ya'll. Click on the button for other entries.

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Kapteeni löysi vanhan käytetyn purjeveneen, jonka hän aikoo itse kunnostaa vesikelpoiseksi paatiksi. Hän nuoruudessaan kilpapurjehti, joten oikea mies niin kunnostamaan kuin opettamaan meidän poikia. Isot lapset osaavat kyllä purjehtia optimistijollilla, mutteivat ole koskaan ennen kokeilleet purjevenettä, jossa on trapetsi. Nytkin saivat vain kokeilla maalla, mutta toiveena on pian päästä vesille! Intoa riitti niin isoilla kuin pienilläkin:)

Lätyt (Finnish Pancakes)

We started the day with delicious Finnish pancakes - lätyt. My mom had given me this cast iron skillet this spring, and since my kids ask me all the time for 'lättyjä' (Finnish word endings vary), and I rarely make them, I decided to surprise them this morning with this very Finnish treat.

Since it has been forever a long time a little while since I had made lättyjä, I decided to google the recipe to make sure I had the correct amounts. I decided on the recipe from this blog, as the blog author was calling lätyt with the correct name ;-) In Finland some people call them letut or ohukaiset or pannukakut or krepit.

I first tripled the recipe, then doubled, but didn't end up using all the batter, so quadrupling the recipe (as usual) seems to be a good amount for our family of seven.

Serve with a sprinkling of sugar, whipped cream, jam and/or fresh berries. Enjoy!!

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Pitkästä aikaa tein lättyjä aamupalaksi, viimeisestä kerrasta on niin kauan, että piti varmistaa resepti googlettamalla:) Täältä blogista löytyi hyvä resepti, jonka käänsin alle englanniksi, ja nelinkertaistin reseptin suurperheellemme. Meille aikuisille paistoin lätyt terveellisemmässä kookosöljyssä, ja ripottelin xylitol-sokeria päälle, ja jauhoista oli ehkä neljäsosa kokojyvää, muuten tavallisia valkoisia jauhoja. Hyvin maistui hillon, kermavaahdon ja mustikoiden kanssa, nam! Kiitos vielä äidille uudesta valurautapannustani - ehdottomasti oli avain näiden lättyjen paistoon.

Oh, you'd actually like the translated recipe? Ok, ok, here it is:)

Lätyt - Finnish Pancakes

8 cups of milk
4 eggs
5 cups of flour (I used a mix of white & wheat - shhhh!)
2 tsp salt

real butter (or coconut oil)
sugar (or xylitol)

toppings of your choice

The amounts don't have to be exact, the milk can be a day or two old. Mix the first four ingredients together, let sit while the cast iron skillet is warming up. Traditionally you cook lätyt in real butter, but I used coconut oil for the Captain & my lätyt to make them a bit healthier. Cook on your cast iron skillet, both sides, then sprinkle a bit of sugar (I used xylitol on the healthier ones) on both sides. Delicious as is, or serve with whipped cream, fresh berries and/or jam.