Surfside

Seven out of our eight kids (including cousins) hopped in Grandpa's Grand Willy's today, our destination Surfside.



On the South shore the waves are bigger, and boogie boarding is great.



First some tag. Probably to warm up, brrrr!!!!!



Then braving the cold seas with boogie boards.



Fun!!!! (You have to believe the kids - none of the adults got in :)




All the kids went in the water, even Little Miss. I think she actually lost her balance and got a surprise swim, but hey - that counts too!



Since it wasn't a really hot day - quite foggy with a cool breeze, actually - we didn't stay out too long.



So glad Grandpa's Nantucket Edition came with an attached shower to wash all the sandy feet.

(The Nantucket Edition is really the Grandpa Edition - this truck is one of a kind!)

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Tänään lounaan jälkeen lähdimme Surfside-rannalle, saaren eteläosaan. Oli sumuista ja viileää, mutta lapsilla oli silti niin hauskaa lautailla isoissa aalloissa. Tietyille rannoille saarella saa ajaa autoilla, jos on ostanut luvan sitä varten. Kätevää lapsilauman ja rantakaman kanssa!

Fourth Of July, 2011

Fourth of July, 2011, is going to be one of the most memorable Holidays in our family history. We can already hear it: "Remember the year when Nanny won the watermelon eating contest?"

Yes, the Captain's 94-year old grandmother joined the contest and won the "18 and older" category in watermelon eating!! We are so proud of her! Our Nanny rules!!!



Nanny wasn't the only one who brought home a watermelon. Missy didn't disappoint this year either: she won her age category and the finals, and can be now called The Machine. Here is a blog post The Captain wrote about her last year. We actually have great video footage (very short, obviously) of her murdering devouring one of her watermelon pieces, but due to trade secrets we cannot release it to public viewing, regretfully.



After pie eating and the watermelon eating contests, the firetrucks came out. One of the highlights on Nantucket Island during the 4th of July festivities is definitely The Great Main Street Water Fight. Here the fight is just getting started - you cannot be on Main Street and not get wet. Little Miss wasn't feeling well, so we headed back home for a few hours of respite before more contests started. All the big kids (and some of the adults) stayed back to fight. (If others got any pictures of that, I'll add them here later.) Such great fun!!!



A few other people had decided to spend the holiday on the island, as well... This is a picture of Main Street, closed for vehicles (except for firetrucks).



After lunch and some napping, we took our crew (18 of us celebrating this year; 9 adults and 9 kids) to the Children's Beach for running races, sack races three-legged races, wheelbarrow races and tug of war. Our nine children brought home quite the collection of ribbons, and everyone had a wonderful time. After much encouragement Little Miss agreed to join in a couple of her age categories (earlier in the day she would not participate in anything), which was a huge step for her - even with daddy being her partner. Maybe next year she'll do all the races, too?

Our last activity of the day was going to to dock after dinner to watch the fireworks. As tired as we all were by then, it was worth it, and everyone was ready for bed immediately afterwards.

Such a great day of celebrating this nation's independence - and a great reason for having a Grand Party! Below is a slideshow sampler of some of our photos (I would like to know how many pictures were taken by the three papas, the Captain alone too almost 300 :)


Our Paparazzis

"FourthOfJuly"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

I am linking this post to Hip Homeschool Hop.

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Yhdysvalloissa osataan juhlia itsenäisyyspäivää kunnolla (Suomessa juhla on arvokas ja hillitty, täällä raisu ja hulvaton). Me vietimme juhlaa Nantucketin saarella Kapteenin perheen kanssa.

Tämän vuoden kohokohta oli 94-vuotiaan isoisoäidin osallistuminen vesimelonin syöntikisaan, ja kisan voittaminen! Nanny toi kotiin vesimelonin palkinnoksi, aivan kuten Missykin. Missy jälleen voitti oman ikäluokkansa (muistaakseni 11-14-vuotiaat), päihittäen myös veljensä ja serkkunsa. Minulla on lyhyt, todella lyhyt videopätkäkin hänestä, mutta se paljastaa Missyn voittojen salaisuuden, joten en valittavasti voi liittää videota tähän julkiseen postaukseen :)

Syöntikisojen jälkeen Main Street'llä oli jokavuotinen Suuri Vesisota, jonne kaikki kahdeksan isoa lasta jäi taistelemaan. Pikkuneiti ja mama lähdimme kotiin vesisodan alkaessa, Pikkuneiti oli saanut auringosta ja väenpaljoudesta jo tarpeekseen.

Iltapäivällä lastenrannalla oli lisää kisoja, joihin kaikki lapset ottivat osaa. Hauskoja kunnon pihaleikkejä: säkkihyppelyä, 3-jalkajuoksua, kottikärryjuoksua ja köydenvetoa. Päivän päätteeksi menimme satamaan katsomaan vielä ilotulitusta, minkä jälkeen me kaikki 18 juhlijaa olimme valmiit kaatumaan sänkyyn. Onnistunut juhlapäivä!

Sunday Snapshot {Nantucket Island}

It's that time again! Every summer we pack up our crew and belongings, and head to Hyannis to catch the ferry to Nantucket Island off of Cape Cod. It's our family time with Grandma & Grandpa, Nanny (Captain's grandma), Aunt & Uncle, cousins, family members and often friends of the family.



Almost always during the 4th of July holiday.



Sometimes we take the fast ferry, but there is something special about taking the slow boat (especially if mama has remembered to take the dramamine early enough). We pull out snacks and games, and get comfortable for the 2+ hour ferry ride.



The ferry ride gives time to unwind from the long car ride, usually accompanied by heavy Cape Cod traffic.



It gives time to be excited about getting to a special place and being with loved ones.



Plus it's fun to be on the ferry!



The sunset was gorgeous, naturally.



We made it! Grandma & Grandpa were waiting for us, and good thing Grandpa brought the Grand Willy's!! We all fit in with our luggage, too.



Since we arrived I haven't really taken pictures yet, but will definitely take plenty tomorrow, of all the festivities. Nantucket is a really great place to celebrate the 4th. Wait until you see what happens to this fairly calm looking Main Street tomorrow :)

Happy Independence Day!!!!!

Linking to Sunday Snapshot on Stefanie's blog Ni Hao Ya'll.



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Saavuimme eilen Nantucketin saarelle Cape Cod'in rannikolla. Joka kesä vietämme aikaa täällä isovanhempien, tädin, sedän, serkkujen, muiden sukulaisten ja usein perheystävien kanssa, yleensä näin Amerikan itsenäisyyspäivän aikaan. Ajoimme useamman tunnin New Hampshirestä liikenneruuhkissa Hyannis'iin, josta tulimme autolautalla (tosin ilman omaa autoa - jätämme auton parkkiin) saarelle. Isovanhemmat olivat meitä vastassa, ja heidän kesäkodissaan odotti myös täti, setä, isoisoäiti ja serkut. Tänään saapui myös Kapteenin setä pienperheensä kanssa (isommat lapset eivät tulleet). Huomenna suuri itsenäisyyspäiväjuhlinta saarella, kuvia tulossa illalla tai tiistaina :)

Summer Days/Kesäpäiviä

I can't believe how fast time is flying! We are now enjoying our last days in Maine (for now), and the computer has been off for the most part. There is a lot of play and a lot of work that needs to be done. We leave Maine on Friday, and we'll be gone for about seven weeks.
No pictures of work for now, but a few of playing:



Red light/Green light game.



One of many, many water fights.



See what's about to happen here?



Yup! And the water is so cold (neighbors told us lower 60's) your arms and legs feel to shocked and numb to move.



We officially wrapped up 6th grade (Little Miss joining in the pic, of course) yesterday when we had our online portfolio interviews. There is nothing else to do now! Next homeschooling step is to register with our county for next year, which we won't do until end of summer.



More serious play: Mr. T is almost done with baseball! We had our first Little League tournament game last night, and even though it started dramatically: Mr. T got hit in the face by a wicked fastball and had quite the welt on his cheek, the game got a lot better when he sent the ball flying and scored a home run!! Yay, Mr. T!! We won the game, which means we'll play again on Wednesday. If we win, our championship game is on Friday.

Linking this post to Hip Homeschool Hop!



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Vietämme viimeisiä päiviä täällä Mainessä (mikä on ollut kuin lapsuuden kesät mökillä Suomessa). Haikeana lähdemme perjantaina pois - noin seitsemäksi viikoksi...! Olemme yrittäneet ottaa joka hetkestä irti leikkien ja nauttien, mutta paljon on ollut töitäkin, ja edessä vielä. Nyt saimme kaikki kuudennen luokan kotikoulutyöt tehtyä, eikä tarvitse enää tehdä yhtään mitään sen eteen, helpotuksen huokaus...!

Vesileikit ja pihaleikit ovat olleet päivien kohokohtia, ja pesäpallo tietenkin, Mr. T:lle. Eilinen peli alkoi dramaattisesti - pallo osui pojan poskeen, mutta pian sen jälkeen hän sai kunniajuoksun (google käänsi home run näin?), ja peli parani siitä. Voitto tuli kotiin, ja keskiviikkona taas uusi peli.

Before The Rain/Ennen sadetta

Just a few photos from this week before it started raining.



The joys of a summer day at the camp: having a popsicle on the dock wearing pajamas.



These days are gifts..





Visitors coming by to say hello. And that mama was keeping track! Nine ducklings!
That's what I'd be doing too.. :)



Looking for interesting treasures under the rocks...





My kids are braver than I am...!

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Kuvia alkuviikolta ennen kuin alkoi satamaan. Onneksi nautimme ulkonaolosta, nyt olemme saaneet kaikki rästiin jääneet sisähommat tehtyä sateen aikana.

Hyvää juhannusta Suomeen!

Portfolio Time/Kotikoulukansiot

Two cold and rainy days here in Maine have provided this homeschool mama (finally) some extra time to put together four homeschool portfolios. As we are residents in Florida, we have a few options how to wrap up our homeschool year. One of them is to have a certified teacher/evaluator in Florida take a look at our homeschool portfolios (which we are required to keep by law anyway) and write up a Certificate of Review which will be mailed to our county homeschool office to show we meet all the Florida homeschooling requirements.

I would definitely recommend all homeschool families to start on their portfolios as soon as they start homeschooling. That way special projects and samples of work can be added throughout the year, and when it is time to do the evaluations, you can just pull out your beautiful work and show off all you did that year. Even if your state doesn't require it, these portfolios would be wonderful keepsakes for you and your children.

It would be a lot of work to start from scratch right before the portfolio evaluations are due.

I know this from experience. Yes, I had to start from the beginning yesterday, and I'm sure I left out a lot of special events and outings we did as a homeschool family this year. Yes, it was a ton of work. I spent about six hours on the first portfolio, and then 2-3 hours on the next ones. Yes, I still had all the housework and cooking and everything else to do, too. No, I don't recommend this way. However, some people just work best under pressure :)

Being a techie traveling homeschool family we are going to do this a little differently. We found an evaluator in Florida who is willing to do an online evaluation! Instead of making pretty portfolio binders, I made portfolio emails and sent them off to Florida. Our evaluator is going to go through all the info, and we made appointments with her this Monday to have our interviews via video iChat. Works great, since we are in New England for the summer!

What I included in each of the portfolio emails (bare bones, since I was short on time):

1) a digital photo of our our letter of registration from our county
2) 2010 - 2011 Curriculum List (including our Monarch curriculum and co-op + extra classes)
3) a couple of digital photos of certificates earned this year
4) a link to more info about Monarch and our online classes, as well as a link to our homeschool co-op
5) curriculum samples (three from each subject: from the beginning, middle and the end). These I attached as pdf-prints from online showing the students lessons, quizzes and tests and their answers. (Very time consuming! But so glad I can pull these off Monarch easily.)
6) I also added a report card produced by Monarch (not required)
7) Daily Activities Log, which is required by law. I attached two pdf's from our travels that I had kept online, but I still need to scan a couple of pages from my handwritten notebook I have kept (but forgot in New Hampshire during our last travel). So thankful I did keep the daily log!!!
8) Lastly, a sample list of books read during last school year. Unfortunately we didn't keep a list. Fortunately my kids read a ton, so it was fairly easy to put together a list of 20-30 books for each.

Overall, I have to say the homeschooling requirements were easier in New Hampshire (where we finished our first year). I have done a little research on Maine requirements, and I think we'll stick to homeschooling in Florida ;-)

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Viimeiset kaksi päivää olen puurtanut hullun lailla kotikoulukansioiden parissa. Floridan osavaltio vaatii meitä pitämään kansioita jokaisesta oppilaasta, ja vuoden lopulla meidän pitää täyttää osavaltion vaatimukset, ennen kuin voimme jatkaa tulevana vuonna. Floridassa on muistaakseni neljä eri tapaa saada kotikouluvuosi valmiiksi, me valitsimme tavan, jossa opettaja arvioi ja käy läpi meidän kansiot, ja kirjoittaa todistuksen, että on käynyt läpi meidän materiaalimme. Onneksi löysimme arvioijan, jolle voin lähettää meidän kansiot sähköpostina, ja maanantaina hän haastattelee koululaisia video iChatin kautta. Pian on saatu 6. luokka purkkiin! Yllä englanniksi listaa mitä minun piti koota kokoon.

Kayaking/Melomassa

Mr. D, Mr. A, Little Miss and I decided to go kayaking today (such a gorgeous day!).



Our destination was a cove nearby with beaver dams.



Such fun to explore!



Mr. D bravely going ahead (are there mad beavers? big spiders? snakes?? swarms of mosquitoes?).



Nope, nothing of the sort. (At least where we could see.) Only extremely shallow waters and a few black flies. Our trail stopped shortly after this, and with a little difficulty (the shallow waters) we turned our kayaks around and headed back home.

Linking this post to Hip Homeschool Hop!

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Kaksi pojista ja Pikkuneiti lähtivät tänään kanssani melontareissulle. Meillä oli oikein kunnon tutkimusreissu läheiseen lahdenpoukamaan, jossa oli majavanpesiä. Emme tienneet mitä muuta sieltä löytyy (vihaisia majavia, käärmeitä, hämähäkkejä tai ötökkäparvia?), mutta emme löytäneet muuta kuin umpikujan ja matalikkoa, joten käännyimme ympäri. Kivaa oli silti :)